house itself, with its three square windows on each side of the door,
and its seven windows over that, and again its seven windows in the
upper story but the end of the coach-house also abutted on the street,
on which was the family clock, quite as much respected in Perivale as
was the town-clock; and between the coach-house and the mansion there
was the broad entrance into the yard, and the entrance also to the back
door. No Perivalian ever presumed to doubt that Mrs Winterfield's house
was the most important house in the town. Nor did any stranger doubt it
on looking at the frontage. But then it was in all respects a town
house to the eye that is, an English town house, being as ugly and as
respectable as unlimited bricks and mortar could make it. Immediately
opposite to Mrs Winterfield lived the leading doctor and a retired
builder, so that the lady's eye was not hurt by any sign of a shop. The
shops, indeed, came within a very few yards of her on either side; but
as the neighbouring shops on each side were her own property, this was
not unbearable. To me, had I lived there, the incipient growth of grass
through some of the stones which formed the margin of the road would
have been altogether unendurable. There is no sign of coming decay
which is so melancholy to the eye as any which tells of a decrease in
the throng of men. Of men or horses there was never any throng now in
that end of Perivale. That street had formed part of the main line of
road from Salisbury to Taunton, and coaches, wagons, and
posting-carriages had been frequent on it; but now, alas lit was
deserted. Even the omnibuses from the railway-station never came there
unless they were ordered to call at Mrs Winterfield's door. For Mrs
Winterfield herself, this desolation had, I think, a certain melancholy
attraction. It suited her tone of mind and her religious views that she
should be thus daily reminded that things of this world were passing
away and going to destruction. She liked to have ocular proof that
grass was growing in the highways under mortal feet, and that it was no