'Hoity toity! This is a nice way of receiving company! You, fellow, go to your master and say that I am here.' 'Say that the Lady Dunborough is here,' an unctuous voice repeated, 'and requires rooms, dinners, fire, and the best he has.

And do you be quick, fellow!' The speaker was Mr.Thomasson, or rather Mr.Thomasson plus the importance which comes of travelling with a viscountess.

This, and perhaps the cramped state of his limbs, made him a little long in descending.

'Will your ladyship wait?
or will you allow me to have the honour of assisting you to descend ?' he continued, shivering slightly from the cold.

To tell the truth, he was not enjoying his honour on cheap terms.