31/52 At other times she was strictly forbidden to enter that room. She and the housekeeper usually ate together and Mr.Hall's meals were served in what the child called "the smoke room," meaning the apartment just described, which was at all times strongly scented with tobacco. The Sunday dinners were stately and formal affairs and were prefaced by lectures by the housekeeper concerning sitting up straight and not disturbing Cap'n Hall by talking too much. On the whole Mary-'Gusta was rather glad when the meals were over. She did not dislike her stepfather; he had never been rough or unkind, but she had always stood in awe of him and had felt that he regarded her as a "pesky nuisance," something to be fed and then shooed out of the way, as Mrs. |