when
visiting in Alexandria. The last Lloyds to live in this house were two
very old ladies. What follows will serve to reveal why their neighbors
considered them "quaint."

Following the death of Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's consort, a
fashion grew up in Virginia affecting widows. At the death of the
husband a real Victorian Virginia lady simply went to bed and awaited
death. It did not always follow that a broken heart put her in her grave
as readily as was anticipated, and many of these brokenhearted widows
lived to a ripe old age. Such was the case with one of these piously
saddened ladies. When she heard the doorbell, she at once put herself
between the sheets of her high poster and covered herself to the chin.
Under the cover went such things as high button shoes, a "reticule" and
any other regalia that was in service at the moment. If the caller was
familiar, or after the formalities had been observed, proper sympathy
for the heart palpitating between the sheets, the head languishing upon
the pillow noticed and condoned, the sufferer would arise, hop out of
bed fully clothed and partake of cookies and wine passed by the black
dwarf, Selena. This small creature, after fulfilling her part in the
social amenities, seated herself upon a small stool, joined in the
conversation, and when amused (which was often) broke into a high
falsetto laugh. In the last years of these two ladies she gained a most
unholy influence over her charges and took cruel advantage of their
helplessness.

Another peculiarity of this household was the fashion of being admitted
to the mansion. After repeated ringing of the bell, a second-story front
window would open--those not in the know often left--and in a leisurely
fashion a grape basket was lowered by a long string. Inside the basket,
those who were familiar with the proceeding would find the front-door
key, a large, heavy iron affair, somewhat like that to the Bastille, now
on display at Mount Vernon, and with this they let themselves in.

The Lloyd house, a large rectangular brick building, divided by a
central hall with rooms on each side, is two and a half stories high.
Three dormer windows pierce the roof, front and back, and four great
chimneys rise from the gable ends. Flush with the street, on a corner,
with a handsome garden behind a pale and paneled fence adjoining to the
left, the house is a model federal town mansion. Pedimented doorway,
window caps, keystones, cornice a