The White Room by Fergus Hume

Tracey, in the interests of the lovers, continued to live in the cottage at Hampstead. Webb had let him the house furnished, and Luther made himself comfortable in a bachelor fashion. He cooked his own meals, and made his own bed, and kept the house as neat as a new pin. One day Gerty came to see him, accompanied by her mother. How she induced that lymphatic woman to come was a mystery. Tracey was not easily astonished, but he was fairly taken aback when he saw stout Mrs. Baldwin being towed up the path by Gerty. It was like a breathless steam-tug conducting a three-decker out of port.

"What I've suffered," said Mrs. Baldwin, sinking into a basket-chair which almost collapsed under her weight, "no one can understand."