 Prefaces of 1848 and 1867 of Dombe and Sun. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recorded by Mill Nicholson. Dombe and Sun by Charles Dickens. Prefaces of 1848 and 1867. Prefaces of 1848. I cannot forego my usual opportunity of saying farewell to my readers in this greeting place, though I have only to acknowledge the unbounded warmth and earnestness of their sympathy in every stage of the journey we have just concluded. If any of them have felt a sorrow in one of the principal incidents on which this fiction turns, I hope it may be a sorrow of that sort which endears the sharers in it one to another. This is not unselfish in me. I may claim to have felt it, at least as much as anybody else, and I would feign be remembered kindly for my part in the experience. Devonshire Terrace 24th March 1848 End of Prefaces of 1848 Prefaces of 1867 I make so bold as to believe that the faculty, or the habit, of correctly observing the characters of men, is a rare one. I have not even found within my experience that the faculty, or the habit, of correctly observing so much as the faces of men is a general one by any means. The two commonest mistakes in judgment that I suppose to arise from the former default are the confounding of shyness with arrogance, a very common mistake indeed, and the not understanding that an obstinate nature exists in a perpetual struggle with itself. Mr. Dombey undergoes no violent change, either in this book or in real life. A sense of his injustice is within him all along. The more he represses it, the more unjust he necessarily is. Internal shame and external circumstances may bring the contest to a close in a week or a day, but it has been a contest for years, and it is only fought out after a long balance of victory. I began this book by the Lake of Geneva, and went on with it for some months in France, before pursuing it in England. The association between the writing and the place of writing is so curiously strong in my mind that at this day, although I know in my fancy every stare in the little midshipman's house, and could swear to every pew in the church in which Florence was married, or to every young gentleman's bedstead in Dr. Blimber's establishment, I yet confusedly imagined Captain Cattle as secluding himself from Mrs. Max Stinger among the mountains of Switzerland. Similarly, when I am reminded by any chance of what it was that the waves were always saying, my remembrance wanders for a whole winter night about the streets of Paris, as I restlessly did with a heavy heart on the night when I had written the chapter in which my little friend and I parted company. End of Preface of 1867 Chapter 1 of Dombie and Son This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recorded by Mill Nicholson Dombie and Son By Charles Dickens Chapter 1 Dombie and Son Dombie sat in the corner of the darkened room in the great armchair by the bedside, and Son lay tucked up warm in a little basket bedstead, carefully disposed on a low setee immediately in front of the fire and close to it, as if his constitution were analogous to that of a muffin, and it was essential to toast him brown while he was very new. Dombie was about eight and forty years of age. Son about eight and forty minutes. Dombie was rather bald, rather red, and though a handsome, well-made man, too stern and pompous in appearance to be prepossessing. Son was very bald and very red, and though, of course, an undeniably fine infant, somewhat crushed and spotty in his general effect as yet. On the brow of Dombie, time and his brother Care had set some marks, as on a tree that was to come down in good time, remorseless twins they are for striding through their human forests, notching as they go, while the countenance of Son was crossed with a thousand little creases, which the same deceitful time would take delight in smoothing out and wearing away with the flat part of his scythe as a preparation of the surface for his deeper operations. Dombie, exulting in the long-looked-for event, jingled and jingled the heavy gold watch-chain that depended from below his trim blue coat, whereof the buttons sparkled phosphorescently in the feeble rays of the distant fire. Son, with his little fists curled up and clenched, seemed in his feeble way to be squaring at existence for having come upon him so unexpectedly. The house will once again, Mrs. Dombie," said Mr. Dombie, be not only in name, but in fact, Dombie and Son. And he added in a tone of luxurious satisfaction with his eyes half closed as if he were reading the name in a device of flowers and inhaling their fragrance at the same time. Dombie and Son. The words had such a softening influence that he appended a term of endearment to Mrs. Dombie's name, though not without some hesitation as being a man but little used to that form of address, and said, Mrs. Dombie, my—my dear! A transient flush of faint surprise spread the sick lady's face as she raised her eyes towards him. He will be christened, Paul, my—Mrs. Dombie, of course. She feebly echoed, of course, or rather expressed it by the motion of her lips and closed her eyes again. His father's name, Mrs. Dombie, and his grandfather's. I wish his grandfather were alive this day. There is some inconvenience in the necessity of writing junior, said Mr. Dombie, making a fictitious autograph on his knee. But it is merely of a private and personal complexion. It doesn't enter into the correspondence of the house. Its signature remains the same. And again he said, Dombie and Son, in exactly the same tone as before. Those three words conveyed the one idea of Mr. Dombie's life. The earth was made for Dombie and Son to trade in, and the sun and moon were made to give them light. Rivers and seas were formed to float their ships. Rainbows gave them promise of fair weather. Winds blew for or against their enterprises. Stars and planets circled in their orbits to preserve, in violet, a system of which they were the centre. Common abbreviations took new meanings in his eyes, and had sole reference to them. A.D. had no concern with Anno Domini, but stood for Anno Dombie and Son. He had risen, as his father had before him, in the course of life and death, from Son to Dombie, and for nearly twenty years had been the sole representative of the firm. Of those years he had been married ten. Married, as some said, to a lady with no heart to give him, whose happiness was in the past, and who was content to bind her broken spirit to the dutiful and meek endurance of the present. Such idle talk was little likely to reach the ears of Mr. Dombie, whom it nearly concerned, and probably no one in the world would have received it with such utter incredulity as he, if it had reached him. Dombie and Son had often dealt in hides, but never in hearts. They left that fancy wear to boys and girls and boarding schools and books. Mr. Dombie would have reasoned that a matrimonial alliance with himself must, in the nature of things, be gratifying and honorable to any woman of common sense. That the hope of giving birth to a new partner in such a house could not fail to awaken a glorious and stirring ambition in the breast of the least ambitious of her sex. That Mrs. Dombie had entered on that social contract of matrimony, almost necessarily part of a genteel and wealthy station, even without reference to the petuation of family firms, with her eyes fully open to these advantages. That Mrs. Dombie had had daily practical knowledge of his position in society. That Mrs. Dombie had always sat at the head of his table and done the honors of his house in a remarkably ladylike and becoming manner. That Mrs. Dombie must have been happy, that she couldn't help it. Or at all events with one drawback. Yes, that he would have allowed, with only one, but that one certainly involving much, with the drawback of hope deferred. That hope deferred, which, as the Scripture very correctly tells us, Mr. Dombie would have added in a patronizing way for his highest distinct idea even of Scripture, and would have been found to be that as forming part of a general whole of which Dombie and son formed another part, it was therefore to be commended and upheld, maketh the heart sick. They had been married ten years, and until this present day on which Mr. Dombie sat jingling and jingling his heavy gold watch-chain in the great arm-chair by the side of the bed, had had no issue. To speak of. Unworth mentioning. There had been a girl some six years before, and the child who had stolen into the chamber unobserved was now crouching timidly in a corner when she could see her mother's face. But what was a girl to Dombie and son? In the capital of the house's name and dignity, such a child was merely a piece of base-coin that couldn't be invested. A bad boy. Nothing more. Mr. Dombie's cup of satisfaction was so full at this moment, however, that he felt he could afford a drop or two of its contents, even to sprinkle on the dust in the by-path of his little daughter. So he said, Florence, you may go and look at your pretty brother, if you like, I dare say. Don't touch him. The child glanced keenly at the blue coat and stiff white cravat, which with a pair of creaking boots and a very loud ticking watch embodied her idea of her father. But her eyes returned to her mother's face immediately, and she neither moved nor answered. Her insensibility is as proof against her brother as against everything else, said Mr. Dombie to himself. He seemed so confirmed in a previous opinion by the discovery as to be quite glad of it. Next moment the lady had opened her eyes and seen the child, and the child had run towards her and, standing on tiptoe, the better to hide her face and her embrace, had clung about her with a desperate affection, very much at variance with her years. Oh, Lord, bless me! said Mr. Dombie, rising testily. A very ill-advised and feverish proceeding this, I am sure. Pleased to ring there for Miss Florence's nurse. Really the person should be more care— Wait! I had better ask Dr. Pepps if you'll have the goodness to step upstairs again, perhaps. I'll go down. I'll go down. I needn't beg you," he added, pausing for a moment of the settee before the fire. To take particular care of this young gentleman, Mrs. Block it, sir," suggested the nurse, a simpering piece of faded gentility who did not presume to state her name as a fact, but merely offered it as a mild suggestion. Oh, this young gentleman, Mrs. Block it. No, sir, indeed. I'll remember when Miss Florence was born. Aye, aye, aye," said Mr. Dombie, bending over the basket bedstead and slightly bending his brows at the same time. Miss Florence was all very well, but this is another matter. This young gentleman has to accomplish a destiny. A destiny, little fellow. As he thus apostifies, the infant he raised one of his hand to his lips and kissed it. Then, seeming to fear that the action involved some compromise of his dignity, went awkwardly enough away. Dr. Parker Pepps, one of the court physicians and a man of immense reputation for assisting at the increase of great families, was walking up and down the drawing-room with his hands behind him to the unspeakable admiration of the family surgeon, who had regularly puffed the case for the last six weeks among all his patients, friends and acquaintances, as one to which he was in hourly expectation day and night of being summoned in conjunction with Dr. Parker Pepp. Well, sir, said Dr. Parker Pepps in a round, deep, sonorous voice, muffled for the occasion like the knocker. Do you find that your dear ladies at all roused by your visit? Stimulated as it were, said the family practitioner faintly, bowing at the same time to the doctor as much as to say, excuse my putting in a word, but this is a valuable connection. Mr. Donby was quite discomforted by the question. He had thought so little of the patient that he was not in a condition to answer it. He said that it would be a satisfaction to him if Dr. Parker Pepps would walk upstairs again. Good. We must not disguise from you, sir, said Dr. Parker Pepps, that there is a want of power in her grace the Duchess. Beg your pardon, I confound names. I should say, in your amiable lady, that there is a certain degree of languor and a general absence of elasticity, which we would rather not see, interpose the family practitioner with another inclination of the head. Quite so, said Dr. Parker Pepps, which we would rather not see. It would appear that the system of Lady Cancobie, excuse me, I should say of Mrs. Donby, I confuse the names of cases. So very numerous. murmured the family practitioner. Can't be expected, I'm sure, quite wonderful if otherwise Dr. Parker Pepps's West End practice. Thank you, said the doctor, quite so. It would appear I was observing that the system of our patient has sustained a shock, from which it can only hope to rally by a great and strong and vigorous. murmured the family practitioner. Quite so, assented the doctor, and vigorous effort. Mr. Pilkin's here, who from his position of medical advisor in this family, no one better qualified to fill that position, I am sure. Oh! murmured the family practitioner. Praise from Sir Hubert Stanley. You are good enough. Returned Dr. Parker Pepps to say so. Mr. Pilkin's who from his position is best acquainted with the patient's constitution in its normal state, an acquaintance very valuable to us in forming our opinions in these occasions, is of opinion with me that nature must be called upon to make a vigorous effort in this instance, and that if our interesting friend, the Countess of Donby, beg your pardon, Mrs. Donby, should not be able, said the family practitioner. To make, said Dr. Parker Pepps. That effort, said the family practitioner, successfully said they both together. Then, added Dr. Parker Pepps, alone and very gravely, a crisis might arise which we should both sincerely deplore. With that, they stood for a few seconds looking at the ground. Then, on the motion made in dumb show of Dr. Parker Pepps, they went upstairs. The family practitioner opening the room door for that distinguished professional and following him out with most obsequious politeness. To record of Mr. Donby that it was not in his way affected by this intelligence would be to do him an injustice. He was not a man of whom it could properly be said that he was ever startled or shocked, but he certainly had a sense within him that if his wife should sicken and decay he would be very sorry and that he would find a something gone from among his plate and furniture and other household possessions which was well worth the having and could not be lost without sincere regret. Though it would be a cool, business-like, gentlemanly, self-possessed regret, no doubt. His meditations on the subject were soon interrupted first by the rustling of garments on the staircase and then by the sudden whisking into the room of a lady rather past the middle age than otherwise but dressed in a very juvenile manner particularly after the tightness of her bodice who, running up to him with a kind of screw in her face and carriage expressive of suppressed emotion flung her arms around his neck and said in a choking voice My dear Paul! He's quite a domby! Well, well returned her brother for Mr. Domby was her brother I think he is like the family Don't agitate yourself, Louisa It's very foolish of me said Louisa, sitting down and taking out her pocket handkerchief But he's such perfect domby! Mr. Domby coughed It's so extraordinary! said Louisa, smiling through her tears which indeed were not overpowering as to be perfectly ridiculous so completely our family I never saw anything like it in my life But what is this about Fanny herself? said Mr. Domby How is this Fanny? My dear Paul! returned Louisa It's nothing whatever Take my word, it's nothing whatever There is exhaustion certainly but nothing like what I underwent myself either with George or Frederick An effort is necessary, that's all If dear Fanny were a domby But I dare say she'll make it I have no doubt she'll make it Knowing it to be required of her as a duty, of course she'll make it My dear Paul, it's very weak and silly of me I know to be so trembling and shaky from head to foot but I'm so very queer that I must ask you for a glass of wine and a morsel of that cake Mr. Domby promptly supplied her with these refreshments from a tray on the table I shall not drink my love to you, Paul said Louisa I shall drink to the little domby Good gracious me! It's the most astonishing thing I ever knew in all my days, he's such a perfect domby quenching this expression of opinion in a short hysterical laugh which terminated in tears Louisa cast up her eyes and emptied her glass I know it's very weak and silly of me she repeated to be so trembling and shaky from head to foot and to allow my feeling so completely to get the better of me but I cannot help it I thought I should have fallen out of the staircase window as I came down from seeing, dear Fanny in that titty, ickel sing These last words originated in a sudden, vivid reminiscence of the baby They were succeeded by a gentle tap at the door Mrs. Chick said a very bland female voice outside How are you now, my dear friend? My dear Paul said Louisa in a low voice as she rose from her seat It's Miss Tox the kindest creature I never could have got here without her Miss Tox my brother Mr. Domby Paul, my dear, my very particular friend Miss Tox The lady thus specially presented was a long lean figure wearing such a faded air that she seemed not to have been made in what linen drapers call fast colours originally and to have, by little and little, washed out But for this she might have been described as the very pink of general propitiation and politeness from a long habit of listening admiringly to everything that was said in her presence and looking at the speakers as if she were mentally engaged in taking off impressions of their images upon her soul, never depart with the same but with life Her head had quite settled on one side Her hands had contracted a spasmodic habit of raising themselves of their own accord as in involuntary admiration Her eyes were liable to a similar affection She had the softest voice that ever was heard and her nose, stupendously aquiline had a little knob in the very centre or keystone of the bridge whence it tended downwards towards her face as in an invincible determination never to turn up at anything Miss Tox's dress, though perfectly gentile and good had a certain character of angularity and scantiness She was accustomed to wear odd weedy little flowers in her bonnets and caps strange grasses were sometimes perceived in her hair and it was observed by the curious of all her collars, frills tuckers, wristbands and other gossamer articles and deed of everything she wore which had two ends to it intended to unite that the two ends were never on good terms and wouldn't quite meet without a struggle She had furry articles for winter wear flowers, boas and muffs which stood up on end in rampant manner and were not at all sleek She was much given to the carrying about of small bags with snaps to them that went off like little pistols when they were shut up and when full dressed she wore round her neck the barrenest of lockets representing a fishy old eye with no approach to speculation in it These and other appearances of a similar nature had served to propagate the opinion that Miss Tox was a lady of what is called a limited independence which she turned to the best account Possibly her mincing-gate encouraged the belief and suggested that her clipping a step of ordinary compass into two or three originated in her habit of making the most of everything I am sure said Miss Tox with a prodigious curtsy that to have the honour of being presented to Mr. Donby is a distinction which I have long sought but very little expected at the present moment my dear Mrs. Chick may I say Louisa Mrs. Chick took Miss Tox's hand in hers rested the foot of her wine-glass upon it repressed a tear and said in a low voice God bless you my dear Louisa then said Miss Tox my sweet friend how are you now better Mrs. Chick returned take some wine you've been almost as anxious as I have been and must want it I am sure Mr. Donby of course officiated and also refilled his sister's glass which she, looking another way and unconscious of his intention held straight and steady the while and then regarded with great astonishment saying my dear Paul what have you been doing Miss Tox Paul pursued Mrs. Chick still retaining her hand knowing how much I have been interested in the anticipation of the event of today and how trembling and shaky I have been from head to foot in expectation of it has been working at a little gift for Fanny which I promised to present Miss Tox his ingenuity itself my dear Louisa said Miss Tox don't say so it is only a pin cushion for the toilet table, Paul resumed his sister one of those trifles which are insignificant to your sex in general as it's very natural they should be we have no business to expect they should be otherwise but to which we attach some interest Miss Tox is very good and I do say and will say and must say pursued his sister pressing the foot of the wine-glass on Miss Tox's hand at each of the three clauses that Miss Tox has very prettily adapted the sentiment to the occasion I call welcome little donby poetry myself is that the device and quite a brother that is the device returned Louisa but do me the justice to remember my dear Louisa said Miss Tox in a tone of low and earnest and treaty that nothing but the I have some difficulty in expressing myself the dubiousness of the result would have induced me to take so great a liberty welcome Master Donby would have been much more congenial in my feelings as I am sure you know but the uncertainty attendant on angelic strangers will I hope excuse what must otherwise appear an unwarrantable familiarity Miss Tox made a graceful bend as she spoke in favour of Mr. Donby which that gentleman graciously acknowledged even the sort of recognition of Donby and Son conveyed in the foregoing conversation was so palatable to him that his sister, Mrs. Chick though he effected to consider her a weak good natured person had perhaps more influence over him than anybody else my dear Paul that lady broke out afresh after silently contemplating his features for a few moments I don't know whether to laugh or cry when I look at you I declare you do so remind me of that dear baby upstairs well said Mrs. Chick with a sweet smile after this I forgive Fanny everything it was a declaration in a Christian spirit and Mrs. Chick felt that it did her good not that she had anything particular to forgive in her sister-in-law nor indeed anything at all except her having married her brother in itself a species of audacity and her having in the course of events given birth to a girl instead of a boy which as Mrs. Chick had frequently observed was not quite what she had expected of her and was not a pleasant return for all the attention and distinction she had met with Mr. Donby being hastily summoned out of the room at this moment the two ladies were left alone together Miss Tox immediately became spasmodic I knew you would admire my brother I told you so beforehand my dear said Louisa Miss Tox's hands and eyes expressed how much and as to his property my dear ah said Miss Tox with deep feeling immense but his deportment my dear Louisa said Miss Tox his presence and dignity no portrait that I have ever seen of anyone has been half so replete with those qualities something so stately you know so uncompromising so very wide across the chest so upright a pecuniary Duke of York my love and nothing short of it said Miss Tox I will not designate him why my dear Paul exclaimed his sister as he returned you look quite pale there's nothing the matter I'm sorry to say Louisa that they tell me that Fanny now my dear Paul returned his sister rising don't believe it do not allow yourself to receive a turn unnecessarily since you are to society and do not allow yourself to be worried by what is so very inconsiderately told you by people who ought to know better really I'm surprised at them I hope I know Louisa said Mr. Donby stiffly how to bear myself before the world nobody better my dear Paul nobody half so well they would be ignorant and base indeed who doubted it ignorant and base base indeed echoed Miss Tox softly but if you have any reliance on my experience Paul you may rest assured that there is nothing wanting but an effort on Fanny's part and that effort she continued taking off her bonnet and adjusting her cap and gloves in a business like manner she must be encouraged and really if necessary urged Paul come upstairs with me Mr. Donby who besides being generally influenced by his sister for the reason already mentioned had really faith in her as an experienced and bustling matron acquiesced and followed her at once to the sick chamber the lady lay upon her bed as he had left her clasping her little daughter to her breast the child clung close about her with the same intensity as before and never raised her head or moved her soft cheek from her mother's face or looked on those who stood around or spoke or moved or shed a tear restless without the little girl the doctor whispered Mr. Donby we found it best to have her in again can nothing be done asked Mr. Donby the doctor shook his head we can do no more the windows stood open and the twilight was gathering without the scent of the restoratives that had been tried was pungent in the room but had no fragrance in the dull and languid air the lady breathed there was such a solemn stillness round the bed and the two medical attendants seemed to look on the impassive form with so much compassion and so little hope for the moment diverted from her purpose but presently summoning courage and what she called presence of mind she sat down by the bedside and said in the low precise tone of one who endeavours to awaken a sleeper Fanny? Fanny! there was no sound in answer but the loud ticking of Mr. Donby's watch and Dr. Parker Pepps's watch which seemed in the silence to be running a race Fanny my dear said Mrs. Chick with assumed lightness here's Mr. Donby come to see you won't you speak to him they want to lay your little boy the baby Fanny you know you've hardly seen him yet I think in bed but they can't till you rouse yourself a little don't you think it's time you rouse yourself a little eh she bent her ear to the bed and listened at the same time looking round at the bystanders and holding up her finger eh she repeated what was it you said Fanny I didn't hear you no word or sound in answer Mr. Donby's watch and Dr. Parker Pepps's watch seemed to be racing faster now really Fanny my dear said the sister-in-law altering her position and speaking less confidently and more earnestly in spite of herself I shall have to be quite cross with you if you don't rouse yourself it's necessary for you to make an effort and perhaps a very great and painful effort which you are not disposed to make but this is a world of effort you know Fanny and we must never yield when so much depends upon us come try I must really hold you if you don't the race in the ensuing pause was fierce and furious the watches seemed to jostle and to trip each other up Fanny said Louisa glancing round with a gathering alarm only look at me only open your eyes to show me that you hear and understand me will you good heaven gentlemen what is to be done the two medical attendants exchanged a look across the bed and the physician stooping down whispered in the child's ear not having understood the purport of his whisper the little creature turned her perfectly colourless face and deep dark eyes towards him but without loosening her hold in the least the whisper was repeated mama said the child the little voice familiar and dearly loved awakened some show of consciousness even at that ebb for a moment the closed eyelids trembled and the nostril quivered and the faintest shadow of a smile a scene cried the child sobbing aloud oh dear mama oh dear mama the doctor gently brushed the scattered ringlets of the child aside from the face and mouth of the mother alas how calm they lay there how little breath there was to stir them thus clinging fast to that slight spar within her arms the mother drifted out upon the dark and unknown sea that rolls round all the world end of chapter one chapter two of Dombian son this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recorded by Mill Nicholson Dombian son by Charles Dickens chapter two in which timely provision is made for an emergency that will sometimes arise in the best regulated families I shall never cease to congratulate myself said Mrs. Chick on having said when I little thought what was in store for us really as if I was inspired by something that I forgave poor dear Fanny everything whatever happens that must always be a comfort to me Mrs. Chick made this impressive observation in the drawing room after having descended thither from the inspection of the mantua makers upstairs who were busy on the family morning she delivered it for the behoof Mr. Chick was a stout bald gentleman with a very large face and his hands continually in his pockets and who had a tendency in his nature to whistle and hum tunes which sensible of the indecorum of such sounds in a house of grief he was at some pains to repress at present Don't you overexert yourself Lou said Mr. Chick or you'll be laid up with spasms right to Lou bless my soul I forgot we're here one day and gone the next Mrs. Chick contented herself for the glance of reproof and then proceeded with the thread of her discourse are you sure I hope this heart-rending occurrence will be a warning to all of us to accustom ourselves to rouse ourselves and to make efforts in time there's a moral in everything if we would only avail ourselves of it it will be our own faults if we lose sight of this one Mr. Chick invaded the grave silence which ensued on this remark with the singularly inappropriate air of and checking himself in some confusion observed that it was undoubtedly our own faults if we didn't improve such melancholy occasions as the present which might be better improved I should think Mr. C retorted his help-mate after a short pause then by the introduction either of the college hornpipe or the equally un-meaning and un-feeling remark of rumpity-iddity bow wow wow which Mr. Chick had indeed indulged in under his breath and which Mrs. Chick repeated in a tone of withering scorn habit my dear pleaded Mr. Chick nonsense habit returned his wife if you're a rational being don't make such ridiculous excuses habit if I was to get a habit as you call it of walking on the ceiling like the flies I should hear enough of it I dare say it appeared so probable that such a habit might be attended with some degree of notoriety that Mr. Chick didn't venture to dispute the position bow wow wow repeated Mrs. Chick with an emphasis of blighting contempt on the last syllable more like a professional singer with the hydrophobia than a manning your station of life how's the baby loo asked Mr. Chick to change the subject what baby do you mean answered Mrs. Chick the poor bereaved little baby said Mr. Chick I don't know of any other my dear you don't know of any other retorted Mrs. Chick more shame for you I was going to say Mr. Chick looked astonished I am sure the morning I have had with that dining room downstairs one mass of babies no one in their senses would believe one mass of babies repeated Mr. Chick staring with an alarmed expression about him it would have occurred to most men said Mrs. Chick that poor dear Fanny being no more those words of mine will always be a balm and comfort to me here she dried her eyes it becomes necessary to provide and nurse ooh ah said Mr. Chick such is life I mean I hope you are suited my dear indeed I am not said Mrs. Chick no more likely to be so far as I can see and in the meantime the poor child seems likely to be starved to death Paul is so very particular naturally so of course having set his whole heart on this one boy and there are so many objections to everybody that offers that I don't see myself the least chance of an arrangement meanwhile of course the child is going to the devil said Mr. Chick thoughtfully to be sure admonished however that he had committed himself by the indignation expressed in Mrs. Chick's countenance at the idea of a donby going there and thinking to atone for his misconduct he added couldn't something temporary be done with a teapot? if he had meant to bring the subject prematurely to a close he could not have done it more effectually after looking at him for some moments in silent resignation Mrs. Chick said she trusted he hadn't said it in aggravation because that would do very little honour to his heart she trusted he hadn't said it seriously because that would do very little honour to his head as in any case he couldn't however sanguine his disposition hope to offer a remark that would be a greater outrage on human nature in general we would beg to leave the discussion at that point Mrs. Chick then walked majestically to the window and peeped through the blind attracted by the sound of wheels Mr. Chick finding that his destiny was for the time against him said no more and walked off but it was not always thus with Mr. Chick he was often in the ascendant himself and at those times punished Louisa roundly in their matrimonial bickering as they were upon the whole a well matched fairly balanced give and take couple it would have been generally speaking very difficult to have betted on the winner often when Mr. Chick seemed beaten he would suddenly make a start turn the tables clatter them about the ears of Mrs. Chick and carry all before him being liable himself to similar unlooked for checks from Mrs. Chick their little contests usually possessed a character of uncertainty that was very animating Miss Tox had arrived on the wheels just now alluded to and came running into the room in a breathless condition my dear Louisa said Miss Tox if vacancy is still unsupplied you could sell yes said Mrs. Chick then my dear Louisa returned Miss Tox I hope and believe but in one moment my dear I'll introduce the party running downstairs again as fast as she had run up Miss Tox got the party out of the Hackney coach and returned with it under convoy it then appeared that she had used the word not in its legal or business acceptation when it merely expresses an individual but as a noun of multitude or signifying many for Miss Tox escorted a plump rosy cheeked wholesome apple-faced young woman with an infant in her arms a younger woman not so plump but apple-faced also apple-faced child in each hand another plump and also apple-faced boy who walked by himself and finally a plump and apple-faced man who carried in his arms another plump and apple-faced boy who he stood down on the floor and admonished in a husky whisper to kitsch hold of his brother Johnny my dear Louisa said Miss Tox knowing your great anxiety and wishing to relieve it I posted off myself to the Queen Charlotte's Royal Married Females which you had forgot and put the question was there anybody there that they thought would suit no they said they was not when they gave me that answer I do assure you my dear I was almost driven to despair on your account but it did so happen that one of the Royal Married Females hearing the inquiry reminded the matron of another who had gone to her own home and who she said would in all likelihood be most satisfactory the moment I heard this and had it corroborated by the matron excellent references and unimpeachable character I got the address my dear and posted off again like the dear good Tox you are said Louisa not at all returned Miss Tox don't say so arriving at the house the cleanest place my dear you might eat your dinner off the floor I found the whole family sitting at table and feeling that no account of them could be half so comfortable to you and Mr. Dombie as the sight of them all together I brought them all away this gentleman said Miss Tox pointing out the Apple-faced man is the father will you have the goodness to come a little forward sir the Apple-faced man having sheepishly complied with this request and grinning in a front row this is his wife of course said Miss Tox singling out the young woman with the baby how do you do Polly ah, pretty well I thank you ma'am said Polly by way of bringing her out dexterously Miss Tox had made the inquiry as in condescension to an old acquaintance whom she hadn't seen for a fortnight or so I'm glad to hear it said Miss Tox the other young woman is her unmarried sister who lives with them and would take care of her children her name's Jemima how do you do Jemima ah, pretty well I thank you ma'am returned Jemima I'm very glad indeed to hear it said Miss Tox of so five children youngest six weeks the fine little boy with a blister on his nose is the eldest the blister I believe said Miss Tox looking round upon the family is not constitutional but accidental the apple-faced man was understood to growl flat iron I beg your pardon sir Miss Tox, did you flat iron he repeated oh yes yes, quite true I forgot the little creature in his mother's absence smelled a warm flat iron you're quite right sir you were going to have the goodness to inform me when we arrived at the door that you were by trade a said the man a choker said Miss Tox quite aghast stoker said the man steam engine oh yes returned Miss Tox looking thoughtfully at him and seeming still to have but a very imperfect understanding of his meaning and how do you like it sir which ma'am said the man that replied Miss Tox oh, pretty well mum the ashes sometimes gets in here touching his chest and makes a man speak gruff as at the present time but it is ashes mum not crustiness Miss Tox seemed to be so little enlightened by this reply as to find a difficulty in pursuing the subject but Mrs. Chick relieved her by entering into a close private examination of Polly her children her marriage certificate testimonials and so forth Polly coming out unscathed from this ordeal Mrs. Chick withdrew with her report to her brother's room and as an emphatic comment on it and corroboration of it carried the two rosiest little toodles with her including the family name of the Apple-faced family Mr. Donby had remained in his own apartment since the death of his wife absorbed in visions of the youth education and destination of his baby son something lay at the bottom of his cool heart colder and heavier than its ordinary load but it was more a sense of the child's loss than his own awakening within him an almost angry sorrow at the life and progress on which he built such hopes should be endangered in the outset by so mean a want that Donby and son should be tottering for a nurse was a sore humiliation and yet in his pride and jealousy he viewed with so much bitterness the thought of being dependent for the very first step towards the accomplishment of his soul's desire on a hired serving woman who would be to the child for the time all that even his alliance would have made his own wife that in every new rejection of a candidate he felt a secret pleasure the time had now come however when he could no longer be divided between these two sets of feelings the less so as there seemed to be no flaw in the title of Polly Toodle after his sister had set it forth with many commendations on the indefatigable friendship of Miss Tox these children look healthy said Mr. Donby but by God to think of their someday claiming a sort of relationship to Paul but what relationship is there Louisa began is there echoed Mr. Donby who had not intended his sister to participate in the thought he had unconsciously expressed is there did you say Louisa can there be I mean said Mr. Donby sternly the whole world knows that I presume grief has not made me idiotic Louisa take them away Louisa let me see this woman and her husband Mrs. Chick bore off the tender pair of Toodles and presently returned with that tougher couple whose presence her brother had commanded my good woman said Mr. Donby turning round in his easy chair as one piece and not as a man with limbs and joints I understand you are poor and wish to earn money by nursing the little boy my son who has been so prematurely deprived of what can never be replaced I have no objection to your adding to the comforts of your family by that means so far as I can tell you seem to be a deserving object but I must impose one or two conditions on you before you enter my house in that capacity while you are here I must stipulate that you are always known as say as Richards an ordinary name and convenient have you any objection to be known as Richards you had better consult your husband well said Mr. Donby after a pretty long pause what does your husband say to your being called Richards as the husband did nothing but chuckle and grin and continually draw his right hand across his mouth moistening the palm Mrs. Toodle after nudging him twice or thrice in vain dropped a curtsy and replied that perhaps if she was to be called out of her name it would be considered in the wages oh, of course said Mr. Donby I desire to make it a question of wages altogether now Richards if you nurse my bereaved child I wish you to remember this always you will receive a liberal stipend in return for the discharge of certain duties in the performance of which I wish you to see as little of your family as possible when those duties cease to be required and rendered and the stipend ceases to be paid there is an end of all relations between us do you understand me Mrs. Toodle seemed doubtful about it and as to Toodle himself he had evidently no doubt whatever that he was all abroad you have children of your own said Mr. Donby it is not at all in this bargain that you need become attached to my child or that my child need become attached to you I don't expect or desire anything of the kind quite the reverse when you go away from here you will have concluded what is a mere matter of bargain and sale hiring and letting and will stay away the child will cease to remember you and you will cease if you please to remember the child Mrs. Toodle with a little more colour in her cheeks than she had had before said she hoped she knew her place I hope you do, Richards said Mr. Donby I have no doubt you know it very well indeed it is so plain and obvious that it could hardly be otherwise Louisa my dear arrange with Richards about money and let her have it when and how she pleases Mr. what's your name? a word with you, if you please thus arrested on the threshold as he was following his wife out of the room Toodle returned and confronted Mr. Donby alone he was a strong loose, round-shouldered shuffling shaggy fellow on whom his clothes sat negligently with a good deal of hair and whisker deepened in its natural tint perhaps by smoke and cold-ust hard knotty hands and a square forehead as coarse in grain as the bark of an oak a thorough contrast in all respects to Mr. Donby who is one of those close-shaved close-cut, moneyed gentlemen who are glossy and crisp like new banknotes and who seem to be artificially braced and tightened as by the stimulating action of golden shower-baths you have a son, I believe said Mr. Donby for on him sir for him to know all alive why it's as much as you can afford to keep them said Mr. Donby I couldn't hardly afford but one thing in the world less sir what is that to lose them sir can you read asked Mr. Donby why not particular sir right with chalk sir with anything I could make shift a chalk a little bit I'll think if I was put to it said Tudl after some reflection and yet said Mr. Donby you are two or three and thirty I suppose thereabouts or spouse answered Tudl after more reflection then why don't you learn asked Mr. Donby so am I going to sir one of my little boys is they going to learn me when he's old enough and beat a school himself well said Mr. Donby after looking at him attentively and with no great favour as he stood gazing round the room principally around the ceiling and still drawing his hand across and across his mouth you heard what I said to your wife just now Polly you did said Tudl jerking his hat over his shoulder in the direction of the door with an air of perfect confidence in his better half you saw right but I ask you if you heard it you did I suppose and understood it I heard it said Tudl but I don't know as I understood it rightly sir count of being no scholar and the words being ask you pardon but Polly heard it it's all right as you appear to leave everything to her said Mr. Donby frustrated in his intention of impressing his views still more distinctly on the husband as the stronger character I suppose it is of no use saying anything to you not a bit said Tudl Polly heard it she's awake sir I won't attain you any longer then returned Mr. Donby disappointed where have you worked all your life mostly underground sir Jillar got married I'll come to the level then I'm going on one of these year railroads when they come into full play as he added in one of his horse whispers we means to bring up little Byler to that line Mr. Donby inquired Hortley who little Byler was the eldest on him sir said Tudl with a smile it ain't a common name so much sir that when he was took to church a gentleman said it was a Christian one and he couldn't give it we always call him Byler just the same for we don't mean no arm not we do you mean to say man inquired Mr. Donby looking at him with marked displeasure that you have called a child after a Byler no no sir pretend Tudl with a tender consideration for his mistake oh should hope not no sir after a Byler sir the steam engine was almost as good as a godfather to him and so we called him Byler don't you see as the last straw breaks the laden camel's back this piece of information crushed the sinking spirits of Mr. Donby he motioned his child's foster father to the door who departed by no means unwillingly and then turning the key paced up and down the room in solitary wretchedness it would be harsh and perhaps not altogether true to say of him that he felt these rubs and gratings against his pride more keenly than he had felt his wife's death but certainly they impressed that event upon him with new force and communicated to it added weight and bitterness it was a rude shock to his sense of property in his child that these people the mere dust of the earth as he thought them should be necessary to him and it was natural that in proportion as he felt disturbed by it he should deplore the occurrence which had made them so for all his starched impenetrable dignity and composure he wiped blinding tears from his eyes as he paced up and down his room and often said with an emotion of which he would not for the world have had a witness poor little fellow it may have been characteristic of Mr. Donby's pride that he pitied himself through the child not poor me not poor widower confiding by constraint in the wife of an ignorant hind who has been working mostly underground all his life and yet at whose door death had never knocked and at whose poor table four sons daily sit but poor little fellow those words being on his lips it occurred to him and it is an instance of the strong attraction with which his hopes and fears and all his thoughts were tending to one centre that a great temptation was being placed in this woman's way her infant was a boy too now would it be possible for her to change them though he was soon satisfied that he had dismissed the idea as romantic and unlikely though possible there was no denying he could not help pursuing it so far as to entertain within himself a picture of what his condition would be if he should discover such an imposture when he was grown old whether a man so situated would be able to pluck away the result of so many years of usage confidence and belief from the imposter and endow a stranger with it but it was idle speculating thus it couldn't happen in a moment afterwards he determined that it could but that such women were constantly observed and had no opportunity given them for the accomplishment of such a design even when they were so wicked as to entertain it in another moment he was remembering how few such cases seemed to have ever happened in another moment he was wondering whether they ever happened and were not found out as his unusual emotion subsided these misgivings gradually melted away though so much of their shadow remained behind that he was constant in his resolution to look closely after Richards himself without appearing to do so being now in an easier frame of mind he regarded the woman's station as rather an advantageous circumstance than otherwise by placing in itself a broad distance between her and the child and rendering their separation easy and natural thence he passed to the contemplation of the future glories of Donby and Son and dismissed the memory of his wife for the time being with a tributary sigh or two meanwhile terms were ratified and agreed upon between Mrs. Chick and Richards with the assistance of Miss Tox and Richard being with much a ceremony invested with the Donby baby as if it were an order resigned her own with many tears and kisses to Jemima glasses of wine were then produced to sustain the drooping spirits of the family and Miss Tox busying herself in dispensing tastes to the younger branches bred them up to their father's business with such surprising expedition that she made chokers of four of them in a quarter of a minute you'll take a glass yourself sir won't you said Miss Tox as Toodle appeared thank you mum said Toodle since you're suppressing and you're very glad to leave your dear good wife in such a comfortable home ain't you sir said Miss Tox nodding and winking at him stealthily now mum said Toodle he is wishing of her back again Polly cried more than ever at this so Mrs. Chick who had her matronly apprehensions at this indulgence in grief might be pre-judicial to the little Donby acid indeed she whispered Miss Tox hastened to the rescue your little child will thrive charmingly with your sister Jemima Richards said Mrs. Chick and you have only to make an effort this is a world of effort you know Richards to be very happy indeed you have been already measured for your morning haven't you Richards yes mum sobbed Polly and it'll fit beautifully I know said Mrs. Chick for the same young person has made me many dresses the very best materials too lore you'll be so smart said Miss Tox that your husband won't know you will you sir or should know her said Toodle roughly any hours on any words Toodle was evidently not to be bought over as to living Richards you know pursued Mrs. Chick why the very best of everything will be at your disposal you will order your little dinner every day and anything you take a fancy to I'm sure will be as readily provided as if you were a lady yes to be sure said Miss Tox keeping up the bore with great sympathy and as to Porter quite unlimited will it not Louisa certainly return Mrs. Chick in the same tone with a little abstinence you know my dear in point of vegetables and pickles perhaps suggested Miss Tox with such exceptions said Louisa she'll consult her choice entirely and be under no restraint at all my love and then of course you know said Miss Tox however fond because of her own dear little child I'm sure Louisa you don't blame her for being fond of it oh no cried Mrs. Chick benignly still resumed Miss Tox she naturally must be interested in her young charge and must consider it a privilege to see a little cherub connected with the superior classes gradually unfilled itself every single day at one common fountain is it not so Louisa most undoubtedly said Mrs. Chick you see my love she's already quite contented and comfortable and means to say goodbye to her sister Jemima and her little pets and her good honest husband with a light heart and a smile don't she my dear oh yes cried Miss Tox to be sure she does notwithstanding which however poor Polly embraced them all round in great distress and coming to her spouse at last could not make up her mind to part from him until he gently disengaged himself at the close of the following allegorical piece of consolation Polly old woman whatever you do my darling hold up your head and fight low that's the only rule as I know on that will carry anyone through life you always have held up your head and fought low Polly do it now or bricks is no longer so God bless you Polly me and Jemima will do your duty by you and with relating to your hold up your head and fight low Polly and you can't go wrong fortified by this golden secret Polly finally ran away to avoid any more particular leaf-taking between herself and the children but the stratagem hardly succeeded as well as it deserved for the smallest boy but one divining her intent immediately began swarming upstairs after her if that word of doubtful etymology be admissible on his arms and legs while the eldest known in the family by the name of Byla in remembrance of the steam engine beat a demoniacal tattoo with his boots expressive of grief in which he was joined by the rest of the family a quantity of oranges and havens thrust indiscriminately on each young toodle checked the first violence of their regret and the family was speedily transported to their own home by means of the Hackney coach kept in waiting for that purpose the children under the guardianship of Jemima blocked up the window and dropped out oranges and havens all the way along Mr. Toodle himself preferred to ride behind among the spikes as being the mode of conveyance to which he was best accustomed End of Chapter 2 Chapter 3 of Dombie and Son This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recorded by Mill Nicholson Dombie and Son by Charles Dickens Chapter 3 in which Mr. Dombie is a man and a father is seen at the head of the home department the funeral of the deceased lady having been performed to the entire satisfaction of the undertaker as well as of the neighbourhood at large which is generally disposed to be captious on such a point as prone to take offence at any omissions or shortcomings in the ceremonies the various members of Mr. Dombie's household subsided into their several places in the domestic system that small world like the great one out of doors had the capacity of easily forgetting its dead and when the cook had said she was a quiet tempered lady and the housekeeper had said it was the common lot who'd have thought it and the housemate had said she couldn't hardly believe it and the footman had said it seemed exactly like a dream they had quite worn the subject out and began to think their mourning was wearing rusty too on Richards who was established upstairs in a state of honourable captivity the dawn of her new life seemed to break cold and grey Mr. Dombie's house was a large one on the other side of a tall dark dreadfully genteel street in the region between Portland Place and Brion Stone Square it was a corner house with great wide areas containing cellars frowned upon by barred windows and leered at by crooked-eyed doors leading to dustbins it was a house of dismal state with a circular back to it containing a whole suite of drawing-rooms and a whole yard where two gaunt trees with blackened trunks and branches rattled rather than rustled their leaves were so smoke-dried the summer sun was never on the street but in the morning about breakfast time when it came with the water carts and the old clothes men and the people with geraniums and the umbrella mender and the man who trilled the little bell of the Dutch clock as he went along it was soon gone again there was no more that day and the bands of music and the straggling punches shows going after it left it a prey to the most dismal of organs and white mice with now and then a porcupine to ver the entertainments until the butlers whose families were dining out began to stand at the house doors in the twilight and the lamplighter made his nightly failure in attempting to brighten up the street with gas it was as blank a house inside as outside when the funeral was over Mr. Dombey ordered the furniture to be covered up perhaps to preserve it for the sun with whom his plans were all associated and the rooms to be un-garnished saving such as he retained for himself on the ground floor accordingly mysterious shapes were made of tables and chairs heaped together in the middle of rooms and covered over with great winding sheets bell handles, window blinds and looking-glasses being papered up in journals daily and weekly obtuded fragmentary accounts of deaths and dreadful murders every chandelier or luster muffled in Holland looked like a monstrous tear depending from the ceiling's eye odours as from vaults and damp places came out of the chimneys the dead and buried lady was awful in a picture frame of ghastly bandages every gust of wind that rose brought eddying round the corner from the neighbouring mews some fragments of the straw that had been strewn before the house when she was ill mildewed remains of which were still cleaving to the neighbourhood and these being always drawn by some invisible attraction to the threshold of the dirty house to let immediately opposite addressed a dismal eloquence to Mr. Dombey's windows the apartments which Mr. Dombey reserved for his own inhabiting were attainable from the hall and consisted of a sitting-room a library, which was in fact a dressing-room so that the smell of hot pressed paper vellum, Morocco and Russia leather contended in it with the smell of diverse pairs of boots and a kind of conservatory or little-glass breakfast-room beyond commanding a prospect of the trees before mentioned and, generally speaking rowling cats these three rooms opened upon one another in the morning when Mr. Dombey was at his breakfast in one or other of the two first mentioned of them as well as in the afternoon when he came home to dinner a bell was rung for Richards to repair to this glass chamber and there walk to and fro with her young charge from the glimpses she caught of Mr. Dombey at these times sitting in the dark distance towards the infant from among the dark heavy furniture the house had been inhabited for years by his father and in many of its appointments was old-fashioned and grim she began to entertain ideas of him in his solitary state as if he were a lone prisoner in a cell or a strange apparition that was not to be accosted or understood Mr. Dombey came to be in the course of a few days invested in his own person to her simple thinking with all the mystery and gloom of his house as she walked up and down the glass room or sat hushing the baby there which she very often did for hours together when the dusk was closing in too she would sometimes try to pierce the gloom beyond and make out how he was looking and what he was doing sensible that she was plainly to be seen by him however she never dared to pry in that direction but very furtively and for a moment at a time consequently she made out nothing and Mr. Dombey and his den remained a very shade little Paul Dombey's foster-mother had led this life herself and had carried little Paul through it for some weeks and had returned upstairs one day from melancholy saunter through the dreary rooms of state she never went out without Mrs. Chick who called on fine mornings usually accompanied by Miss Tox to take her and baby for an airing or in other words to march them gravely up and down the pavement like a walking funeral when, as she was sitting in her own room the door was slowly and quietly opened and a dark-eyed little girl looked in it's Miss Florence come home from her aunt's no doubt thought Richards who had never seen the child before Hope I see you well, Miss Is that my brother? asked the child, pointing to the baby Yes, my pretty answered Richards come and kiss him but the child, instead of advancing looked her earnestly in the face and said What have you done with my mama? Oh, bless the little creature cried Richards What a sad question I done nothing miss What have they done with my mama? inquired the child with exactly the same look and manner I never saw such a belting thing in all my life said Richards who naturally substituted for this child one of her own inquiring for herself in like circumstances Come nearer here, my dear miss Don't be afraid of me I'm not afraid of you said the child drawing nearer but I want to know what they have done with my mama her heart swelled so as she stood before the woman looking into her eyes that she was feigned to press her little hand upon her breast and hold it there yet there was a purpose in the child that prevented both her slender figure and her searching gaze from faltering My darling said Richards you wear that pretty black frock with the remembrance of your mama I can remember my mama returned the child with tears springing to her eyes in any frock but people put on black to remember people when they're gone where gone asked the child come and sit down by me said Richards and I'll tell you a story with a quick perception that tended to relate to what she had asked little Florence lay beside the bonnet she had held in her hand until now and sat down on a stool at the nurse's feet looking up into her face once upon a time said Richards there was a lady a very good lady and her little daughter dearly loved her a very good lady and her little daughter dearly loved her repeated the child ooh, when God thought it right that it should be so was tight and ill and died the child shuddered died never to be seen again by anyone on earth and was buried in the ground where the trees grow the cold ground said the child shuddering again ooh, the warm ground returned Polly seizing her advantage where the ugly little seeds turn into beautiful flowers and into grass and corn and I don't know what all besides where good people turn into bright angels and fly away to heaven the child who had dropped her head raised it again and sat looking at her intently so, let me see said Polly not a little flurried between this earnest scrutiny her desire to comfort the child her sudden success and her very slight confidence in her own powers so, when this lady died wherever they took her or wherever they put her she went to God and she prayed to him this lady did said Polly affecting herself beyond measure being heartily and earnest to teach her little daughter to be sure of that inner art and to know that she was happy there and loved her still and to hope and try oh, all her life to meet her there one day never, never, never depart any more it was my mama exclaimed the child springing up and clasping her round the neck and the child's art said Polly drawing her to her breast the little daughter's art was so full of the truth of this that even when she heard it from a strange nurse that couldn't tell it right but was a poor mother herself and that was all she found a comfort in it didn't feel so lonely sobbed and cried upon her bosom took kindly to the baby lion in her lap and oh, there, there, there said Polly smoothing the child's curls and dropping tears upon them there, poor dear oh, well, Miss Floy and won't your par be angry neither cried a quick voice at the door proceeding from a short, brown, womanly girl of fourteen with a little snub nose and black eyes like jack beads when it was tickerly given out that you wasn't to go and worry at the wet nurse she don't worry me was the surprised rejoinder of Polly I'm very fond of children oh, but beg in your part, Mrs. Richards that don't matter, you know returned the black-eyed girl who was so desperately sharp and biting that she seemed to make one's eyes water I may be very fond of penny-wickles, Mrs. Richards but it don't follow that I'm to have them for tea well, it don't matter said Polly thank you, Mrs. Richards, don't it returned the sharp girl remember, now ever, if you be so good that Miss Floy's under my charge and Master Paul's under yourn but still we needn't quarrel said Polly oh, no, Mrs. Richards rejoined Spitfire not all I don't wish it we didn't stand upon that footing Miss Floy being a permanancy Master Paul a temporary Spitfire made use of non-butcomma pauses shooting out whatever she had to say in one sentence and in one breath, if possible Miss Florence has just come home, hasn't she? asked Polly yes, Mrs. Richards, just come and hear Miss Floy, before you've been in the house a quarter of an hour you go a smear in your wet face against the expensive mourning that Mrs. Richards is are wearing for your mar with this remonstrance, young Spitfire, whose real name was Susan Nipper, detached the child from her new friend by a wrench as if you were a tooth but she seemed to do it more in the excessively sharp exercise of her official functions than with any deliberate unkindness she'll be quite happy now she has come home again said Polly nodding to her with an encouraging smile upon her wholesome face and will be so pleased to see her dear perpartonite look, Mrs. Richards cried Miss Nipper, taking up her words of the jerk don't! see your dear papa indeed, I shall like to see her do it won't she then? asked Polly look, Mrs. Richards, now her papa's a deal too wrapped up in somebody else and before there was a somebody else to be wrapped up in she was never a favourite girls are thrown away in this house, Mrs. Richards I assure you the child looked quickly from one nurse to the other as if she understood and felt what was said you surprise me cried Polly hasn't Mr. Donby seen her since now! interrupted Susan Nipper not once since and he hadn't hardly set his eyes upon her before that for months and months and I don't think he'd have known her for his own child if he had met her in the streets or would know her for his own child if he was to meet her in the streets tomorrow Mrs. Richards asked to me, said Spitfire with a giggle I doubt if he's aware of my existence pretty dear said Richards, meaning not Miss Nipper but the little Florence oh! there's a tartar within a hundred miles of where we're now in conversation I can tell you Mrs. Richards present company always accepted too said Susan Nipper wish you good morning Mrs. Richards now Miss Floyd, you come along with me and don't go hanging back like a naughty wicked child that Judgements is no example to don't being thus addued and in spite also of some hauling on the part of Susan Nipper tending towards the dislocation of her right shoulder little Florence broke away and kissed her new friend affectionately oh! dear after it was given out so tickily that Mrs. Richards wasn't to be made free with exclaimed Susan very well, Miss Floyd God bless the sweet thing said Richards, goodbye dear goodbye returned the child God bless you I shall come to see you again soon and you come to see me Susan will let us won't you Susan Spitfire seemed to be in the main a good-natured little body although a disciple of that school of trainers of the young idea which holds the childhood like money must be shaken and rattled and jostled about a good deal to keep it bright for being thus appealed to with some endearing gestures and caresses she folded her small arms and shook her head and conveyed a relenting expression into her very wide open black eyes it ain't right of you to ask it Miss Floyd for you know I can't refuse you but Mrs. Richards and me will see what can be done if Mrs. Richards likes I may wish you see to take the voyage to Cheney, Mrs. Richards but I may know how to leave the land and docks Mrs. Richards assented to the proposition this house ain't so exactly ringing with Mary-making said Miss Nipper that one need be lonelier than one must be your toxins and your chicks may draw out my two front double teeth Mrs. Richards but that's no reason why I need off from the whole set this proposition was also assented to by Richards as an obvious one so I'm able I'm sure said Susan Nipper to live friendly Mrs. Richards while Master Paul continues a permanency if the means can be planned out without going openly against orders but goodness gracious Miss Floyd you haven't got your things off yet you naughty child you haven't come along with these words Susan Nipper in a transport of coercion made a charge at her young ward and swept her out of the room the child in her grief and neglect was so gentle so quiet and uncomplaining was possessed of so much affection that no one seemed to care to have and so much sorrowful intelligence that no one seemed to mind or think about the wounding of that Polly's heart was sore when she was left alone again in the simple passages that had taken place between herself and the motherless little girl her own motherly heart had been touched no less than the child's and she felt as the child did that there was something of confidence and interest between them from that moment notwithstanding Mr. Toodle's great reliance on Polly she was perhaps in point of artificial accomplishments very little his superior she had been good humbly working and dredging for her life all her life and was a sober, steady going person with matter-of-fact ideas about the butcher and baker and the division of pens into farthings but she was a good plain sample of a nature that is ever in the mass better, truer, higher, nobler quicker to feel and much more constant to retain all tenderness and pity self-denial and devotion and the nature of men and perhaps unlearned as she was she could have brought a dawning knowledge home to Mr. Dombie at that early day which would not then have struck him in the end like lightning but this is from the purpose Polly only thought at that time of improving on her successful propitiation of Miss Nipper and devising some means of having little Florence aid her lawfully and without rebellion an opening happened to present itself that very night she had been wrung down into the glass-room as usual and had walked about and abouted a long time with the baby in her arms when, to her great surprise and dismay Mr. Dombie whom she had seen at first leaning on his elbow at the table and afterwards walking up and down the middle room drawing each time a little nearer, she thought to the open folding doors came out suddenly and stopped before her Good evening, Richards just the same austere, stiff gentleman as he had appeared to her on that first day such a hard-looking gentleman that she involuntarily dropped her eyes and her curtsy at the same time How is Master Paul, Richards? Quite thriving, sir, and well He looks so, said Mr. Dombie glancing with great interest at the tiny face she uncovered for his observation and yet affecting to be half careless of it They give you everything you want, I hope Oh, yes, thank you, sir She suddenly appended such an obvious hesitation to this reply, however that Mr. Dombie who had turned away stopped and turned round again inquiringly If you please, sir The child is very much disposed to take notice of things said Richards with another curtsy and upstairs is a little dull for him perhaps, sir I begged them to take you out for earrings constantly said Mr. Dombie Very well, you shall go out oftener you're quite right to mention it I beg your pardon, sir Faulted, Polly But we go out quite plenty, sir Thank you What would you have, then? Asked Mr. Dombie Indeed, sir I don't exactly know, said Polly Unless... Yes I believe nothing is so good for making children lively and cheerful, sir As seeing other children playing about them observed Polly taking courage I think I mentioned to you, Richards, when you came here said Mr. Dombie with a frown that I wished you to see as little of your family as possible Oh dear, yes, sir I wasn't so much as thinking of that I am glad of it, said Mr. Dombie hastily You can continue your walk, if you please With that he disappeared into his inner room and Polly had the satisfaction of feeling that he had thoroughly misunderstood her object and that she had fallen into disgrace without the least advancement of her purpose Next night she found him walking about the conservatory when she came down as she stopped at the door, checked by this unusual sight and uncertain whether to advance or retreat he called her in His mind was too much set on Dombie and son it soon appeared to admit of his having forgotten her suggestion If you really think that sort of society is good for the child he said sharply as if there had been no intervals since she proposed it Where's Miss Florence? Nothing could be better than Miss Florence, sir said Polly eagerly but I understood from her maid that they were not to Mr. Dombie rang the bell and walked till it was answered Tell them all ways to let Miss Florence be with Richards when she chooses and go out with her and so forth Tell them to let the children be together when Richards wishes it The iron was now hot and Richards striking on it boldly It was a good cause and she bowled in it though instinctively afraid of Mr. Dombie requested that Miss Florence might be sent down then and there to make friends with her little brother She feigned to be dandling the child as the servant retired on this errand but she thought that she saw Mr. Dombie's colour changed that the expression of his face quite altered that he turned hurriedly as if to gain say what he had said or she had said or both and was only deterred by very shame and she was right the last time he had seen his slighted child there had been that in the sad embrace between her and her dying mother which was at once a revelation and a reproach to him let him be absorbed as he would in the sun and whom he built such high hopes he could not forget that closing scene he could not forget that he had had no part in it that at the bottom of its clear depths of tenderness and truth lay those two figures clasped in each other's arms while he stood on the bank above them looking down a mere spectator not a sharer with them quite shut out unable to exclude these things from his remembrance or to keep his mind free from such imperfect shapes of the meaning with which they were fraught as were able to make themselves visible to him through the mist of his pride his previous feeling of indifference towards little Florence changed into an uneasiness of an extraordinary kind young as she was and possessing in any eyes but his and perhaps in his too even more than the usual amount of childish simplicity and confidence he almost felt as if she watched and distrusted him as if she held the clue to something secret in his breast of the nature of which he was hardly informed himself as if she had an innate knowledge of one jarring and discordant string within him and her very breath could sound it his feeling about the child had been negative from her birth he had never conceived an aversion to her it had not been worth his while or in his humour she had never been a positively disagreeable object to him but now he was ill at ease about her she troubled his peace he would have preferred to put her idea aside altogether if he had known how perhaps who shall decide on such mysteries he was afraid that he might come to hate her when little Florence timidly presented herself Mr. Donby stopped in his pacing up and down and looked towards her had he looked with greater interest and with the father's eye he might have read in her keen glance the impulses and fears that made her waver the passionate desire to run clinging to him crying as she hid her face in his embrace Father, try to love me there's no one else the dread of a repulse the fear of being too bold and of offending him the pitiful need in which she stood of some assurance and encouragement and how her overcharged young heart was wandering to find some natural resting place for its sorrow and affection but he saw nothing of this he saw her pause irresolutely at the door and looked towards him and he saw no more come in he said come in what is the child afraid of? she came in and after glancing round her for a moment with an uncertain air stood pressing her small hands hard together close within the door come here Florence said her father coldly do you know who I am? yes, Papa have you nothing to say to me? the tears that stood in her eyes as she raised them quickly to his face were frozen by the expression at war she looked down again and put out her trembling hand Mr. Domby took it loosely in his own and stood looking down upon her for a moment as if he knew as little as the child what to say or do there be a good girl he said patting her on the head and regarding her as it were by stealth with a disturbed and doubtful look go to Richard's his little daughter hesitated for another instant as though she would have clung about him still or had some lingering hope that he might raise her in his arms and kiss her she looked up in his face once more he thought how like her expression was then to what it had been when she looked round at the doctor that night and instinctively dropped her hand and turned away it was not difficult to perceive that Florence was at a great disadvantage in her father's presence it was not only a constraint upon the child's mind but even upon the natural grace and freedom of her actions as she sported and played about her baby brother that night her manner was seldom so winning and so pretty as it naturally was and sometimes when in his pacing to and fro he came near her she had perhaps for the moment forgotten him it changed upon the instant and became forced and embarrassed still Polly persevered with all the better heart for seeing this and judging of Mr. Dombie by herself had great confidence in the mute appeal of poor little Florence's morning dress it's odd indeed thought Polly if he takes only to one little mufflerless child when he has another and that a girl before his eyes so Polly kept her before his eyes as long as she could and managed so well with little Paul as to make it very plain that he was all the livelier for his sister's company when it was time to withdraw upstairs again she would have sent Florence into the inner room to say good night to her father but the child was timid and drew back and when she urged her again said spreading her hands before her eyes as if to shut out her own unworthiness oh he don't want me he don't want me the little altercation between them had attracted the notice of Mr. Dombie who inquired from the table where he was sitting at his wine what the matter was Miss Florence was afraid of interrupting sir if she came in and say good night said Richards it doesn't matter returned Mr. Dombie you can let her come and go without regarding me the child shrunk as she listened and was gone before her humble friend looked round again however Polly triumphed not a little in the success of her well-intentioned scheme and in the address with which she had brought it to bear whereof she made a full disclosure to Spitfire when she was once more safely entrenched upstairs Miss Nipper received that proof of her confidence as well as the prospect of their free association for the future rather coldly and was anything but enthusiastic in her demonstrations of joy I thought you would have been pleased said Polly oh yes Mrs. Richard I'm very well pleased thank you returned Susan who had suddenly become so very upright that she seemed to have put an additional bone in her stays you don't show it said Polly oh being only a permanency I couldn't be expected to show it like a temporary said Susan Nipper temporaries carries it all before them here I find but though there's an excellent party war between this house and the next I may not exactly like to go to it Mrs. Richard's notwithstanding End of Chapter 3