noon
Then comes the little house where Will ` am Beattie 's sister Mary died in May , and there wasna a bonnier woman in Fife . Next is the cottage with the pansy-garden , where the lady in the widow 's cap takes five-o'clock tea in the bay-window , and a snug little supper at eight . She has for the first , scones and marmalade , and her tea is in a small black teapot under a red cosy with a white muslin cover drawn over it . At eight she has more tea , and generally a kippered herring , or a bit of cold mutton left from the noon dinner . We note the changes in her bill of fare as we pass hastily by , and feel admitted quite into the family secrets . Beyond this bay-window , which is so redolent of simple peace and comfort that we long to go in and sit down , is the cottage with the double white tulips , the cottage with the collie on the front steps , the doctor 's house with the yellow laburnum tree , and then the house where the Disagreeable Woman lives . She has a lovely baby , which , to begin with , is somewhat remarkable , as disagreeable women rarely have babies ; or else , having had them , rapidly lose their disagreeableness -- so rapidly that one has not time to notice it .