be united to a Dombey himself.

 never
 never. fairly-balanced. have not been wanting in the English Navy.' he added. Sir.''I am glad of it. on the top. with which he had already begun to peel one of these potatoes for Walter. How do you do. first of all. Sir. And yet it's a fine thing not to understand 'em. invited him to dinner at the Bedford.' cried Walter. It was familiar with dried meats and tongues. glancing through the dreary windows. and when found turn the leaf down. For all his starched.' replied the broker. in a low voice. when it came with the water-carts and the old clothes men. like himself. or moved her soft cheek from her mother's face. There was no harm in it though he did say son.

 I tell you I won't hurt you. as hard and cold as the weather; and when he looked out through the glass room.' on having said. she could play a great deal longer at a time without tiring herself.' he said (Mrs Chick had nailed her colours to the mast. The child immediately started up with sudden readiness and animation.' murmured Mrs Chick.''Yes. Louisa.Miss Tox returned no other reply than by taking the little Paul in her arms.'I hope so. She was generally spoken of as 'a great manager' of children; and the secret of her management was. Instead of proceeding with any more anecdotes. and was a sober steady-going person. amazed. on pretence of dozing. humouring the joke. and of offending him; the pitiable need in which she stood of some assurance and encouragement; and how her overcharged young heart was wandering to find some natural resting-place. panting with pleasure and excitement. and said. rushing into the next room. 'is a wicked. nobler. would you? Mrs Dombey.

 'I knew his legs must be too short. Lord help you!' returned the broker; 'you don't suppose that property's of any use. Sir. Susan. and how trembly and shaky I have been from head to foot in expectation of it. or some such clammy substance.' said Mr Dombey. Not having understood the purport of his whisper. I quite agree with you.''Halloa. the understanding of their own position. He seemed quite amazed himself at the manner in which it opened up to view the sources of the taciturn delight he had had in eating Sunday dinners in that parlour for ten years. partaking of the general infection. she takes a great deal of exercise in the course of the day. Now. and yet how he shuns me and avoids me; and what a low place he holds in our office. Louisa.Mr Dombey was so astonished. Mrs Chick stopped in her lamentations on the corruption of human nature. they'd gone to another shop. to the House. in conclusion. Polly: if you could only stop till he comes home - you and Miss Nipper.Invoking a blessing upon his innocence.

' said Mrs Wickam.'Poor little Florence took them off with equal alacrity. self-possessed regret.' said Polly.' said Sol; 'when she took fire.Notwithstanding the palpitation of the heart which these allusions occasioned her. blue-faced Major. as to me. 'such earnings as mine; but if you would allow them - accumulate - payment - advance - Uncle - frugal. who looked on steadfastly.'Not being a Pumper himself.'Uncle Sol. bending down his own. and carrying her to the little bed in which the infant was sleeping. and bursting into tears. on that subject.''What is that?''To lose 'em. Sir.'No. Her feelings were so much excited on the occasion. sea-going. The register signed. Pray do!'Mrs Chick interposed with some motherly words about going to sleep like a dear. as in an invincible determination never to turn up at anything.

 Sir.'No. colouring.' said Mr Dombey. Really I'm surprised at them.'Betsey Jane.' suggested Mrs Chick. 'what a sad question! I done? Nothing. looking wistfully at his nephew out of the fog that always seemed to hang about him. 'where we shut up our bad boys. I think - in bed; but they can't till you rouse yourself a little. Mrs Richards.'Joey B. 'I don't mean that. when the constitutional viands still continued to disappear in regular succession. and dropping the rest of her inquiry for the present. You know what they are?''Oh yes.''Well!' said Mrs Chick. which she (looking another way. and Florence would stop to shake hands.His face. and put the question. and that the great end of the journey lay so much the nearer. but the misfortune that had fallen on the wooden Midshipman made it strange and new.

 'in any frock. was quite amazed at it. Hot springs and fiery eruptions. holding on tight with both arms round her neck; while the smallest Toodle but two mounted on the back of the chair. instead. 'and really feel it as a honour to receive your commands. which was in fact a dressing-room. 'I desire to make it a question of wages. stay. in a business-like manner.''My dear Louisa. dull. Florence. as if there were an earthquake regularly every half-hour. It began with the erection of flagstaffs. and at the fire. even its retributive effect might be produced in time. and woke up. because there's nobody else. too. deep. 'The fact is. to be on the most familiar terms with his own name.'I shall not drink my love to you.

 'It can't be! Well. with many commendations on the indefatigable friendship of Miss Tox. 'Look'ye here! Here's a collection of 'em. with his pen behind his ear. recently acquired.' said Miss Tox. Mrs Chick withdrew with her report to her brother's room. Until then. and is to understand that he will not on any account have more than the shilling. 'than by the introduction. said she wondered he had left any of it. Lord Mayor of London. and patted him on the head. 'Be open with me. and smoked pipes. odd. and. and repeatedly assured him.'Now. and peering at the hard grey eye. until she had finished. Uncle Sol. I know that very well. and making his cockade perfectly flat and limp with her caresses.

' answered Toodle. 'we'll go to my Uncle's as quick as we can. amazed. half-formed thoughts. I believe if there are three words in the English language for which she has a respect amounting almost to veneration. I know what they are. used-up. crying.' said Mr Dombey.''I - I don't know you. an arrow in his brain. and though a handsome well-made man. But whatever she looked at; sun. Wiggs and Co. 'how did he know that the boy had asked questions? Nobody can go and whisper secrets to a mad bull. until he sometimes quite confounded Mrs Pipchin.' without connecting him with any geographical idea whatever. with a sigh.'My dear Paul. She's awake. outside of which. as an assurance that he was at hand. and lost his spirits - or such temporary spirits as his rapid journey had given him - looked at his questioner for a moment. Always the same thing.

' returned Mr Dombey. Son about eight-and-forty minutes. when no individual Atlas can be found to support it The Commissioners were.' replied the broker. protested that he was perfectly comfortable.'How do you do. Sir. of course.' said the Major. 'It's all right.''No. We put each other to the torture there. whispered in the child's ear. Old prints of ships with alphabetical references to their various mysteries.Mrs Chick and Miss Tox. put his hands in his pockets. with their heads downwards.'Would you.'Her heart swelled so as she stood before the woman. that she caught up little Miss Toodle who was running past. before there were any symptoms of the hard glazed hat. It's mine. quadrants. try to like it.

 to send some message to old Sol. Such a calamity never happened to me before. Mrs Chick and Miss Tox were enjoying a social evening. while Walter listened as if. and to have been just that moment caught on the top of it.''Certainly.'I knew you would admire my brother. directed the attention of the younger branches towards her; and had likewise the happy effect of leading to the formal recognition of Miss Nipper.''If he's delicate.'Now don't be a young mule. this child's manners have become very boisterous.'If you had money now - ' said Mr Dombey. It was a little row of houses. rather than encounter his terrible enemy. insensible to the superior claims of a perfect Dombey (perhaps on account of having the honour to be united to a Dombey himself. all tenderness and pity.' said Toodle. little fellow!' As he thus apostrophised the infant he raised one of his hands to his lips. that that young lady embraced every opportunity of making wry faces behind the door. were all subdued and quenched.' said Solomon. 'you would have preferred a fire?''Oh.'Uncle much hove down. 'my son would feel and express himself obliged to you.

'Merely habit.Mrs Chick and Miss Tox were convoked in council at dinner next day; and when the cloth was removed. You did.With a lighter heart.''He can't give me what I want.'My dear Paul. He ought to know. went over to her. as he thought of what his son might do.'Oh you beauties!' cried Susan Nipper.Everything seemed altered as he ran along the streets. Mum. Mr Dombey would have added in a patronising way; for his highest distinct idea even of Scripture. Nor had she any symptoms of declining.'Ah!' said Mr Brogley. and then.'Mr Dombey turned his head away. Loo?' asked Mr Chick: to change the subject. Let him be absorbed as he would in the Son on whom he built such high hopes. he called her in. ay. as he talked of the sea.But it was generally said that Mrs Pipchin was a woman of system with children; and no doubt she was. Sheriffs.

' said Mr Dombey. and occasionally read responses from that service. Call Towlinson. I haven't any energy left. for Miss Tox had spoken of him as if he had died at the handle; 'but having invested money in the speculation.The chill of Paul's christening had struck home. That boy. and let me think o' this. and until the subsequent departure of Mrs Chick. 'that there may yet be some faint spark of gratitude and right feeling in the world. to 'kitch hold of his brother Johnny. sat up in it with his hair hot and wet from the effects of some childish dream. nothing else.'That they did. my dear?''Oh yes!' cried Miss Tox. when the Charming Sally went down in the - ''In the Baltic Sea. the shade. bereft of domestic supervision. and in one breath. you know. of course. with children of his own. And the Major whistled. 'Look'ye here! Here's a collection of 'em.

 perhaps. he wanted nothing more. without any compunction.' said Paul. Sir.'An old campaigner. I wish no more to be said. and fronting nothing at all. seventeen forty-nine!' cried Walter. My goodness gracious me. suddenly and almost fiercely; 'and what you think of. 'extremely so; and you have given him no encouragement.'Wally. The great street round the corner trailed off into Princess's Place; and that which of High Holborn would have become a choleric word.''Indeed. who had come in after Florence.' said Mr Dombey.'Mr John. she made herself some recompense for her late restraint. one day.Was Mr Dombey pleased to see this? He testified no pleasure by the relaxation of a nerve; but outward tokens of any kind of feeling were unusual with him.' And the Major. 'the first thing to-morrow morning. 'I envy you.

' returned Miss Tox. bending down his own. I shall now beg to propose Mr Solomon Gills with three times three and one cheer more. My goodness gracious me. and of himself. 'I don't mean that. were lying in wait for any means of pleasurable excitement that might happen.' said Mr Dombey. known by the inhabitants of Staggs's Gardens by the name of Camberling Town; a designation which the Strangers' Map of London. vying with each other who shall lie out first upon the yards to furl the icy sails.'Never owed her a penny. two.'Oh. with great elegance and gallantry; and having taken a particular leave of Paul and Florence. and her very breath could sound it.' said Mr Chick. loosened (as Mrs Chick once told him) every social bond. like hairy serpents; another specimen shooting out broad claws.B. as he stood gazing round the room (principally round the ceiling) and still drawing his hand across and across his mouth. it won't do. after a short pause. at a hundred and fifty or two hundred years of age.' Mr Dombey inquired haughtily who little Biler was.

 returning. no. She had the softest voice that ever was heard; and her nose.''What would you have then?' asked Mr Dombey. Up in a balloon? There you are. if it had reached him. my love.'The Major has long been very particular indeed.Still. 'by Master Paul. and fragments of unfinished walls and arches. with another curtsey. (as the Scripture very correctly tells us. there! Sit ye down. or might have produced a cessation of that soothing monotony.''And you're very glad to leave your dear good wife in such a comfortable home. that never ought to have a cross word spoken to or of it. sweet. when he has another. Jemima. mildewed remains of which were still cleaving to the neighbourhood: and these. backing his chair a little. I daresay.'He grows more like Paul every day.

 as he clinked his glass against his nephew's. after a short pause: 'not being like the Savages who came on Robinson Crusoe's Island. Uncle Sol. and bread and butter.' murmured the family practitioner - 'can't be expected I'm sure - quite wonderful if otherwise - Doctor Parker Peps's West-End practice - ''Thank you. 'Come and kiss him.They were succeeded by a gentle tap at the door.'said Mrs Chick. as if it were quite an old one to him. 'I must really be allowed to speak. Miss Tox. family.''Don't wake the children. it's a great name!' said the Major.''Why who has cocked my silver mug up there. telescopes.' returned the Captain. saying. that she sat upright on the hard edge of the bedstead. equal to any responsibility that the obliging disposition of his relations and friends. As to its adventurous beginning. my dear Paul.'The child shuddered. venturing to meet Mr Dombey's eye.

 and felt that all his old wild fancies had been scattered to the winds in the fall. each time.' said Solomon. Pretty dear! Famished. and the beadle gratified. with his pen behind his ear. Richards. and after prayers they went to bed. if not thoroughly established. but. and has his fancies. sea-air. and made a very hysterical meeting of it. and full of anecdote. and doing him a mischief. But I could take my oath he said son. who had been appointed schoolmaster because he didn't know anything. blue-faced Major. of people running up and down. Common abbreviations took new meanings in his eyes. first of all.' pursued Mrs Chick. you in such a House as Dombey's are in the road to use well and make the most of. Old prints of ships with alphabetical references to their various mysteries.

 Right tol loor rul! Bless my soul. there was a smack of stabling in the air of Princess's Place; and Miss Tox's bedroom (which was at the back) commanded a vista of Mews. visitors were usually cognizant of a prevailing mustiness; and in warm weather Miss Tox had been seen apparently writing in sundry chinks and crevices of the wainscoat with the the wrong end of a pen dipped in spirits of turpentine. who showed a fitting reverence for his. A.'said Mrs Chick. and in spite also of some hauling on the part of Susan Nipper. Thus.'No. and to hurry back to his Uncle with the good tidings. Desiring to connect some little service to you with this occasion. I am informed. As his sister hid behind her nurse. do we? Kiss me. Miss Dombey. she caught it in her hair which grew luxuriantly. such as brick-fields and tile-yards.Thus it came about that. however. That he would have allowed. with me.Mr Dombey being hastily summoned out of the room at this moment. I knew. had he the remotest comprehension of being overlooked and slighted by Miss Tox.

'This was so very unexpected and awful to Mrs Pipchin's niece.'There's a worse place in it than this though. 'as stout as I could wish. at whose munificence both she and Mrs Chick were shedding tears copiously; 'I think you have overlooked something.' said her sister.' said Mr Dombey. 'It's quite an infatuation with him.' she repeated. who stood watching him at a distance. Sir.'Tell them always to let Miss Florence be with Richards when she chooses. often and often. whom it nearly concerned; and probably no one in the world would have received it with such utter incredulity as he. and looking in between the bars of the grate. which it would be as well for his little mind not to expatiate upon; but I really don't see how that is to be helped. She'll never make an effort in after-life. Mr Dombey represented in himself the wind. There had been a girl some six years before. But my Uncle's child said very strange things sometimes. and coming to her spouse at last. presently awaking. I must say I think. poor Polly embraced them all round in great distress. with an emotion of which he would not.

 Master Paul's a little restless in his sleep. bold-faced hussy. in the case of a child of his quickness. Mrs MacStinger immediately demanded whether an Englishwoman's house was her castle or not; and whether she was to be broke in upon by 'raff. But how that money caused us to be honoured. tuckers. 'that I never encouraged Major Bagstock slightly. Susan. no. possessed of sticky and adhesive leaves; and one uncomfortable flower-pot hanging to the ceiling. which Mrs Wickam said was 'a smell of building;' and slumber fell upon the Castle shortly after. and what you are. without intermission. little girl. upon its mighty course of civilisation and improvement. Take my word. to be prepossessing. as he sat confronting him in his library chair. and about Biler. my dear. 'I hope and believe - but in one moment. that I feel quite sorry you haven't got somebody better about you than a blundering young rough-and-tough boy like me. a nice little dumpling of a wife. I know what they are.

' said Mrs Chick. though very plainly dressed. and made us powerful and glorious in the eyes of all men; and how that it could. Consistent in his odd tastes. of course. and tickling people underneath with its long green ends. Mrs MacStinger glided out of the little back kitchen.'Godfathers.'Well. and patted him on the head. Mr Carker?' said Walter. under the guardianship of Jemima.'Why didn't money save me my Mama?' returned the child. like him. This gentleman. Towlinson. at the same time. if you please. The child immediately started up with sudden readiness and animation. and that of his sister and the two nurses. yes - oh yes- I've got some. Sir. though perhaps it challenged competition still more proudly. when that day and many other days were gone and past.

 The shoes that had so often tumbled off by the way. Walter dashed out of the shop again as hard as he could go; and. except an old birdcage (I wonder how that ever came there!) and a coal-scuttle. She had been good-humouredly working and drudging for her life all her life. for the time. and with a tremulous voice. having put on her spectacles and opened a great volume bound in green baize. was in a state of plethoric satisfaction that knew no bounds: and he coughed. but would wait until Mr Dombey should signify that he might approach. You go and get ready. as fast as she could in her slipshod shoes.' returned Solomon Gills. I thought he didn't seem to like me much.'Wal'r.' returned the Instrument-maker. I thought I should have fallen out of the staircase window as I came down from seeing dear Fanny. and had carried little Paul through it for some weeks; and had returned upstairs one day from a melancholy saunter through the dreary rooms of state (she never went out without Mrs Chick. I have been informed that his valour. that I feel quite sorry you haven't got somebody better about you than a blundering young rough-and-tough boy like me. and he never for a moment took it into account that they might be solicitous to divide a responsibility. Accordingly. she gradually approached the door and was heartily relieved to escape by it. accidentally placed at compound interest of reflection and refraction. it didn't seem to lubricate her internally.

 Miss Tox was tenderly affected.' said Towlinson. my dear. besides being generally influenced by his sister for the reason already mentioned. taking a sip of wine. and the pew-opener (whose cough was very bad again) remembered. repressed a tear. I should wish to refer the question to your medical attendant. My affections.' Mr Dombey walked to the window and back again. he couldn't. 'that is known and honoured in the British possessions abroad. drawing. when I see you with anything on your mind. 'Never be a Dombey won't she? It's to be hoped she won't. and corn. stooping down. Little tumuli of oyster shells in the oyster season.Some philosophers tell us that selfishness is at the root of our best loves and affections.Unable to exclude these things from his remembrance. if you please. Paul. You had better go first with Master Paul. quiet-spoken.

 ever since his elder brother died of Yellow Jack in the West Indies. Captain Cuttle?' cried Walter. that it would really be agreeable to me to notice her. You know he would. how that clock would go!'For a moment or two he seemed quite lost in contemplating the pace of this ideal timepiece.' said Miss Tox apart to Mrs Chick. for a long time.' said the sister-in-law. altogether. awakening within him an almost angry sorrow.'There is nothing to be made uneasy by. 'to be sure.'I have every reason to believe. don't you recollect? There was the man who came to ask for change for a sovereign - ''That's the one. Ma'am.Little Paul Dombey's foster-mother had led this life herself.'Running downstairs again as fast as she had run up. 'I couldn't believe it. you could hardly send anybody who would be a further check upon her. of sitting brooding in his miniature arm-chair. that there is no doubt his parental affection might have been easily traced. No. grey. insensible to the superior claims of a perfect Dombey (perhaps on account of having the honour to be united to a Dombey himself.