showed them into a parlour where he kept them waiting, until the two
women-servants had repaired thither, under false pretences, to see the
play-actors; and having compared notes with them in the passage, and
joined in a vast quantity of whispering and giggling, he at length went
upstairs with Miss Snevellicci's name.

Now, Mrs Curdle was supposed, by those who were best informed on
such points, to possess quite the London taste in matters relating to
literature and the drama; and as to Mr Curdle, he had written a pamphlet
of sixty-four pages, post octavo, on the character of the Nurse's
deceased husband in Romeo and Juliet, with an inquiry whether he really
had been a 'merry man' in his lifetime, or whether it was merely his
widow's affectionate partiality that induced her so to report him. He
had likewise proved, that by altering the received mode of punctuation,
any one of Shakespeare's plays could be made quite different, and the
sense completely changed; it is needless to say, therefore, that he was
a great critic, and a very profound and most original thinker.

'Well, Miss Snevellicci,' said Mrs Curdle, entering the parlour, 'and
how do YOU do?'

Miss Snevellicci made a graceful obeisance, and hoped Mrs Curdle was
well, as also Mr Curdle, who at the same time appeared. Mrs Curdle was
dressed in a morning wrapper, with a little cap stuck upon the top
of her head. Mr Curdle wore a loose robe on his back, and his right
forefinger on his forehead after the portraits of Sterne, to whom
somebody or other had once said he bore a striking resemblance.

'I venture to call, for the purpose of asking whether you would put your
name to my bespeak, ma'am,' said Miss Snevellicci, producing documents.