"I should like it very much," I said.

"You shall have it," he said, slapping me amiably on the knee.

I gasped for breath. In my time I had had boxes of cigars given me,
but never houses.

"For fifteen hundred pounds, as you are the tenant," continued the
benevolent one.

I gasped for breath again.

"But you bought it for five hundred and fifty pounds just before the
War," I said when I had recovered.

"Ah, before the War," chuckled the philanthropist.

"I don't think I can afford fifteen hundred pounds."

The benevolent one looked disappointed in me. "Dear me," he said,
"and I wanted so much to sell it to you. Well, I shall have to give
you notice to quit in June. This house must be sold."

"But I can't get another house."

"You can have this house. But surely you have some friend who will
advance you fifteen hundred pounds?"

"You don't know my friends. It would be very awkward to be turned