These things are understood in Exeter so well! Miss Stanbury belonged to the county set, but she lived in a large brick house, standing in the Close, almost behind the Cathedral.
Indeed it was so close to the eastern end of the edifice that a carriage could not be brought quite up to her door.

It was a large brick house, very old, with a door in the middle, and five steps ascending to it between high iron rails.

On each side of the door there were two windows on the ground floor, and above that there were three tiers of five windows each, and the house was double throughout, having as many windows looking out behind into a gloomy courtyard.

But the glory of the house consisted in this, that there was a garden attached to it, a garden with very high walls, over which the boughs of trees might be seen, giving to the otherwise gloomy abode a touch of freshness in the summer, and a look of space in the winter, which no doubt added something to the reputation even of Miss Stanbury.

The fact,--for it was a fact,--that there was no gloomier or less attractive spot in the whole city than Miss Stanbury's garden, when seen inside, did not militate against this advantage.