After a short period of blank astonishment , in which the old man with the pipe had joined them , they all three burst into a laugh . `` Let the charwoman alone to be the first ! '' cried she who had entered first . `` Let the laundress alone to be the second ; and let the undertaker 's man alone to be the third . Look here , old Joe , here 's a chance ! If we have n't all three met here without meaning it ! '' `` You could n't have met in a better place , '' said old Joe , removing his pipe from his mouth . `` Come into the parlour . You were made free of it long ago , you know ; and the other two a n't strangers . Stop till I shut the door of the shop . Ah ! How it skreeks ! There a n't such a rusty bit of metal in the place as its own hinges , I believe ; and I 'm sure there 's no such old bones here as mine . Ha ! ha ! We 're all suitable to our calling , we 're well matched . Come into the parlour . Come into the parlour . '' The parlour was the space behind the screen of rags . The old man raked the fire together with an old stair-rod , and , having trimmed his smoky lamp -LRB- for it was night -RRB- with the stem of his pipe , put it into his mouth again .
While he did this , the woman who had already spoken threw her bundle on the floor , and sat down XXXXX a flaunting manner on a stool ; crossing her elbows on her knees , and looking with a bold defiance at the other two .
After If behind for from in into till to with