and his silk hat was reclining at the back of his head. In his mouth
was a large cigar which he felt certain was going to disagree with him,
but he smoked it because it had been presented to him a few minutes ago
by the client upon whom he was in attendance. He had rather deep-set
blue eyes, which might have been attractive but for a certain keenness
in their outlook, which was in a sense indicative of the methods and
character of the young man himself; a pale, characterless face, a
straggling, sandy moustache, and an earnest, not to say convincing,
manner. He was dressed in such garments as the head-clerk of Messrs.
Waddington & Forbes, third-rate auctioneers and house agents, might have
been expected to select. He dangled a bunch of keys in his hand.

"If this house don't suit you, sir," he declared, confidently, "why,
there isn't one in the whole west-end that will. That's my opinion,
anyway. There's nothing in our books to compare with it for value and
accommodation. We nearly let it last week to Lord Leconside, but Her
Ladyship--she came round with me herself--decided that it was just a
trifle too large. As a matter of fact, sir," this energetic young man
went on, confidentially, "the governor insisted upon a deposit and it
didn't seem to be exactly convenient. It isn't always these people with
titles who've got the money. That we find out in our business, sir, as
quickly as anybody. As for the steam heating you were talking about,
Mr. Lynn, why, that's all very well for New York," he continued,
persuasively, "but over here the climate doesn't call for it--you can
take it from me that it doesn't, indeed, Mr. Lynn. I have the letting
in my hands of as many houses as most people, and you can take it from
me, sir, as the direct result of my experience, that over here they
won't have it--won't have it at any price, sir. Most unhealthy we find
it, and always produces a rare crop of colds and coughs unknown to those
that are used to an honest coal fire. It's all a matter of climate,