The footman appeared
"A lady is below, sir, who says she will be mightily obliged if you will allow her ten minutes' conversation."
"Pray, who is the lady who calls at such an extraordinary hour, before a gentleman's day has begun?"
"She gave no name, sir."
"Go ask who she is."
The man retired, and returned to say the lady was a stranger to Mr. Topsparkle, and asked an interview as a favour.
"So! That sounds mysterious," said Topsparkle. "Pray, what manner of personage is she? Does she look like a genteel beggar, elderly and shabby, in a greasy black-silk hood and mantle, eh, my man?"
"No, sir, the person is young and handsome. She looks rather like one of the foreign singing-women your honour is pleased to patronise."
"Singing women! Why, do you know, block-head, that those singing women, as you call them, are the beloved of princes, and have the salaries of prime ministers? Singing women, forsooth! And this stranger is young and pretty, you say?"
"Yes, sir."