Diana of Kara-Kara by Edgar Wallace

One day Diana came back from a conscientious tour of the stores and found a thin and middle-aged lady sitting in the drawing-room. She greeted Diana with a deferential smile. She was such a middle-aged lady as might have stepped from the pages of a late Victorian novel, and Diana regarded her steadily, for she wore no hat, had the skimpy beginnings of a purple wool jumper on her knees, and in her hands two knitting needles that seemed to be operating of their own volition all the time she talked.

"Good afternoon! You're Miss Ford, aren't you, my dear? I'm Miss Staffle, and I do hope we are going to be good friends!"