A Story of an Angle Window by Ruth Lamb

MERE SIDE deserved all the praises bestowed upon it by Pauline Tindall. The house was really almost new, and had replaced one that was old-fashioned and inconvenient. It had been built and partially furnished out of some of the funds which had accumulated during Dick's minority. When people admired it, he was accustomed to say, "The mother and I built it. We were planning it for a couple of years before I came of age, so we were ready to begin at once when I had sufficient command of money. It owes far more to her than it does either to the architect or myself."

Truly there were plenty of more pretentious-looking places round about, for that portion of Saltshire abounded in handsome country residences. Mere Side was so delightfully homely that people scarcely thought of its costliness, but rather of the thought and taste expended upon it. There was nothing of glare or glitter about it, and it would certainly have disappointed a vulgar rich owner, whose great object might have been to secure as much show as possible in return for the expenditure. But every article of furniture was exactly suited, both for the place it occupied and for comfort and use.