CHAPTER V.FURNISHED APARTMENTS.
What fell power decreed that certain streets in London should be devoted to the purpose of providing "furnished apartments" for the submerged I do not know.

But I do know that some streets are entirely devoted to this purpose, and that a considerable amount of money is made out of such houses.
I ask my readers to accompany me for a visit to one of these streets, and make some acquaintance with the houses, the furniture and the inhabitants.
The particular streets we select run at a right-angle from a main thoroughfare, a railway divides them from a beautiful park, and on this railway City merchants pass daily to and from their suburban homes.
I question whether in the whole of London more misery, vice and poverty can be found located in one limited area than in the streets we are about to visit.

I know them, and I have every reason for knowing them.
We make our visit in summer time, when poverty is supposed to be less acute.

As we enter the street we notice at once that a commodious public-house stands and thrives at the entrance.

We also notice that there are in the street several "general" shops, where tea and margarine, firewood, pickles, paraffin oil and cheese, boiled ham and vinegar, corned beef and Spanish onions, bread and matches are to be obtained.
We stand in the middle of the roadway, in the midst of dirt and refuse, and look up and down the street.