entertaining, to judge from the laughter they evoked. The arrivals
passed through the house and went into the garden, where they had
tea in a large summer-house, an occasional blink of bright colour,
through the foliage, being all that was visible of the assembly from
Mrs. Garland's windows. When it grew dusk they all could be heard
coming indoors to finish the evening in the parlour.

Then there was an intensified continuation of the above-mentioned
signs of enjoyment, talkings and haw-haws, runnings upstairs and
runnings down, a slamming of doors and a clinking of cups and
glasses; till the proudest adjoining tenant without friends on his
own side of the partition might have been tempted to wish for
entrance to that merry dwelling, if only to know the cause of these
fluctuations of hilarity, and to see if the guests were really so
numerous, and the observations so very amusing as they seemed.

The stagnation of life on the Garland side of the party-wall began
to have a very gloomy effect by the contrast. When, about half-past
nine o'clock, one of these tantalizing bursts of gaiety had
resounded for a longer time than usual, Anne said, 'I believe,
mother, that you are wishing you had gone.'

'I own to feeling that it would have been very cheerful if we had
joined in,' said Mrs. Garland, in a hankering tone. 'I was rather
too nice in listening to you and not going. The parson never calls
upon us except in his spiritual capacity. Old Derriman is hardly
genteel; and there's nobody left to speak to. Lonely people must
accept what company they can get.'

'Or do without it altogether.'