Mrs.Proudie was standing with Mr.Slope in front of the signora, and had been trying to be condescending and sociable; but she was not in the very best of tempers, for she found that, whenever she spoke to the lady, the lady replied by speaking to Mr.Slope.

Mr.Slope was a favourite, no doubt, but Mrs.Proudie had no idea of being less thought of than the chaplain.

She was beginning to be stately, stiff, and offended, when unfortunately the castor of the sofa caught itself in her lace train, and carried away there is no saying how much of her garniture.
Gathers were heard to go, stitches to crack, plaits to fly open, flounces were seen to fall, and breadths to expose themselves; a long ruin of rent lace disfigured the carpet, and still clung to the vile wheel on which the sofa moved.
So, when a granite battery is raised, excellent to the eyes of warfaring men, is its strength and symmetry admired.

It is the work of years.

Its neat embrasures, its finished parapets, its casemated stories show all the skill of modern science.