Page 117 of Fire Must Burn

‘How do you do? I am Mrs Aurora Chesworth. This is my secretary, Mary McTague. Am I correct in stating that you are the landlady for this building?’

‘Why, yes,’ said Mrs Cowell eagerly. ‘Are you interested in renting a room?’

‘It’s not for myself,’ said the tall woman. ‘My cousin’s daughter is coming to study in London and I have been asked by the family to find suitable quarters for a young woman where proper behaviour is strictly observed. Miss McTague, after some investigation, thought your establishment might be appropriate.’

‘Oh, I keep a sharp eye on my girls,’ said Mrs Cowell. ‘They are home and in bed by ten thirty each night, or they can’t stay here, and no visitors allowed, of course. It’s all spelled out in the lease.’

‘Excellent,’ said Mrs Chesworth. ‘Do you have any vacancies that we might inspect at the moment?’

‘You’re in luck,’ said Mrs Cowell, stepping back. ‘Do come in.’

She showed them into the sitting room, then hastily unplugged the vacuum cleaner and coiled the cord.

‘You’ll have to pardon me,’ she said with a nervous laugh. ‘I was just finishing up my cleaning. Cleanliness is next to godliness, as they say.’

‘Amen,’ said Mrs Chesworth piously.

‘Amen,’ echoed Miss McTague, suppressing a smirk which escaped Mrs Cowell’s notice as she rolled the vacuum cleaner down the hall into a cupboard.

‘Well, let’s talk business,’ said Mrs Cowell as she returned, wiping her hands on her apron. ‘When will the young lady be arriving?’

‘The autumn term starts the first week of September,’ said Mrs Chesworth.

‘Which school?’

‘The London School of Economics, so you see how your location is so very convenient,’ said Mrs Chesworth. ‘We wouldn’t want her returning through any unsavoury neighbourhoods at night.’

‘This is a safe area, I can assure you,’ said Mrs Cowell. ‘There’s usually a bobby walking the street every half hour, and there’s no pubs close by. It’s the alcohol what causes the most trouble after the sun sets. There’s none allowed here in the house, neither. That’s another rule of mine.’

‘You run a tight ship,’ commented Mrs Chesworth approvingly. ‘May we see the available rooms?’

‘Of course, of course,’ said Mrs Cowell. ‘Please follow me.’

She led them up a narrow staircase to the first storey which had a hallway with three rooms on either side and a bathroom at the end. Mrs Cowell produced a bunch of keys from her apron. Miss McTague watched her closely as she unlocked one of the doors.

‘Do all the rooms have their own locks and keys?’ asked Mrs Chesworth.

‘They do, but I’ve got a master, as you can see,’ replied Mrs Cowell. ‘I don’t want any secrets kept under my roof.’

The room was sparsely furnished with a single bed, a chest of drawers, a simple writing desk with a straight-backed chair and a built-in cupboard. The window faced another from a similar building across a narrow alley scarcely wider than the bins it accommodated.

‘Not much of a view,’ commented Mrs Chesworth.

‘We wouldn’t want to distract her from her studies, wouldwe?’ said Mrs Cowell. ‘But I’ve got another one on the next level that looks out onto the street.’

‘Let’s take a look at that one.’

The next level was very much the same as the first, including the furnishing of the room, but the street view was more cheerful, at least, despite some oncoming clouds. Mrs Chesworth gazed out of the window.

‘I think she would prefer this one, don’t you?’ she asked Miss McTague.

‘Depends,’ said Miss McTague. ‘You’ve forgot something quite essential, ma’am.’

‘Ah, you mean the bathrooms,’ said Mrs Cowell. ‘Very important to us ladies, aren’t they? Come take a look.’

She led them down the end of the hall to the bathroom and opened the door, revealing a free-standing bathtub on iron-clawed feet with a hand-held shower head running from a tall pipe at the end, alongside a toilet and sink that were old but clean and well-maintained.

‘There’s as many as six girls sharing it when we’re full up,’ said Mrs Cowell. ‘So there can be a bit of a mad scramble in the mornings, but we haven’t had any fights break out over it.’