This was the name of the little cottage where my great-grandparents lived--so called because of an old vine which covered the south wall on one side of the porch, and crept over a framework upon the roof.

I do not now remember how many pounds of grapes it had been known to produce in one season, and yet I ought not to have forgotten, for it was a subject on which my great-grandfather, my great-grandmother, Adolphe, and Elspeth constantly boasted.
"And if they don't just ripen as the master says they do in France, it's all for the best," said Elspeth; "for ripe grapes would be picked all along, and the house not a penny the better for them.

But green-grape tarts and cream are just eating for a king." Elspeth was "general servant" at my great-grandmother's.

Her aunt Mary had come from Scotland to serve "Miss Victoire" when she first married.
As Mary's health failed, and she grew old, her young niece was sent for to work under her.

Old Mary died with her hands in my great-grandmother's, and Elspeth reigned in her stead.
Elspeth was an elderly woman when I first made her acquaintance.