(seq. 18)

for about the house was pretty & attractive Mrs Merriams bedroom

was perfection May thought exquisitely neat & dainty from with a the
Wednesday Oct 25 1880
dressing table draped in flowered silk with pretty [?] & silver
backed brushes & bottles to the beautifully worked bed linens.
The Merriam's were not rich but he had an excellent salary
& there were no children to spend it on. Mrs Merriam [?]
was a good manager could make a little go a long way
& she had a passion for completeness. She liked everything
about her well-finished & perfect & in consequence her
house though small was the best regulated in [Halberton?] (there
was nothing in it which did not really belong to a bedroom & the
knick-knacks were few for Mrs Merriam thought very many
small things out of place in a sleeping-room) The parlor had
first of all many books & a few good pictures, there was
a little nook projection curtained off at one end, with cushioned fender
running along beside the square window, the whole room
had the appearance of being cozy without looking being crowded
which few parlors possess. The house was a very haven of rest
for May & when she first knew Mrs Merriam she envied
her the possession of it very heartily. But after a while she
found that all these things were merely the outside & that her
friend occupied busied herself with them because she wished to be busy
to be doing something anything rather than thinking of herself.
Mrs Merriam was a handsome woman with dark eyes &