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Manstey repeated. "Is it, indeed? I didn't know there was a magnolia there," said Mrs. Sampson, carelessly. Mrs. Manstey looked at her; she did not know that there was a magnolia in the next yard! "By the way," Mrs. Sampson continued, "speaking of Mrs. Black reminds me that the work on the extension is to begin next week." "The what?" it was Mrs. Manstey's turn to ask. "The extension," said Mrs.
Manstey's name. "One of Mrs. Sampson's boarders; wants to move, I suppose. Well, I can give her a room next year in the extension. Dinah," said Mrs. Black, "tell the lady I'll be upstairs in a minute." Mrs. Black found Mrs. Manstey standing in the long parlor garnished with statuettes and antimacassars; in that house she could not sit down.
And Mrs. Manstey, leaning forward, perceived that there were several barrels of paper and rubbish under the wooden balcony. At length the work ceased and twilight fell. The sunset was perfect and a roseate light, transfiguring the distant spire, lingered late in the west. When it grew dark Mrs. Manstey drew down the shades and proceeded, in her usual methodical manner, to light her lamp.
The church was small, the congregation smaller, and the clergyman a little weary of the empty benches. But the two faces in the Manstey pew were so bright, so vivid with the vigor of youth, that his jaded mind freshened to meet the interest of new hearers. But neither Edith nor Farringdon listened attentively to the sermon, for their minds were busy with other things.
At last Mrs. Manstey said: "Do you know how high the extension will be?" "That's the most absurd part of it. The extension is to be built right up to the roof of the main building; now, did you ever?" Mrs. Manstey paused again. "Won't it be a great annoyance to you, Mrs. Sampson?" she asked. "I should say it would.
But there, don't you worry, Mrs. Manstey. I guess we can fix that all right." Mrs. Manstey rose from her seat, and Mrs. Black slipped toward the door. "What do you mean by fixing it? Do you mean that I can induce you to change your mind about the extension? Oh, Mrs. Black, listen to me.
Black thought herself face to face with a lunatic, and she had always heard that lunatics must be humored. "Dear me, dear me," she remarked, pushing her chair back a little way, "that is too bad, isn't it? Why, I never thought of that. To be sure, the extension WILL interfere with your view, Mrs. Manstey." "You do understand?" Mrs. Manstey gasped. "Of course I do. And I'm real sorry about it, too.
"If I had been out, I'd have taken every fence," she said, boastfully, and then laughed. He laughed too. "If I if you were my sister, I shouldn't let you follow Ralph Manstey on horseback. He's utterly reckless." "So am I," she came in, with spirit. "At home I ride anything and jump everything." "Well, you shouldn't if you were my sister," he repeated, decisively.
"Oh, the window she wants to sit in the window. She used to sit there all day," Mrs. Sampson explained. "It can do her no harm, I suppose?" "Nothing matters now," said the nurse. They carried Mrs. Manstey to the window and placed her in her chair.
But of greater interest were the yards beyond. Being for the most part attached to boarding-houses they were in a state of chronic untidiness and fluttering, on certain days of the week, with miscellaneous garments and frayed table-cloths. In spite of this Mrs. Manstey found much to admire in the long vista which she commanded.
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