a minute."

Mrs. Black found Mrs. Manstey standing in the long parlor garnished with
statuettes and antimacassars; in that house she could not sit down.

Stooping hurriedly to open the register, which let out a cloud of dust,
Mrs. Black advanced on her visitor.

"I'm happy to meet you, Mrs. Manstey; take a seat, please," the landlady
remarked in her prosperous voice, the voice of a woman who can afford to
build extensions. There was no help for it; Mrs. Manstey sat down.

"Is there anything I can do for you, ma'am?" Mrs. Black continued. "My
house is full at present, but I am going to build an extension, and--"

"It is about the extension that I wish to speak," said Mrs. Manstey,
suddenly. "I am a poor woman, Mrs. Black, and I have never been a
happy one. I shall have to talk about myself first to--to make you
understand."

Mrs. Black, astonished but imperturbable, bowed at this parenthesis.

"I never had what I wanted," Mrs. Manstey continued. "It was always one
disappointment after another. For years I wanted to live in the country.
I dreamed and dreamed about it; but we never could manage it. There was
no sunny window in our house, and so all my plants died. My daughter
married years ago and went away--besides, she never cared for the same
things. Then my husband died and I was left alone. That was seventeen
years ago. I went to live at Mrs. Sampson's, and I have been there ever
since. I have grown a little infirm, as you see, and I don't get
out often; only on fine days, if I am feeling very well. So you can
understand my sitting a great deal in my window--the back window on the
third floor--"

"Well, Mrs. Manstey," said Mrs. Black, liberally, "I could give you a
back room, I dare say; one of the new rooms in the ex--"

"But I don't want to move; I can't move," said Mrs. Manstey, almost with
a scream. "And I came to tell you that if you build that extension I
shall have no view from my window--no view! Do you understand?"

Mrs. Black thought herself face to face with a lunatic, and she had
always heard that lunatics must be humored.

"Dear me, dear me," she remarked, pushing her chair back a little way,
"that is too bad, isn't it? Why, I never thought of that. To be sure,
the extension WILL interfere with your view, Mrs. Manstey."

"You do understand?" Mrs. Manstey gasped.

"Of course I do. And I'm real sorry about it, too. But there, don't you
worry, Mrs. Manstey. I guess we can fix that all right."