Now, however, it was the middle of summer.

Virginia creeper and ivy, honeysuckle and jasmine, nearly covered the walls.

The little place looked picturesque without; and within, honest, hard-working Mrs.Tester contrived with plentiful scouring and washing to give a clean and cosy effect.
Mrs.Bertram, as she stepped into the kitchen, noticed the nice little fire in the bright grate (the lodge boasted of no range); she also saw a pile of buttered toast on the hob, and the tiny kitchen was fragrant with the smell of fresh coffee.
Mrs.Bertram was not wrong when she guessed that Tester and his wife did not live on these dainty viands.
"I'm just preparing breakfast, ma'am, for our young lady lodger," said good Mrs.Tester, dropping a curtsey.
"For your young lady lodger?
What do you mean, Mrs.Tester ?" "Well, ma'am, please take a chair, won't you, Mrs.Bertram--you'll like to be near the fire, my lady, I'm sure." (The Testers generally spoke to the great woman in this way--she did not trouble herself to contradict them.) "Well, my lady, she come last night by the train.

It was Davis's cab brought her up, and set her down, her and her bits of things, just outside the lodge.

Nothing would please her but that we should give her the front bedroom and the little parlor inside this room and she is to pay us fifteen shillings a week, to cover board and all.