How long a gentleman should stand on the front step of a
residence in the expectation that his knocking on the door be acknowledged by those
within is a question that has never been answered to the
satisfaction of polite society. Certain it is that Mr Headstone was
unacquainted with the laws of etiquette in this regard; for he deemed it
necessary to redouble his efforts in alerting the house to his presence by applying
first his fists and then his boots to the green paintwork of the door, and,
when this stratagem failed, by resorting to the novel expedient of shouting
through the brass letterbox. Whether this produced the desired effect in rousing
the occupants of the Number Forty Eighty Doughty Street, the reader will
discover in our next communication.
Mr Charles Dickens
