THE HOUSE OF HAPPY HOURS 



228 



"Do you think you can infuse into the 

 neighbors the spirit of yonr House of 

 Happy Hours?" he asked. 



•"I hope so," she replied. "I can try at 

 least. All women and children are more 

 or less alike, I believe, when it comes to 

 things essentially feminine or childlike, 

 and especially so in affairs pertaining to 

 their home life. It remains to be seen 

 whether we can plan so discreetly and 

 tactfully that we can arouse the dormant 

 feelings, and implant high ideals among 

 our neighbors. It is worth a trial, any- 

 way.*' 



Chapter V. 



The Tuckerites all liked :\[rs. Waring, 

 but a distinct consciousness, which they 

 were studious to refrain from admitting 

 in words, made them perfectly aware that 

 she was among them, but not of them. 

 She never made any assumption of su- 

 periority, and whenever it was possible 

 to do a neighborly act. she did it as freely 

 and naturally as though she and they 

 belonged to the same social stratum. It 

 was this u.naffected disregard of obvious 

 differences which emphasized her position 

 — it denoted that she was genuinely a 

 superior woman, and so could afford to 

 be herself. If she had showed any ten- 

 dency to be exclusive by keeping to herself, 

 or separating her children from their play- 

 fellows, it would have brought about all 

 sorts of unpleasant little complications. 



When the new people moved into the 

 Extension, her older neighbors half ex- 

 pected her to affiliate with them more 

 decidedly than with themselves, but as the 

 months went by they found no room for 

 complaint, and so were ready to listen 

 when she began to talk to them about the 

 plans she had made for rendering the 

 Tucker cottages as attractive in their way 

 as any houses in Wimbledon. 



They all knew of Mr. Tucker's fondness 

 for the Waring family, and at first there 

 were some to give voice to a suspicion that 

 he was using Mrs. Waring as a catspaw 

 to get his property values increased. 



•"Well, perhaps that is quite true," she 

 admitted, good-naturedly, "but he is will- 

 ing to do his share toward making our 

 homes more attractive. He is already pre- 

 paring to set our streets with young pop- 

 lar trees, and he has promised to furnish 

 all the money we will need to begin our 

 work." 



"He'd better start by shingling my 

 house anew," said one woman. "And I'd 

 feel more like planting flowers in my yard 

 if he'd fix it so it wouldn't wash into 

 ditches and gullies every time a big rain 

 comes," said another. 



"Faith," chimed in Mrs. Millirons, a 

 fat, merry-faced Irish woman, "an' it 

 would be the ver}' thing for me to make a 

 settin' room of me back yard, since ivery 

 blessed chimney in me house shmokes the 

 very eyes out of me !" 



"Do you all remember how this place 

 was when we took it Mrs. Waring, asked, 

 smilingly. 



"Aye, that we do!" Mrs. Millirons 

 spoke for all. 



They were gathered in Mrs. Waring's 

 bright little sitting-room, where she had 

 beguiled them with an invitation to a five- 

 o'clock tea — a thing which sounded so 

 "tony" that they had all with one accord 

 come gladly, hoping that the Extensioners 

 would hear of the swell festivity. It was 

 the first five-o'clock tea that most of them 

 had ever attended, and there were some 

 surprised glances cast upon the thinly 

 sliced bread and butter and the tiny cups 

 of tea which Mrs. Waring dispensed from 

 a small table, for her little ones to hand 

 to the guests. Some of them had come 

 expecting a lavish feast, but not one would 

 display surprise to another, for they all 

 felt that Mrs. Waring knew what was the 

 proper thing. 



Only Mrs. Millirons laughingly said, as 

 she balanced her cup in the palm of her 

 hand — a tiny, delicate piece of frail Dres- 

 den ware, "Sure, me darlinf' — to small 

 Alice, who had served her — "the tay is 

 that fragrint that I'm thinkin' I'll have to 

 sind me little cup back for more, directly." 



