Chapter 4 — CHAPTER IV.<br/>MR. CUSS INTERVIEWS THE STRANGER

I have told the circumstances of the stranger’s arrival in Iping with a
certain fulness of detail, in order that the curious impression he created may
be understood by the reader. But excepting two odd incidents, the circumstances
of his stay until the extraordinary day of the club festival may be passed over
very cursorily. There were a number of skirmishes with Mrs. Hall on matters of
domestic discipline, but in every case until late April, when the first signs
of penury began, he over-rode her by the easy expedient of an extra payment.
Hall did not like him, and whenever he dared he talked of the advisability of
getting rid of him; but he showed his dislike chiefly by concealing it
ostentatiously, and avoiding his visitor as much as possible. “Wait till
the summer,” said Mrs. Hall sagely, “when the artisks are beginning
to come. Then we’ll see. He may be a bit overbearing, but bills settled
punctual is bills settled punctual, whatever you’d like to say.”