But there were two evils worse than even
this coldness and bareness of the rooms: one was that we were
provided with a latch-key, which allowed us to open the front door
whenever we came home from a walk, and go upstairs without meeting
any face of welcome, or hearing the sound of a human voice in the
apparently deserted house--Mr. Mackenzie piqued himself on the
noiselessness of his establishment; and the other, which might almost
seem to neutralize the first, was the danger we were always exposed
to on going out, of the old man--sly, miserly, and intelligent--
popping out upon us from his room, close to the left hand of the
door, with some civility which we learned to distrust as a mere
pretext for extorting more money, yet which it was difficult to
refuse: such as the offer of any books out of his library, a great
temptation, for we could see into the shelf-lined room; but just as
we were on the point of yielding, there was a hint of the
"consideration" to be expected for the loan of books of so much
higher a class than any to be obtained at the circulating library,
which made us suddenly draw back.
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