Neither had Doctor John . Marcella was only eight years old when she came to live in Bridgeport . Her father , Chester Barry , had just died . Her mother , who was a sister of Miss Sara Bryant , my next door neighbor , had been dead for four years . Marcella 's father left her to the guardianship of his brother , Richard Barry ; but Miss Sara pleaded so hard to have the little girl that the Barrys consented to let Marcella live with her aunt until she was sixteen . Then , they said , she would have to go back to them , to be properly educated and take the place of her father 's daughter in his world . For , of course , it is a fact that Miss Sara Bryant 's world was and is a very different one from Chester Barry 's world . As to which side the difference favors , that is n't for me to say . It all depends on your standard of what is really worth while , you know . So Marcella came to live with us in Bridgeport . I say `` us '' advisedly . She slept and ate in her aunt 's house , but every house in the village was a home to her ; for , with all our little disagreements and diverse opinions , we are really all one big family , and everybody feels an interest in and a good working affection for everybody else . Besides , Marcella was one of those children whom everybody loves at sight , and keeps on loving . One long , steady gaze from those big grayish-blue black-lashed eyes of hers went right into your heart and stayed there . She was a pretty child and as good as she was pretty . It was the right sort of goodness , too , with just enough spice of original sin in it to keep it from spoiling by reason of over-sweetness . She was a frank , loyal , brave little thing , even at eight , and would n't have said or done a mean or false thing to save her life . She and I were right good friends from the beginning . She loved me and she loved her Aunt Sara ; but from the very first her best and deepest affection went out to Doctor John Haven , who lived in the big brick house on the other side of Miss Sara 's . Doctor John was a Bridgeport boy , and when he got through college he came right home and settled down here , with his widowed mother .
The Bridgeport girls were fluttered , for eligible young men were scarce XXXXX our village ; there was considerable setting of caps , I must say that , although I despise ill-natured gossip ; but neither the caps nor the wearers thereof seemed to make any impression on Doctor John .
For as at from in of that through to while