Product Description
Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. THE NEW BOARDER. MR. REDFORD resided at No. 23, Acacia Road, Camberwell. Some people said that that was where Mrs. Redford resided, under the apparent impression that the house was hers, not his. Possibly this arose from a habit which the lady had of speaking of my house, my servant, my rules,—my this, my that, and my the other. Still the fact remains that Mr. Redford was supposed to pay the rent; whether he always did so is another matter altogether. The truth is, the Redfords were a migratory family; they were always moving. They had lived, within a comparatively short space of time, at Bow, Stepney, Hampstead, Highgate, Wood Green, Paddington, Blackheath, Woolwich, Greenwich, Plumstead, Lambeth, Chelsea, Putney, Walham Green ; and now they were trying Camberwell for the sake of a little change. It was their first quarter in AcaciaRoad; and as the quarter was now drawing to a close, how long they stayed there was doubtful at the best; it depended upon how much Mr. Redford was able to contribute towards the payment of at least a portion of the quarter's rent. What Mr. Redford was, nobody exactly knew. He had described himself, on different occasions, as being different things—a great many different things. He had an office in the City, which he frequently changed, often as frequently as once a month; but what he did in the office was to all except, possibly, himself, a mystery. One thing he did not do,—he very seldom brought any money home. Mrs. Redford took boarders, when she could get them, which was not by any means so often as she desired. The house had been newly furnished—on the hire system, from another firm ; and if they could only keep the furniture in the house as long as they remained in it themselves, all might be well. At present there wer...
