It is a long way from the Haymarket to Islington, but at last the cab reached the lodging-house door. "Yes, this is it," she said. "Even about the houses there is an air of stiff-necked propriety which frightens me." She was getting out as she spoke, and he had already knocked at the door. "Come in for one moment," she said as he paid the cabman. The woman the while was standing with the door in her hand. It was near midnight,--but, when people are engaged, hours do not matter. The woman of the house, who was respectability herself,--a nice kind widow, with five children, named Pipkin,--understood that and smiled again as he followed the lady into the sitting-room. She had already taken off her hat and was flinging it on to the sofa as he entered. "Shut the door for one moment," she said; and he shut it. 
At last the cab reached the lodging-house door.
"Yes, this is it," she said. "Even about the houses there is an air of stiff-necked propriety which frightens me." She was getting out as she spoke. "Come in for one moment," she said. The lodging-house woman was standing with the door in her hand. It was near midnight, but, when people are engaged, hours do not matter. The woman of the house - who was a nice, respectable widow, with five children, named Mrs. Pipkin - smiled again as he followed Mrs. Hurtle into her sitting-room. She flung her hat on to the sofa.
"Shut the door for one moment," she said; and he shut it. 