"That's the man--here he comes," cried the foremost one, whom I
recognized as the lawyer who had previously called upon me alone.

"You must take him away, sir, at once," cried a portly person among
them, advancing upon me, and whom I knew to be the landlord of
No.--Wall-street. "These gentlemen, my tenants, cannot stand it any
longer; Mr. B--" pointing to the lawyer, "has turned him out of his
room, and he now persists in haunting the building generally, sitting
upon the banisters of the stairs by day, and sleeping in the entry by
night. Every body is concerned; clients are leaving the offices; some
fears are entertained of a mob; something you must do, and that without
delay."

Aghast at this torrent, I fell back before it, and would fain have
locked myself in my new quarters. In vain I persisted that Bartleby was
nothing to me--no more than to any one else. In vain:--I was the last
person known to have any thing to do with him, and they held me to the
terrible account. Fearful then of being exposed in the papers (as one
person present obscurely threatened) I considered the matter, and at
length said, that if the lawyer would give me a confidential interview
with the scrivener, in his (the lawyer's) own room, I would that
afternoon strive my best to rid them of the nuisance they complained of.

Going up stairs to my old haunt, there was Bartleby silently sitting
upon the banister at the landing.

"What are you doing here, Bartleby?" said I.

"Sitting upon the banister," he mildly replied.