{"product_id":"2940013703193","title":"My Lodger","description":"Why, you know, it was only last summer that I was wearily trudging\u003cbr\u003ethrough Melbourne streets in search of lodgings, and will you credit\u003cbr\u003eit that I have to-day arrived at the dignity of keeping lodgers\u003cbr\u003emyself! Instead of speaking humbly to crusty old women who scan me\u003cbr\u003efrom head to foot inspectively, and watch any loose articles, such as\u003cbr\u003ea huckaback towel, that may be lying about when I request to see the\u003cbr\u003e\"apartment\" to let, I have the immense satisfaction of being crusty,\u003cbr\u003eand of snapping and turning up my nose at non-eligible inquirers for\u003cbr\u003erooms myself.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow, I don't care how much inclined you may be to disagreeable fault-\u003cbr\u003efinding, you must acknowledge that I have wonderfully improved my\u003cbr\u003econdition within the past few months; not that I expect much sympathy\u003cbr\u003efrom you in any case, oh, no! (although, if you made anything by it, I\u003cbr\u003ehave no doubt any quantity of that commodity would be humbly at my\u003cbr\u003eservice), but you are so much in the habit of considering yourself and\u003cbr\u003eyour judgments as infallible, and of talking of yourself as a\u003cbr\u003ereasonable and reasoning creature (fond public!) that you would not\u003cbr\u003eventure upon jeopardising your character by denying a fact so obvious.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd although I calculate upon a hearing of my little insignificant\u003cbr\u003einterests from you in a general way, in a particular one how idle it\u003cbr\u003ewould be to attempt interesting you! You walk on Turkey carpets, or at\u003cbr\u003ethe least Brussels, you do; and you loll upon, oh, so soft and\u003cbr\u003edelicious sofas, and in the downiest of easy-chairs; and what do you\u003cbr\u003ecare about the cost of dingy-looking drugget, or the price of sea-weed\u003cbr\u003emattresses! Faugh! the very idea of the thing makes you ill, doesn't\u003cbr\u003eit? but that doesn't trouble me in the least, you know, for it is\u003cbr\u003equite as much pleasure to me to talk of my own petty affairs as it is\u003cbr\u003eto you to discuss the most important arrangements connected with your\u003cbr\u003emost magnificent menage.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf one has the bump of constructiveness at all well developed, there\u003cbr\u003eis nothing more pleasurably exciting than furnishing a house upon\u003cbr\u003enothing. Until you commence to do so with not more than four or five\u003cbr\u003epounds in your purse, and begin to contrive tables and seats out of\u003cbr\u003eempty cases, and to convert trunks and boxes into pretty-looking\u003cbr\u003eottomans, you don't know what fun there is in the world. Until you\u003cbr\u003ehave to scrape pennies together in a way that the careful can only\u003cbr\u003eunderstand, and lay them together to make shillings for the\u003cbr\u003eacquisition of some necessary trifle, you have little idea of the\u003cbr\u003ecomfort to be derived from the most ordinary of necessities; and I\u003cbr\u003ehave not the least doubt that I have more real pleasure in\u003cbr\u003econtemplating at this moment a very pretty rug, bought for the sum of\u003cbr\u003etwo shillings and sixpence, than you enjoy in looking at the tout\u003cbr\u003eensemble of your very magnificent drawing-room, the furnishing of\u003cbr\u003ewhich, I myself am aware, cost you a few cool hundreds.","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47073765753072,"sku":"2940013703193","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013703193_p0.jpg?v=1763584178","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013703193","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}