“Oh yes!” exclaimed Mrs. Lammle, clasping her hands with a certain gushing wildness. “Pubsey and Co. !”

“The pleading of the feminine⁠—” Mr. Fledgeby began, and there stuck so long for a word to get on with, that Mrs. Lammle offered him sweetly, “Heart?”

“No,” said Mr. Fledgeby, “Gender⁠—is ever what a man is bound to listen to, and I wish it rested with myself. But this Riah is a nasty one, Mrs. Lammle; he really is.”