However, I found Messrs. Zola and Desmoulin ready to start for an
inspection of such furnished houses as might seem suitable for their
accommodation; and nothing urged either by Wareham or by myself could
turn them from their purpose. So the four of us took our seats in the
landau which had been ordered, and were soon driving in the direction of
Wimbledon Park, where stood the first of the eligible residences entered
in the books of a local house agent. The terms for these houses varied,
if I recollect rightly, from four to seven guineas a week. Some we did
not trouble to enter; others, however, were carefully inspected.

Nothing in the way of a terrace house would suit; for M. Zola was not yet
a phalansterian. And in like way he objected to the semi-detached villas.
He wished to secure a somewhat retired place, girt with foliage and thus
screened from the observation of neighbours and passers-by. The low
garden railings and fences usually met with were by no means to his
taste. The flimsy party walls of the semi-detached villas, through which
every sound so swiftly passes, were equally objectionable to him. And I
must say that I viewed with some little satisfaction his dislike for
several of the houses which we visited; for this made it easier to
dissuade him from his plan of fixing his abode in Wimbledon, where,
unless he should rigidly confine himself within doors, it was certain
that his presence would be known before a week was over.

There were, however, some houses which the master found to his liking;
and here he lingered awhile, inspecting the rooms, taking stock of the
furniture, examining the engravings and water-colours on the walls, and
viewing the trim gardens with visible satisfaction. One place, a large
house in one of the precipitous roads leading from the Ridgeway to the
Worple Road, was, perhaps, rather too open for his requirements, but its
appointments were perfect, and at his bidding I plied the lady of the