last, and the company was going out of business, so if any one wished to take advantage of this wonderful no-rent plan, he would have to be very quick.  As a matter of fact there was just a little uncertainty as to whether there was a single house left; for the agent had taken so many people to see them, and for all he knew the company might have parted with the last.  Seeing Teta Elzbieta’s evident grief at this news, he added, after some hesitation, that if they really intended to make a purchase, he would send a telephone message at his own expense, and have one of the houses kept.  So it had finally been arranged—­and they were to go and make an inspection the following Sunday morning.

That was Thursday; and all the rest of the week the killing gang at Brown’s worked at full pressure, and Jurgis cleared a dollar seventy-five every day.  That was at the rate of ten and one-half dollars a week, or forty-five a month.  Jurgis was not able to figure, except it was a very simple sum, but Ona was like lightning at such things, and she worked out the problem for the family.  Marija and Jonas were each to pay sixteen dollars a month board, and the old man insisted that he could do the same as soon as he got a place—­which might be any day now.  That would make ninety-three dollars.  Then Marija and Jonas were between them to take a third share in the house, which would leave only eight dollars a month for Jurgis to contribute to the payment.  So they would have eighty-five dollars a month—­or, supposing that Dede Antanas did not get work at once, seventy dollars a month—­which ought surely to be sufficient for the support of a family of twelve.

An hour before the time on Sunday morning the entire party set out.  They had the address written on a piece of paper, which they showed to some one now and then.  It proved to be a long mile and a half, but they walked it, and half an hour or so later the agent put in an appearance.  He was a smooth and florid personage, elegantly dressed, and he spoke their language freely, which gave him a great advantage in dealing with them.  He escorted them to the house, which was one of a long row of the typical frame dwellings of the neighborhood, where architecture is a luxury that is dispensed with.  Ona’s heart sank, for the house was not as it was shown in the picture; the color scheme was different, for one thing, and then it did not seem quite so big.  Still, it was freshly painted, and made a considerable show.  It was all brand-new, so the agent told them, but he talked so incessantly that they were quite confused, and did not have time to ask many questions.  There were all sorts of things they had made up their minds to inquire about, but when the time came, they either forgot them or lacked the courage.  The other houses in the row did not seem to be new, and few of them seemed to be occupied.  When they ventured to hint at this, the agent’s reply was that the purchasers would be moving in shortly.  To press the matter would have seemed to be doubting his word, and never in their lives had any one of them ever spoken to a person of the class called “gentleman” except with deference and humility.