le used to say, laughing as
they said it, for he was portly and the door was wide. But they meant
more than just that, for there were few, even among the unimaginative,
who did not feel drawn to that door. Hospitality shone from every
panel, the big fanlight was like a genial sun, and the resemblance to
his cheery face and cordial manner was not altogether fanciful.

Of the inside of the house perhaps it is enough to say at present that
it kept the promise of the outside.

After the judge's death the old home fell to the share of the younger
of his two sons, for the William Hazeltines had already built their
fine mansion out on Dean avenue, where Aunt Marcia found things more
suited to her fastidious taste than on the quiet street which had
ceased to be fashionable.

On the other hand, her brother-in-law declared that he much preferred
his large garden and home-like neighborhood to the elegant monotony of
her surroundings. The children agreed with their father, and so
perhaps, for the matter of that, did Uncle William.

At the top of the house there was a long low room, with five windows
looking east, west, and south, which was known as the star chamber.
This name had originated with Uncle William in the days when he and
his brother Frank played and studied there, as Carl and his sisters
did now. On rainy days when the garden was out of the question the
children were most likely to be found here.

It was a pleasant place and well suited for any sort of indoor game.
Except for a rug or two the floor was bare, and the furniture
consisted of an old claw-footed sofa on which at least six people
could sit comfortably at one time, a wardrobe, some book-shelves, and
a hammock swung across one corner. There may have been a chair or two,
but the wide window-sills made pleasanter resting-places. Here in the
summer time you looked out into the soft greenness of the maple trees,
getting glimpses of the quiet street, but when the branches were bare
a fine outlook was to be had all over the neighborhood, and you saw
how big houses and little houses stood sociably side by side, while an
old gray church kept guard at one corner. Here Bess and Louise
romanced over an imaginary family known as "The Carletons," or played
dolls with Helen, and here Carl arranged his stamp album and made
signals to Ikey across the street. Sometimes their father and uncle
would drop in and pretend they were boys once more. Then what delight
it was to l