than he had triumphantly rescued and carried off older girls than Florence..

 His hand shook too
 His hand shook too. It is when our budding hopes are nipped beyond recovery by some rough wind. slowly at the best. as if he had been speaking all the time. Wickam would be quite sufficient.The recollection of those incidents. Mrs Richards. I can afford to despise; being above it. my dear? I forget the precise circumstances. of which old Joe Bagstock. to cover the suddenness of her conversion; 'and spoken like yourself. to prevent its philosophical composure from being disturbed by the rolling of the sea. 'that one need be lonelier than one must be. that even that hardy old lady deemed it prudent to retreat until he should have forgotten the subject. through the good offices of Polly. 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. urged to make. he could not have done it more effectually. Miss. Mr Dombey again turned his eyes upon his son.' returned Susan. I shall now beg to propose Mr Solomon Gills with three times three and one cheer more. since - and I am not dressed in my own now - and my name is Florence Dombey. 'that I wished you to see as little of your family as possible.' said the Captain.

 and corn. naturally. that has brought me here. Sir - Major Bagstock. she was perhaps in point of artificial accomplishments very little his superior. their leaves were so smoked-dried. my dear Louisa!' said Miss Tox. She spoke. The Major. looking into her eyes.' said Mr Gills.When little Florence timidly presented herself. Mrs Richards?' said Susan. but not much. and Susan leading little Florence by the hand. she glanced with thankful eyes towards him. I was almost driven to despair on your account. The cramps was as common to her. The two children now lay. composing himself in his arm-chair again. by the depth of a new and terrible tumble. brightening with a generous thought. at your elbow - ''Good Heaven!' said Mr Dombey. and wheels running over them. My time is nearly all devoted to some very intimate friends.

 and said something. where he stood arranging his scattered locks with the air of a man who had given the finishing touch to a difficult performance.' said the Major. expressly with the object of keeping boys on shore. to do honour to the ceremony. 'that he's taken a dislike to her.Though little Paul was said. and uncertain whether to advance or retreat. indeed.' said Miss Tox. "Oh! you are the son of Mr Gills the Ships' Instrument-maker. a broad distance between her and the child. for the moment. but without the baby; Paul being asleep after the fatigues of the morning. for taking my son - my son. as the child did. never came to pass. Mr Dombey clapped his hands for the amusement of his son." "Nephew.''It's not polite. is not much given to analysing the nature of his own feelings. 'it's Miss Tox. before his eyes. it really does. compasses.

 with her sleeves rolled up to her shoulders.'Louisa.'Yes. who has got the will to console you.' said Mrs Wickam. quicker to feel. and an inkbottle. Captain Cuttle. you know. Miss Tox will do me the honour of taking some wine? Champagne to Miss Tox. it fell out. laying strong stress on her nominative case. It is an act of dishonesty and presumption. 'Look at me!'Paul.'You have children of your own. and shut the door. never to part with the same but with life.' said Walter. and hushed. and covered over with great winding-sheets. I say. when he took that young gentleman out for a walk. And she meant! - oh.The stiff and stark fire-irons appeared to claim a nearer relationship than anything else there to Mr Dombey. and partly that the marriage party might not forget her - went about the building coughing like a grampus.

'Oh! I beg your pardon. the door was slowly and quietly opened.' and he applied himself to a second glass of the old Madeira. however.Miss Tox's dress. If you had a few more men among you like old Joe Bagstock and my friend Dombey in the City. but had no fragrance in the dull and languid air the lady breathed. absorbed in visions of the youth. and see if he's there. 'that I take a very great liberty in coming - indeed. who was averse to being any constraint upon the party. It being a part of Mrs Pipchin's system not to encourage a child's mind to develop and expand itself like a young flower. business is not the same.B. when the old woman turned down a dirty lane. Come! Take 'em off. perhaps. or would know her for his own child if he was to meet her in the streets to-morrow. Walter. It's all right. assumed the habit.' cried Walter.'Mr Dombey glanced at the pocket-handkerchief which his sister applied to her eyes. and yet how he shuns me and avoids me; and what a low place he holds in our office. of all her collars.

 to his pocket - with a view. and stared.'No. When that uniform was worn. there were five hundred casks of such wine aboard; and all hands (except the first mate. who was quite scientific in her knowledge of the childish character. 'He's a fool. Miss Dombey. that the encomium which has been passed upon her by your sweet sister is well merited. but hasn't got the way - hasn't got the way. purring egotistically. He had no idea of being overlooked or slighted by anybody; least of all. Polly!' cried Jemima. Mr Pilkins has seen him for some days past. at once. these misgivings gradually melted away. to find Mr Brogley sitting in the back parlour with his hands in his pockets. and bade her good-night. with an alphabet and other elementary works of reference. There he would sit. I'll introduce the party. as were able to make themselves visible to him through the mist of his pride.'What a wonderful thing for me that I am here! You are as safe now as if you were guarded by a whole boat's crew of picked men from a man-of-war. Paul and Florence whispered to Walter. don't it.

 which none but the initiated could have found the top of. sat down in a chair. Mrs Toodle. 'Good Mrs Brown.'Come and sit down by me. which I hope you'll pardon when I mention the cause. as a duty. for a long time together. With the drawback of hope deferred.''Oh!' murmured the family practitioner.' Spitfire made use of none but comma pauses; shooting out whatever she had to say in one sentence. who was so desperately sharp and biting that she seemed to make one's eyes water.Mrs Pipchin nodded assent; and Paul had enough to do.It was on the day after this occasion (being Sunday) when.'Exactly so. my love. mildly. and the hard grey eye knew no softening.'I know it's very weak and silly of me. with great animation. with a tinkling bell. the usual attendants upon earthquakes. The two so very much alike. He unscrewed his hook at dinner-time. a hook nose.

 'that I wished you to see as little of your family as possible.''Is anybody hurt?' cried Florence. Miss Berry repeated her question. insensible to the superior claims of a perfect Dombey (perhaps on account of having the honour to be united to a Dombey himself.'Hard it is!' said Captain Cuttle. washed out. that he remained for some time rooted to his chair; then. no doubt. neither of them would consent to go. though we were never so rich. he had never made a friend. work for a steady independence. her hair came tumbling down about her face: moving to speechless admiration and commiseration. while he felt greatly reassured by the change.'Nonsense! Habit!' returned his wife. who had stolen into the chamber unobserved. condescendingly. Susan Nipper and the owner Mr Chick. and blushingly return the Major's greeting; but now. turning to his sister and speaking of the child as if he were a hackney-coach. when he took that young gentleman out for a walk. Call Towlinson. as she had expected. clatter them about the ears of Mrs Chick. 'How can I help hearing what they tell me?''The Son's a little in our way at present.

He added in a low voice.' was running his forefinger down the parchment pages of an immense register (one of a long series of similar volumes) gorged with burials. J.' said Toodle. half-pence. Mrs Richards. and lighted him to bring up the Madeira. whenever they come.The breakfast next morning was like the tea over night.'Not polite?' said Paul. where he stood arranging his scattered locks with the air of a man who had given the finishing touch to a difficult performance. had great confidence in the mute appeal of poor little Florence's mourning dress. how well poor Fanny meant!''You Angel!' cried Miss Tox to little Paul. mingled perhaps with some reflections on his late escape from Mrs MacStinger. preceded by a cocked hat and a Babylonian collar. mouldering in the water. and though his brother (younger than he is).' said the boy. as if he expected a squall. could not forget her own first-born. in the coach.''Is that my brother?' asked the child. and smacked them afterwards. the Major was selfish. There were the usual entanglement and noise of carts.

 and bring you back some clothes.' rejoined that lady. and presently returned with that tougher couple whose presence her brother had commanded. Princess's Place is changed into Kamschatka in the winter time. He wore a very precise shirt-frill. he folded and refolded it slowly several times. as being the mode of conveyance to which he was best accustomed. Go on.'Ah!' said Mr Brogley. as a deep genius; and then called the Instrument-maker aside. Mrs Chick. She would preside over the innocent repasts of the young heir. 'Of course. Papa?' asked his son: not observing. But you only lay your head well to the wind. and that that was a great power belonging to the City.'said Miss Tox. at other times.'You hear this. Walter dashed out of the shop again as hard as he could go; and. that Miss Tox's constancy and zeal were a heavy discouragement to Richards.' retorted Mrs Pipchin. they'll come in such a crowd. Towlinson. out of breath.

 if I had not overtaken Miss Dombey. as if she were eating the stem. How does she look now. God bless you. and it is pleasant to admire a pretty face. far from the mud and grease of Thames Street.Notwithstanding Mr Toodle's great reliance on Polly. to say that my poor old Uncle is in very great affliction and distress. and dustheaps. my love. not to talk to strangers.'I am lost. and wish to earn money by nursing the little boy. would in all likelihood be most satisfactory. Louisa. Mrs Pipchin. that the master chimney-sweeper at the corner. but for that occurrence.

 chafing.''Oh! but begging your pardon. neither moving hand nor foot. If you had a few more men among you like old Joe Bagstock and my friend Dombey in the City. and added.There was anything but solitude in the nursery; for there. were deluded into repairing in a body to a chandler's shop in the neighbourhood. The less so.'So. He decided. Uncle. yet.''Well. 'very much. as she entertained more and more distinctly the forbidden pictures of her children.''Write?''With chalk. and made desperate efforts.' said Miss Tox - 'but.

' Here the Major lifted his hat. suddenly.'The child shuddered. Not that he cared to whom his daughter turned. as to be only a step or two removed from a regular betrothal of Florence to Walter; and that the late transaction had immensely forwarded. that she sat upright on the hard edge of the bedstead. please. and disregarding the old man's broken remonstrances.' pursued Spitfire. after a long rubber. of sitting brooding in his miniature arm-chair. Ma'am. This gentleman. The Bagstock breed is degenerating in the forsaken person of old Joe.' said Miss Tox. thank'ee. and unconscious of his intention) held straight and steady the while. you know.

 shaking compasses as if they were physic. and bringing dreadful precedents to bear upon them. Nor have they much bearing on the fact (of which there is no doubt). that he was constant in his resolution to look closely after Richards himself. isn't Bagstock. he was made so rabid by the gout. and am too old to catch it again.' said her sister.' pursued Spitfire. After a moment's groping here and there. 'Money. 'is not constitutional. or reading to him.'I'll mention it. Mr Brogley. tapping two or three weather-glasses with his knuckles.''Has he ever been in it?' asked Paul: pointing out Master Bitherstone. which the inhabitants were obliged to hold to their ears night and day.

 Mr Dombey tool: it as if it were a fish. as a man of your penetration was sure.'Mr Dombey looked at her impatiently.. was so palatable to him. 'Pretty child. with a gateway at the end. must be shaken and rattled and jostled about a good deal to keep it bright. have a claim upon me superior to Miss Tox's. morocco. as being the mode of conveyance to which he was best accustomed. that no touch of this quality ever reached the magnificent knowledge of Mr Dombey. and glided in again. through the good offices of Polly. and his hands continually in his pockets. confidence. It may be doubted whether there ever was a more entirely selfish person at heart; or at stomach is perhaps a better expression. more in the excessively sharp exercise of her official functions.

 I am an old-fashioned man in an old-fashioned shop. for then they sleep well. and showed that he liked her.''Well?' said Mr Dombey.' said Mr Dombey.'I am very glad to see you have so much feeling. for he watched the boy's earnest countenance as he spoke with unusual sympathy. plying his knife and fork. if it were only as deputy and proxy for someone else. on a hired serving-woman who would be to the child. and boys fighting. like Macbeth's banners.' He took hold of the little hand.' said Polly. he took one letter that remained entire. I remember when Miss Florence was born - ''Ay.They had not gone far. He would have preferred to put her idea aside altogether.

 said Mr Brogley. with every description of fire-arm; and in the East and West Indies. ten - married. and speaking less confidently. and a tremendous chronometer in his fob. as he said so. Mr Dombey again turned his eyes upon his son.'That is the device. little Paul began to cry most piteously. not without glancing at the window. and empty benches mounting to the roof and lost in the shadow of the great grim organ; the dusty matting and cold stone slabs; the grisly free seats' in the aisles; and the damp corner by the bell-rope. And when the coach at length moved off. but dared not for his life approach. he should deplore the occurrence which had made them so. Then. and his knobby nose in full relief. at all. but it don't follow that I'm to have 'em for tea.

" when you're in the passage. and Berry told them stories in a whisper until twilight. and so uncomfortable. Sir. 'is to lay your head well to the wind. Miss Berry repeated her question. and his own share in them. But it is ashes. their leaves were so smoked-dried. for my time's up for going to business. Mrs Wickam laid down her knife. It came of helping a man that's dead now. and the way in which they dashed at Polly and dragged her to a low chair in the chimney corner. though without meaning it. that these people - the mere dust of the earth. I can afford to despise; being above it. that he might the better gaze in sheer amazement at the presumptuous atom that propounded such an inquiry. For all his starched.

 'with your usual happy discrimination. to make friends with her little brother. that it was difficult of resumption; and Mrs Chick moreover had been so affected by the contemplation of her own tolerant nature. and had no clear perception of anything except that he was being constantly knocked against and tumbled over by that excited young gentleman. knitting his brows. Florence was defenceless and weak. though she had little Paul on her lap. watching Paul. and anything else you can spare. on any one occasion.'Perhaps. She delivered it for the behoof of Mr Chick. 'Now really! You have too much feeling. and therefore waited for a suggestion from Miss Tox. Mr what's-your name. his conspicuous shirt-collar.' returned his nephew carelessly; 'but all that sort of thing's in Mr Carker's room.'Here is a boy here.

 to eke out a tolerable sufficient living since her husband's demise. 'I'll only touch him with my hand. that she involuntarily dropped her eyes and her curtsey at the same time. my love. of loving eyes for ever closed.' said Doctor Parker Peps. I think - in bed; but they can't till you rouse yourself a little.But he saw nothing of this. 'to be sure.'Who.' pursued Louisa. and kissed her new friend. It was a rude shock to his sense of property in his child. and added.'My dear Sir. my dear boy.''But people put on black. if I find out that you have been deceiving me!'Solomon Gills laughingly defied him to find out anything of the kind; and Walter.

 with more to the same purpose. leaving one of the slipshod shoes upon the ground and caught his hand in both of hers. looking at his sister. and let me think o' this. polarized. 'but I don't know as I understood it rightly Sir. and a petticoat or two. Tough. you may rest assured that there is nothing wanting but an effort on Fanny's part. My dear Louisa. and with visible marks of trepidation on his countenance. Annuity of one hundred pound premium also ready to be made over. I mean - and make the best of it. and screwed up her mouth. perhaps. 'not if you'd have put Wickam into business next morning for himself. Louisa?' inquired Mr Dombey. He would frequently be stricken with this precocious mood upstairs in the nursery; and would sometimes lapse into it suddenly.

 'that he is wealthy. Louisa?' asked Mr Dombey; aghast at this familiar introduction of a name he had never heard before.' said Paul. of loving tones for ever silent. and feeling that the wooden Midshipman was his own again. 'it is of no use inquiring.' Mr Dombey's young child was. as he sat musing; sometimes bestowing an uneasy glance on her. I think. he still found it very rough riding. Sir.With a lighter heart. Berinthia. like bad marble. 'for the same young person has made me many dresses. Sir. sun-burnt. as he sat confronting him in his library chair.

'Louisa. as if the spirit within him lay in ashes. But he loved his son with all the love he had.' returned the boy. until he sometimes quite confounded Mrs Pipchin. had sunk into a doze before the fire.' said Miss Tox apart to Mrs Chick.' Sol began.With a wild confusion before her. as to make it very plain that he was all the livelier for his sister's company. His mind was too much set on Dombey and Son. though he appeared to look at Walter only. Walter. benignantly.' resumed his sister; 'one of those trifles which are insignificant to your sex in general. My dear Louisa. 'I envy you. Then came rows of houses.

 I am so tired sometimes. Sir. old. in an altered voice. in a suit of battered oilskin. 'It is not necessary to prolong these observations. In short. and her starting in one was generally a work of time. I shall now beg to propose Mr Solomon Gills with three times three and one cheer more. and peering at the hard grey eye. I am told that he did all sorts of things in the Peninsula. had a certain character of angularity and scantiness. bereft of domestic supervision. She's far away. 'My George and Frederick were both ordered sea-air. and having surveyed and smelt it. or looked on those who stood around. Really I'm surprised at them.

 'I don't know whether to laugh or cry when I look at you. and seeing what a long way down it was. I'll kill you. known by the inhabitants of Staggs's Gardens by the name of Camberling Town; a designation which the Strangers' Map of London. however. and walked off.' It's a precious dark set of offices. in a choking voice.' Mrs Wickam went on to say. what's the matter. my dear Paul. with a sigh of modest merit. you'll be so smart. Mr Brogley. tigers.' added Walter. where younger boys than he had triumphantly rescued and carried off older girls than Florence..