ladies and honourables.«
    »I trust, sir,« rejoined Mrs. Sparsit, with decent resignation, »it is not
necessary that you should do anything of that kind. I hope I have learnt how to
accommodate myself to the changes of life. If I have acquired an interest in
hearing of your instructive experiences, and can scarcely hear enough of them, I
claim no merit for that, since I believe it is a general sentiment.«
    »Well, ma'am,« said her patron, »perhaps some people may be pleased to say
that they do like to hear, in his own unpolished way, what Josiah Bounderby, of
Coketown, has gone through. But you must confess that you were born in the lap
of luxury, yourself. Come, ma'am, you know you were born in the lap of luxury.«
    »I do not, sir,« returned Mrs. Sparsit with a shake of her head, »deny it.«
    Mr. Bounderby was obliged to get up from table, and stand with his back to
the fire, looking at her; she was such an enhancement of his position.
    »And you were in crack society. Devilish high society,« he said, warming his
legs.
    »It is true, sir,« returned Mrs. Sparsit, with an affectation of humility
the very opposite of his, and therefore in no danger of jostling it.
    »You were in the tiptop fashion, and all the rest of it,« said Mr.
Bounderby.
    »Yes, sir,« returned Mrs. Sparsit, with a kind of social widowhood upon her.
»It is unquestionably true.«
    Mr. Bounderby, bending himself at the knees, literally embraced his legs in
his great satisfaction and laughed aloud. Mr. and Miss Gradgrind being then
announced, he received the former with a shake of the hand, and the latter with
a kiss.
    »Can Jupe be sent here, Bounderby?« asked Mr. Gradgrind.
    Certainly. So Jupe was sent there. On coming in, she curtseyed to Mr.
Bounderby, and to his friend Tom Gradgrind, and also to Louisa; but in her
confusion unluckily omitted Mrs. Sparsit. Observing this, the blustrous
Bounderby had the following remarks to make:
    »Now, I tell you what, my girl. The name of that lady by the teapot, is Mrs.
Sparsit. That lady acts as mistress of this house, and she is a highly connected
lady. Consequently, if ever you come again into any room in this house, you