When I left the train with my bag in my hand, I felt excited and a
little bit afraid. I realized that I had no special destination, and the
part of the city where the station was did not look as if it was a place
to find a room. There were many cars passing, and I finally got on one,
a Columbus Avenue.
As we rode along I looked out of the window and watched the houses for a
“Room to Let” sign, and presently we came to some tall stone houses, all
very much alike, and ugly-and severe-looking after our pretty Montreal
houses with their bits of lawn and sometimes even little gardens in
front. There were “Room to Let” signs on nearly all the houses in this
block. So I got out and went up the high steps of the one I thought
looked the cleanest.