She always answered knocks; Priam never.

She shielded him from every rough or unexpected contact, just as his valet used to do.

The gas in the hall was not lighted, and so she stopped to light it, darkness having fallen.

Then she opened the door, and saw, in the gloom, a short, thin woman standing on the step, a woman of advanced middle-age, dressed with a kind of shabby neatness.

It seemed impossible that so frail and unimportant a creature could have made such a noise on the door.
"Is this Mr.Henry Leek's ?" asked the visitor, in a dissatisfied, rather weary tone.
"Yes," said Alice.