Re: 706, 11:40 pm.
Irene stepped in. She was wearing the same dress she had before, as if the late hour was not enough a breech of civil behavior; she had dressed down slightly from its extravagance, and the jacket was missing, along with much of the train, much of the lace, the gloves and the muffler. As a result, the blue dress lost its stage-like impression, and the woman looked like the kind of person one might greet by given name on the street rather than in some civil soiree. She was clearly troubled, judging by her expression, and though she would never have dreamed it earlier, she opened the door as bid and moved forward into the room, lifting her skirts so they would not impede her progress.
"I'm disturbing you," she said, as she came in. Though her tone was apologetic, she did not beg his pardon. She did not sit in the chair she had occupied previously, but moved forward until she stood in the doorway of his kitchen. "This is quite a horrible place, Mr. Holmes," she told him, letting her eyelids slip down demurely to avoid being too confrontational about the topic. "I do not know how we (they?) stand it."