“Don’t believe a word of that story,” thought Dr. Renton, sententiously.

“I thought, sir,” she continued, emboldened by his silence, “that if you would be willing to wait a little longer, we would manage to pay you soon, and not let it occur again.  It has been a hard winter with us, sir; firing is high, and provisions, and everything; and we’re only poor people, you know, and it’s difficult to get along.”

The doctor made no reply.

“My husband was unfortunate, sir, in not being able to get employment here,” she resumed; “his being out of work in the autumn, threw us all back, and we’ve got nothing to depend on but his earnings.  The family that he’s in now, sir, don’t give him very good pay,—­only twenty dollars a month, and his board,—­but it was the best chance he could get, and it was either go to Baltimore with them, or stay at home and starve, and so he went, sir.  It’s been a hard time with us, and one of the children is sick, now, with a fever, and we don’t hardly know how to make out a living.  And so, sir, I have come here this evening, leaving the children alone, to ask you if you wouldn’t be kind enough to wait a little longer, and we’ll hope to make it right with you in the end.”

“Mrs. Miller,” said Dr. Renton, with stern composure, “I have no wish to question the truth of any statement you may make; but I must tell you plainly, that I can’t afford to let my houses for nothing.  I told you a month ago, that if you couldn’t pay me my rent, you must vacate the premises.  You know very well that there are plenty of tenants who are able and willing to pay when the money comes due.  You know that.”

He paused as he said this, and, glancing at her, saw her pale lips falter.  It shook the cruelty of his purpose a little, and he had a vague feeling that he was doing wrong.  Not without a proud struggle, during which no word was spoken, could he beat it down.  Meanwhile, the phantom had advanced a pace toward the centre of the room.

“That is the state of the matter, ma’am,” he resumed, coldly.  “People who will not pay me my rent must not live in my tenements.  You must move out.  I have no more to say.”

“Dr. Renton,” she said, faintly, “I have a sick child,—­how can I move now?  O, sir, it’s Christmas eve,—­don’t be hard with us!”

Instead of touching him, this speech irritated him beyond measure.  Passing all considerations of her difficult position involved in her piteous statement, his anger flashed at once on her implication that he was unjust and unkind.  So violent was his excitement that it whirled away the words that rushed to his lips, and only fanned the fury that sparkled from the whiteness of his face in his eyes.

“Be patient with us, sir,” she continued; “we are poor, but we mean to pay you; and we can’t move now in this cold weather; please, don’t be hard with us, sir.”

The fury now burst out on his face in a red and angry glow, and the words came.