“And isn’t that the cold, hard truth of this world.” He turned from the picture he was looking at to smile back at the woman, pretending they were sharing some trivial inside joke.  Kohl could hardly remember the last time he’d struggled to pay a bill.  The 1800’s had blessed him with a few fortuitous investments and, not being a big spender, cash hadn’t been a worry.

“My name’s Kohl.” He extended a hand to Lily, walking back to his prospective flatmate. “Kohl Maurer.  Nice to meet you Lily.”  Kohl ended the introduction with a natural and charming smile. He thought she was relaxing. Or at least, that’s what he hoped was happening. The woman was tightly wound, but he had a sense her intuition was stronger than he’d originally suspected.  “So…do you have any questions for me or anything like that? Some ‘prospective flatmate’ interrogation?”