they have fine jinks over there in summer time?"--The householders in
the park never, under any circumstances, indulged in "jinks." They
disapproved thoroughly, and on principle, of anything connected with
jinks!--"Think of that now--the poor, deluded creatures! What did they
use the gardens for, anyway?"--The gardens were used for an occasional
promenade; and were also valuable as forming a screen between the Park
and the houses on the Western Road.--"What was wrong with the houses on
the Western Road?"--There was nothing wrong with the houses in question.
The residents in the Park objected to see, or to be seen by, _any_
houses, however desirable. They wished to ensure for themselves an
unbroken and uninterrupted privacy.--"My gracious!"

Mrs Phipps, the dragon of the South Lodge, came out to the doorstep,
and bobbed respectfully as Miss Briskett passed by, but curiosity was
rampant upon her features. Cornelia smiled radiantly upon her; she
smiled upon everyone she met, and threw bright, curious glances to right
and to left.

"My! isn't it _green_? My! isn't it still? Where _is_ everyone,
anyway? Have they got a funeral in every house? Seems kind of
unsociable, muffling themselves up behind these hedgerows! Over with
us, if we've got a good thing, we're not so eager to hide it away. You
can walk along the sidewalk and see everything that's going on. In the
towns the families camp out on the doorsteps. It's real lively and
sociable. ... Are these your stores? They look as if they'd been made
in the year one."

They were, in truth, a quaint little row--butcher, grocer, greengrocer,
and linen-draper, all nestled into a little angle between two long,
outstanding buildings, which seemed threatening at every moment to fall
down and crush them to atoms. The windows were small, and the space
inside decidedly limited, and this morning there was an unusual rush of
customers. It seemed as if every housewife in the neighbourhood had
sallied forth to make her purchases at the exact hour when Miss Briskett
was known to do her daily shopping. At the grocer's counter Cornelia
was introduced to Mrs Beaumont, of The Croft.

"My niece, Miss Cornelia Briskett. Mrs Beaumont," murmured Miss
Briskett.

"Mrs Beau_mont_!" repeated Cornelia, loudly, with a gracious, sidelong
observance, at which unusual manner of receiving an introduction both
ladies stared in surprise.

Presently Mrs Beaumont recovered herself suffici