I was, however, spared the anxiety of hunting the place up, for my uncle had authorised me to spend a shilling in a cab for the occasion; and thus conveyed, after twistings and turnings which positively made my head ache, I arrived in state at my future lodging.
The "square" was, like many other City squares, a collection of tumbledown dingy houses built round an open space which might once have contained nothing but green grass and trees, but was now utterly destitute of either.

There was indeed an enclosure within rusty and broken iron palings, but it contained nothing but mud, a few old beer- cans, and a lot of waste-paper, and one dead cat and one or two half- starved living ones.

A miserable look-out, truly, as I stood on Mrs Nash's doorstep with my trunk waiting to be let in.
A slatternly female, whom I supposed to be the servant, admitted me.
"Is Mrs Nash in ?" said I.
"Yes, that's me," said the lady.

"I suppose you're young Batchelor." She spoke gruffly and like a person who was not very fond of boys.
"Yes," said I.
"All right," said she; "come in and bring your trunk." I obeyed.

The place looked very dark and grimy, far worse than ever Stonebridge House had been.