The gingerbread villa he absolutely could not face, so he met them at the Leicester Square Tube.
The moment they arrived, his heart sank.

They stepped out of the lift and looked around them.

Ellen's hat seemed larger than ever, and was ornate with violent-colored flowers.

Her face was hidden behind a violet veil, and she wore a white feather boa, fragments of which reposed upon the lift man's shoulder and little Alfred's knickerbockers.
Her dress was of black velveteen, fitting a little tightly over her corsets, and showing several imperfectly removed stains and creases.
She wore tan shoes, one of which was down at the heel, and primrose-colored gloves.

Alfred wore his usual black Sunday suit, a lace collar around his neck about a foot wide, a straw hat on the ribbon of which was printed the name of one of His Majesty's battleships, and a curl plastered upon his forehead very much in the style of Burton himself in earlier days.