with his three guests went out of the theatre and wended their way
towards the same place, only dropping into two or three bars on the
way to have drinks at Barty's expense.

They soon arrived at the hotel, and having entered, Mr Wopples
pushed open the door of a room from whence the sound of laughter
proceeded, and introduced the three strangers to his family. The
whole ten, together with Mrs Wopples, were present, and were seated
around a large table plentifully laden with cold beef and pickles,
salads, bottles of beer, and other things too numerous to mention.
Mr Wopples presented them first to his wife, a faded, washed-out
looking lady, with a perpetual simper on her face, and clad in a
lavender muslin gown with ribbons of the same description, she
looked wonderfully light and airy. In fact she had a sketchy
appearance as if she required to be touched up here and there, to
make her appear solid, which was of great service to her in her
theatrical career, as it enabled her to paint on the background of
herself any character she wished to represent.

'This,' said Mr Wopples in his deep voice, holding his wife's hand
as if he were afraid she would float upward thro' the ceiling like a
bubble--a not unlikely thing seeing how remarkably ethereal she
looked; 'this is my flutterer.'

Why he called her his flutterer no one ever knew, unless it was
because her ribbons were incessantly fluttering; but, had he called
her his shadow, the name would have been more appropriate.

Mrs Wopples fluttered down to the ground in a bow, and then
fluttered up again.