Adjoining these was a small
apartment consisting of two rooms, connecting with Peter's suite
by a door cut through for some former lodger. These were also
under Mrs. McGuffey's special care and very good care did she take
of them, especially when Peter's sister, Miss Felicia Grayson,
occupied them for certain weeks in the year.
These changes had all taken place in the time the old fellow had
mounted the quaint stairs with the thin mahogany banisters, and
yet Peter stayed on. "The gnarled pear tree in the back yard is so
charming," he would urge in excuse, "especially in the spring,
when the perfume of its blossoms fills the air," or, "the view
overlooking Union Square is so delightful," or, "the fireplace has
such a good draught." What mattered it who lived next door, or
below, or overhead, for that matter, so that he was not disturbed
--and he never was. The property, of course, had gone from bad to
worse since the owner had died; the neighborhood had run down, and
the better class of tenants down, up, and even across the street--
had moved away, but none of these things had troubled Peter.
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