breath, the cable cars had become electric. Gray hairs began to appear
in the heads of the people Dr. Gilman had married in the '60's and their
children were going East to College.



II

In the first decade of the twentieth century, Asa, Waring still clung to
the imposing, early Victorian mansion in Hamilton Street. It presented
an uncompromising and rather scornful front to the sister mansions with
which it had hitherto been on intimate terms, now fast degenerating into
a shabby gentility, seeking covertly to catch the eye of boarders, but as
yet refraining from open solicitation. Their lawns were growing a little
ragged, their stone steps and copings revealing cracks.

Asa Waring looked with a stern distaste upon certain aspects of modern
life. And though he possessed the means to follow his friends and
erstwhile neighbours into the newer paradise five miles westward, he had
successfully resisted for several years a formidable campaign to uproot
him. His three married daughters lived in that clean and verdant
district surrounding the Park (spelled with a capital), while Evelyn and
Rex spent most of their time in the West End or at the Country Clubs.
Even Mrs. Waring, who resembled a Roman matron, with her wavy white hair
parted in the middle and her gentle yet classic features, sighed secretly
at times at the unyielding attitude of her husband, although admiring him
for it. The grandchildren drew her.

On the occasion of Sunday dinner, when they surrounded her, her heart was
filled to overflowing.