“I will go, by all means,” exclaimed Waymark

Talk continued for some half-hour.  When Waymark rose at length, he expressed his gratitude for the assistance promised.

“Well, well,” said the other, “wait till we see how things work.  I shouldn’t wonder if you throw it up after a week or two.  However, be here on Tuesday at ten.  And prompt, mind:  I don’t wait for any man.”

Waymark was punctual enough on the following Tuesday, and the two drove in a hansom eastward.  It was rather a foggy morning, and things looked their worst.  After alighting they had a short walk.  Mr. Woodstock stopped at the end of an alley.

“You see,” he said, “that’s Litany Lane.  There are sixteen houses in it, and they’re all mine.  Half way down, on the left, runs off Elm Court, where there are fourteen houses, and those are all mine, too.”

Waymark looked.  Litany Lane was a narrow passage, with houses only on one side; opposite to them ran a long high wall, apparently the limit of some manufactory.  Two posts set up at the entrance to the Lane showed that it was no thoroughfare for vehicles.  The houses were of three storeys.  There were two or three dirty little shops, but the rest were ordinary lodging-houses, the front-doors standing wide open as a matter of course, exhibiting a dusky passage, filthy stairs, with generally a glimpse right through into the yard in the rear.  In Elm Court the houses were smaller, and had their fronts whitewashed.  Under the archway which led into the Court were fastened up several written notices of rooms to be let at this or that number.  The paving was in evil repair, forming here and there considerable pools of water, the stench and the colour whereof led to the supposition that the inhabitants facilitated domestic operations by emptying casual vessels out of the windows.  The dirty little casements on the ground floor exhibited without exception a rag of red or white curtain on the one side, prevailing fashion evidently requiring no corresponding drapery on the other.  The Court was a cul de sac, and at the far end stood a receptacle for ashes, the odour from which was intolerable.  Strangely enough, almost all the window-sills displayed flower-pots, and, despite the wretched weather, several little bird-cages hung out from the upper storeys.  In one of them a lark was singing briskly.

They began their progress through the tenements, commencing at the top of Litany Lane.  Many of the rooms were locked, the occupiers being away at their work, but in such case the rent had generally been left with some other person in the house, and was forthcoming.  But now and then neither rent nor tenant was to be got at, and dire were the threats which Abraham bade the neighbours convey to the defaulters on their return.  His way with one and all was curt and vigorous; to Waymark it seemed needlessly brutal.  A woman pleading inability to make up her total sum would be cut short