Theconferencewasheldatfourorfiveo’clockintheafternoon，whenalltheregionofHarleyStreet，CavendishSquare，wasresonantofcarriage-wheelsanddouble-knocks。IthadreachedthispointwhenMrMerdlecamehomefromhisdailyoccupationofcausingtheBritishnametobemoreandmorerespectedinallpartsofthecivilisedglobecapableoftheappreciationofworld-widecommercialenterpriseandgiganticcombinationsofskillandcapital。For，thoughnobodyknewwiththeleastprecisionwhatMrMerdle’sbusinesswas，exceptthatitwastocoinmoney，thesewerethetermsinwhicheverybodydefineditonallceremoniousoccasions，andwhichitwasthelastnewpolitereadingoftheparableofthecamelandtheneedle’seyetoacceptwithoutinquiry。
Foragentlemanwhohadthissplendidworkcutoutforhim，MrMerdlelookedalittlecommon，andratherasif，inthecourseofhisvasttransactions，hehadaccidentallymadeaninterchangeofheadswithsomeinferiorspirit。Hepresentedhimselfbeforethetwoladiesinthecourseofadismalstrollthroughhismansion，whichhadnoapparentobjectbutescapefromthepresenceofthechiefbutler。
’Ibegyourpardon，’hesaid，stoppingshortinconfusion；’I
didn’tknowtherewasanybodyherebuttheparrot。’
However，asMrsMerdlesaid，’Youcancomein!’andasMrsGowansaidshewasjustgoing，andhadalreadyrisentotakeherleave，hecamein，andstoodlookingoutatadistantwindow，withhishandscrossedunderhisuneasycoat-cuffs，claspinghiswristsasifheweretakinghimselfintocustody。Inthisattitudehefelldirectlyintoareveriefromwhichhewasonlyarousedbyhiswife’scallingtohimfromherottoman，whentheyhadbeenforsomequarterofanhouralone。