“Awful,” repeated Mrs Magens, correcting herself.
“Dress is ruinous for ladies.”
“Yet gaudy attire is no evidence of a sound heart.”
The h was inserted this time with a slam.
“Very true, often the reverse; but it is no less ruinous.”
“The sums lavished on it are enormous, Mr Bromley.”
“I daresay many ladies in your profession spend large sums on their toilettes.”
“Enormous; why, there’s Miss Sepop of the Bower has a new dress every night. Mrs Macvey of the Blackfriars is never satisfied without embroidery all round.”
“Whom do you consider the best dressmaker, Mrs Magens? your taste is so good.”
“Why, for myself, I should say, Madame Mélanie Mickiewicz. She is generally known as Madame Mélanie. Poor thing! She is a Hungarian princess. Her story is harrowing—harrowing—Ha’nau——”