were two conspicuous dwellings,
neither of them new and one of them ancient as the street itself. They
stood fairly close together, with an alley running between. From the
number I had now reached it was evident that the mayor lived in one of
these. Happily it was in the fresher and more inviting one. As I noted
this, I paused in admiration of its spacious front and imposing doorway.
The latter was in the best style of Colonial architecture, and
though raised but one step from the walk, was so distinguished by the
fan-tailed light overhead and the flanking casements glazed with antique
glass, that I felt myself carried back to the days when such domiciles
were few and denoted wealth the most solid, and hospitality the most
generous.

A light wall, painted to match the house, extended without break to
the adjoining building, a structure equal to the other in age and
dimensions, but differing in all other respects as much as neglect and
misuse could make it. Gray and forbidding, it towered in its place, a
perfect foil to the attractive dwelling whose single step I now amounted
with cheerful composure.

What should I have thought if at that moment I had been told that
appearances were deceitful, and that there were many persons then living
who, if left to their choice, would prefer life in the dismal walls
from which I had instinctively turned, to a single night spent in the
promising house I was so eager to enter.

An old serving-man, with a countenance which struck me pleasantly
enough at the time, opened the door in response to my ring, only to make
instant way for Mayor Packard, who advanced from some near-by room to
greet me. By this thoughtful attention I was spared the embarrassment
from which I might otherwise have suffered.

His few words of greeting set me entirely at my ease, and I was quite
ready to follow him when a moment later he invited me to meet Mrs.
Packard.

"I can not promise you just the reception you naturally look for," said
he, as he led me around the stairs toward an opening at their rear, "but
she's a kind woman and can not but be struck with your own kind spirit
and quiet manner."

Happily, I was not called upon to answer, for at that moment the door
swung open and he ushered me into a room flooded brilliantly with the
last rays of the setting sun. The woman who sat in its glow made an
instant and permanent impression upon me. No one could look intently
upon her without feeling that her