 Author's Preface, Dombie and Son by Charles Dickens. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Author's Preface, 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 form of 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. Dombie 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 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 imagine Captain Cuddle as secluding himself from Mrs. McStinger 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. Chapter One 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 settee 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 frustrating through their human forests notching as they go while the countenance of son was crossed and recrossed 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 where of 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 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 use to that form of address and said Mrs. Dombie my my dear a transient flush of faint surprise overspread the sick lady's face as she raised her eyes towards him he will be christened Paul my Mrs. Dombie of course she echoed feebly 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 grandfathers I wish his grandfather were alive this day and again he said Dombie and son in exactly the same tone as before those three words express 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 inviolate a system of which they were the center 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 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 gentile and wealthy station even without reference to the perpetuation 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 remarkable lady like in 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 if examined 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 armchair by the side of the bed had had no issue to speak of none worth 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 whence she could see her mother's face but what was a girl to Dombie and son in the capitol 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 a father but her eyes returned to her mother's face immediately and she neither moved nor answered 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 in 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 I had better ask Dr. Pepps if he'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 at the setee before the fire to take particular care of this young gentleman Mrs. Blockett 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 of this young gentleman Mrs. Blockett no sir indeed I remember when Miss Florence was born I I I 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 apostrophied the infant he raised one of his hands 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 Pepps 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 lady is 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. Domby was quite discomfited 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 I beg your pardon I can found names I should say in your amiable lady that there is a certain degree of langer 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 Cankeby excuse me I should say of Mrs. Domby confused 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 and acquaintance very valuable to us informing our opinions on 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 Dom I beg your pardon Mrs. Domby should not be able said the family practitioner to make that effort successfully said Dr. Parker Pepps then 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. Domby that he was not in his way affected by this intelligence would be to do him 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 was 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 as to 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 round his neck and said in a choking voice my dear Paul he's quite a Dombie well well returned her brother for Mr. Dombie 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 he's such a perfect Dombie I never saw anything like it in my life but what is this about Fanny herself said Mr. Dombie how is 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 Dombie 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 am so very queer that I must ask you for a glass of wine and a morsel of that cake Mr. Dombie 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 the little Dombie good gracious it's the most astonishing thing I ever knew in all my days he's such a perfect Dombie 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 and 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 Talks the kindest creature I never could have got here without her Miss Talks my brother Mr. Dombie Paul my dear my very particular friend Miss Talks 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 colors 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 admirably 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 to part 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 center or keystone of the bridge whence it tended downwards toward her face as in an invincible determination never to turn up at anything Mrs. Talks's dress though perfectly genteel 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 indeed 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 as tippets, boas and muffs which stood up on end in a rampant manner and were not at all sleek she was much given to the carrying about 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 baronest 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 gait 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 honor of being presented to Mr. Dombie 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 bless you my dear Louisa then, said Miss Tox, my sweet friend how are you now? better, Mrs. Chick returned, take some wine you have been almost as anxious as I have been and must want it I am sure Mr. Dombie of course officiated and also refilled his sister's glass which she, looking another way and unconscious of his intentions 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 has been working at a little gift for Fanny which I promised to present it is only a pin cushion for the toilet table, Paul but I do say and will say and must say that Miss Tox has very prettily adapted the sentiment to the occasion I call, welcome little Dombie poetry myself is that the device, inquired her 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 entity that nothing but the I have some difficulty in expressing myself the dubiousness of the result have induced me to take so great a liberty welcome master Dombie would have been much more congenial to my feelings as I am sure you know but the uncertainty and tendon on angelic strangers will, I hope excuse what must otherwise appear an unwarrantable familiarity Miss Tox made a graceful bend as she spoke in favor of Mr. Dombie which that gentleman graciously acknowledged even the sort of recognition of Dombie and son conveyed in the foregoing conversation was so palatable to him that his sister Mrs. Chick though he affected to consider her a weak good natured person had perhaps more influence over him than anybody else 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. Dombie being hastily summoned out of the room at this moment the two ladies were left alone together Mrs. Tox immediately became spasmodic I knew you would admire my brother I told you so beforehand my dear said Louisa Mrs. Tox's hands and eyes expressed how much and as to his property my dear ah said Mrs. Tox with deep feeling immense but his deportment my dear Louisa said Mrs. Tox his presence his dignity no portrait that I have ever seen of anyone has been half so replete with these 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 Mrs. Tox that's what I should designate him why my dear Paul exclaimed his sister as he returned you look quite pale there's nothing the matter I am 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 remember of what importance you are to society and do not allow yourself to be worried by what is so very inconsiderably told you by people who ought to know better really I'm surprised at him I hope I know Louisa said Mr. Dom be stiffly how to bear myself in the world nobody better my dear Paul nobody half so well they would be ignorant and base indeed who doubted it ignorant and base indeed echoed Mrs. Tox softly 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 to make now my dear Paul come upstairs with me Mr. Dom be 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. Dom be we found it best to have her in again can nothing be done asked Mr. Dom be the doctor shook his head we can do no more the window 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 such compassion and so little hope that Mrs. Chick was 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 endeavors to awaken a sleeper Fanny, Fanny there was no sound in answer but the loud ticking of Mr. Dom be'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. Dom be come to see you won't you speak to him they want to lay your little boy the baby Fanny you know you have hardly seen him yet I think in bed until 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. Dom be's watch and Dr. Parker Pepps's watch seemed to be racing faster now really Fanny, my dear said the little sister 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 scold 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 colorless 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 was seen mama 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 Don Bien Son by Charles Dickens this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Don Bien 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 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 of Mr. Chick who 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 over exert yourself Lou said Mr. Chick or you'll be laid up with spasms I see Right to Lou bless my soul I forgot we're here one day and gone the next Mrs. Chick contented herself with a glance of reproof and then proceeded with a thread of her discourse I am sure she said 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 where they're required of us 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 a cobbler there was 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 helpmate after a short pause then by the introduction either of the college hornpipe or the equally unmeaning and unfeeling remark of rumple-to-ditty bow-ow-ow which Mr. Chick had indeed indulged in under his breath and which Mrs. Chick repeated in a tone of withering scorn merely 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 daresay it appeared so probable that such a habit might be attended with some degree of notoriety that Mr. Chick didn't ventured to dispute the position bow-ow-ow repeated Mrs. Chick with an emphasis of biting contempt on the last syllable more like a professional singer with the hydrophobia than a man in your station of life how's the baby Lou? asked Mr. Chick to change the subject what baby do you mean? demanded his wife the poor bereaved little baby said Mr. Chick I don't know of any other 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 it becomes necessary to provide a nurse oh ah said Mr. Chick true such as life I mean I hope you are suited my dear indeed I am not said Mrs. Chick nor likely to be so far as I can see and in the meantime the poor child seems likely to starve 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 can't see myself the least chance of an arrangement meanwhile of course the child is going to the very deuce said Mr. Chick thoughtfully to be sure admonished however that he had committed himself by the indignation expressed in Mrs. Chick's countenance as the idea of a Dambi going there and thinking to atone for his misconduct by a bright suggestion 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 honor to his heart she trusted he hadn't said it seriously because that would do very little honor to his head as in any case he couldn't however sanguine his disposition hoped to offer a remark that would be a greater outrage upon human nature in general she would beg to leave the discussion at that point she 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 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 even 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 libel himself to similar unlooked-for checks from Mrs. Chick their little context 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 is the vacancy still unsupplied you good soul 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 soon 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 who led a plump and 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 whom he stood down on the floor and admonished in a husky whisper to kitch 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 there 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 an 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 count 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 stood chuckling 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 I'm pretty well I thank you ma'am said Polly by way of bringing her out dexterously Miss. Tox had made the inquiry as incondescension 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 I'm pretty well I thank you ma'am returned Jemima I'm very glad indeed to hear it said Miss. Tox I hope you'll keep so five children youngest six weeks the fine little boy with the 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 said Miss. Tox did you flat iron he repeated oh yes said Miss. Tox yes quite true I forgot the little creature in his mother's absence smelt 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 stoker 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 mum said the man that replied Miss. Tox your trade 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 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 and corroboration of it carried the two rosiest little toodles with her toodle being the family name of the apple faced family Mr. Domby 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 that the life and progress on which he built such hopes should be endangered in the outset by so in a want that Domby 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 toward the accomplishment of his soul's desire on a hired serving woman who would be to the child for the time could 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 mistox these children look healthy said Mr. Domby but to think of their someday claiming a sort of relationship to Paul oh but what relationship is there Louisa began is there echoed Mr. Domby who had not intended his sister to participate in the thought that he had unconsciously expressed is there did you say Louisa can there be I mean why none said Mr. Domby 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. Domby 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 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. Dombie 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. Dombie 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 in 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 color in her cheeks than she had before said she hoped she knew her place I hope you do Richards said Mr. Dombie 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. Dombie 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 dust hard knotty hands and a square forehead as coarse in grain as the bark of an oak a thorough contrast to Mr. Dombie who was one of those close shaved close cut money 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. Dombie four on him sir four hymns and a hur all alive why it's as much as you can afford to keep them said Mr. Dombie I could hardly afford but one thing in the world less sir what is that to lose them sir can you read asked Mr. Dombie why not particular sir right with chalk sir with anything I could make shift to chalk a little bit I think if I was put to it said toodle after some reflection and yet said Mr. Dombie you are two and three and thirty I suppose thereabouts I suppose sir answered toodle after much reflection then why don't you learn asked Mr. Dombie so I'm a going to sir one of my little boys is going to learn me when he's old enough and been to school himself well said Mr. Dombie after looking at him attentively and with no great favor as he stood gazing round the room principally round the ceiling and still drawing his hand and across his mouth you heard what I said to your wife just now Polly heard it said toodle jerking his hat over his shoulder in the direction of the door with an air of perfect confidence in his better half it's all right as you appear to leave everything to her said Mr. Dombie 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 my saying anything to you not a bit said toodle Polly heard it she's awake sir I won't detain you any longer then return Mr. Dombie disappointed where have you worked all your life mostly underground sir till I got married I come to the level then I'm going on one of these here railroads when they come into full play as he added in one of his horse whispers we mean to bring up little Byler to that line Mr. Dombie inquired hotly who little Byler was the elder on him sir said toodle with a smile it ain't a common name sir much sir that when he was took to church the gentleman said it weren't a Christian one and he couldn't give it but we always call some Byler just the same for we don't mean no harm not we do you mean to say man inquired Mr. Dombie looking at him with marked displeasure that you have called a child after a Byler no no sir returned toodle with a tender consideration for his mistake I should hope not no sir after a Byler sir the 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 underground information crushed the sinking spirits of Mr. Dombie 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 force and communicated to it 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 he felt disturbed by it he should deplore the occurrence which had made them so some philosophers tell us that selfishness is the root of all but our best loves and affections Mr. Dombie's infant child was from the beginning so distinctly important to him as being part of himself or which was the same thing of Dombie and son that there is no doubt his parental affection might have been very easily traced like many another superstructure of fair fame to a very low foundation but it is certain that there had begun to spring up in his habitually frigid breast a current of anxieties and cares of which this infant was the source that impelled the dominant springs of his character to a new action and perhaps set one or two others in motion that had never been at work for all his starched impenetrable dignity and composure he wiped blinding tears from his eyes as he did so and often said with an emotion of which he would not for the world had a witness poor little fellow it may have been characteristic of Mr. Dombie'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 had 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 center 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 imposter 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 what would happen in a moment afterwards he determined it could but that such women were constantly observed and had no opportunity given them for the accomplishment of such 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 that 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 Richard's 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 meanwhile terms were ratified and agreed upon between Mrs. Chick and Richard's with the assistance of Miss Tox and Richard's being with much ceremony and with a zombie 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 dispensing tastes to the younger branches bred them up to their father's business with such surprising expedition that one made chokers of them in a matter of minutes you'll take a glass yourself sir won't you? said Miss Tox as Toodle appeared thank you mom said Toodle since you are suppressing and you're very glad to leave your dear good wife in such a comfortable house ain't you sir? said Miss Tox nodding and winking at him stealthily no mom said Toodle wishing of her back again Polly cried more than ever at this so Mrs. Chick who had her matronly apprehensions that this indulgence in grief might be prejudicial to the little Dombie acid indeed she whispered Miss Tox hastened to the rescue your little child will thrive charmingly with your sister Richard's said Mrs. Chick and you have only to make an effort this is a world of effort you know Richard's to be very happy indeed you have been already measured for your mourning haven't you Richard yes ma'am sub Polly and it'll fit beautifully I know said Mrs. Chick for the same young person has made me many chances the very best materials too lure you'll be so smart said Miss Tox that your husband won't know you will you sir I should know her said Toodle gruffly anyhow and anywhere Toodle was evidently not to be bought over as to living Richard's you know pursued Mrs. Chick why the very best of everything in 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 ball with great sympathy and as to Porter quite unlimited will it not Louisa oh certainly returned Mrs. Chick 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 she is of her own dear little child Louisa you don't blame her for being fond of it oh no cried Mrs. Chick benignantly still resumed Miss Tox she naturally must be interested in her young charge and must consider it a privilege to see a little cherub closely connected with the superior classes gradually unfolding itself from day to day at one common fountain 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 withstanding witch 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 with him until he gently disengaged himself at the close of the following allegal piece of consolation Polly old woman whatever you do my darling hold up your head and fight low that's the only rule I know on that'll carry anyone through life you always have held up your head and fought low Polly do it now or Bricks is no longer so whether my wishes at this moment is to punch this family's head or otherwise never mind God bless you Polly me and Jemima will do our duty by you and with relating to yours hold up your head and fight low Polly and you can't go wrong finally ran away to avoid any more particular leave 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 Byler 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 haypence thrust indiscriminately on each toodle checked the first violence of their regret and the family were 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 haypence 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 Chapter 3 in which Mr. Dombie as 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 neighborhood at large which is generally disposed to be on such a point and is prone to take offense 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 it's dead and when the cook had said she was a quiet tempered lady and the housekeeper had said it was the common lot and the butler had said who'd have thought it and the housemaid 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 honorable captivity the dawn of her new life seemed to break cold and gray Mr. Dombie's house was a large one on the shady side of a tall dark dreadfully gentile street in the region between Portland Place and Bryan Stone Square it was a corner house with great wide varied areas containing sellers 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 suite of drawing rooms looking upon a gravel yard where two gaunt trees with blackened trunks and branches rattled their leaves were so smoke-dry 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 clothesmen 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 to return no more that day but in the midst 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 vary their entertainments until the butlers whose families were dining out began to stand at the house doors in the twilight and the lamp lighter made his nightly failure to stop the street with gas it was as blank a house inside as outside when the funeral was over Mr. Dambi ordered the furniture to be covered up perhaps to preserve it for the sun to 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 up-trooted 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 odors 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 neighboring muse some fragments of the straw that had been strewn before the house when she was ill mildewed remains of which was still cleaving to the neighborhood 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. Domby's windows the apartments which Mr. Domby 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 grass breakfast room beyond commanding a prospect of the trees before mentioned and generally speaking of a few prowling cats these three rooms opened upon one another in the morning when Mr. Domby 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. Domby at these times sitting in the dark distance looking out 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 fashion and grim she began 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 little Paul Domby'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 a melancholy shelter 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 the 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 by little girl looked in it's Miss Florence come home from her aunts 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 in the face and said what have you done with my mama Lord bless the little creature cried Richards what a sad question I done nothing miss what have they done with my mama inquired the child I never saw such a melting 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 am not afraid of you said the child drawing nearer but I want to know what they have done with my mama my darling said Richards you wear that pretty black frock in 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 are 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 it was intended to relate to what she had asked little Florence laid aside the bonnet she had held in her hand until now and sat down on a stool at the nurses 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 who when God thought it right that it should be so was taken ill and died the child shuttered 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 shuttering again no the warm ground returned Polly raising 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 drooped 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 to her mother being heartily in earnest to teach her little daughter to be sure of that in her heart 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 to part anymore it was my mama exclaimed the child springing up around the neck and the child's heart said Polly drawing her to her breast the little daughter's heart 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 she sobbed and cried upon her bosom took kindly to the baby lying in her lap and there there there said Polly smoothing the child's curls and dropping tears upon them there poor dear oh well Miss Floyd and won't your paw be angry neither cried a quick voice at the door proceeding from a short brown womanly girl of 14 with a little snub nose and black eyes like jet beads when it was tickerly given out that you wasn't to go and word the wet nurse she don't worry me was the surprised rejoinder of Polly I am very fond of children oh but begging your pardon Mrs. Richard 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-winkles Mrs. Richards but it don't follow that I'm to have them for tea well it don't matter said Polly oh thanky Mrs. Richards don't it returned the sharp girl remembering however Miss Floyd's under my charge and Master Paul's under your but still we needn't quarrel said Polly oh no Mrs. Richards rejoined Spitfire not at all I don't wish it we needn't stand upon that footing Miss Floyd being a permanency Master Paul a temporary Spitfire made use of none comma 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 here Miss Floyd before you've been in the house a quarter of an hour you go a smearing your wet face against the expensive morning that Mrs. Richards is wearing with this remonstrance young Spitfire whose real name was Susan Nipper detached the child from her new friend by a wrench as if she 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 papa tonight lork Mrs. Richards cried Miss Nipper taking up her words with a jerk don't see her dear papa indeed I should like to see her do it won't she then Polly lork Mrs. Richards know her pa's a deal too wrapped up in somebody else and before there was a somebody else to be wrapped up in she never was a favorite 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 Polly hasn't Mr. Donby seen her since? no interrupted Susan Nipper not one 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 were to meet her in the streets tomorrow Mrs. Richards as to me said Spitfire with a giggle out if he's aware of my existence pretty dear said Richards meaning not Miss Nipper but the little Florence oh there's a totter 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 like a naughty wicked child that judgments is no example to don't in spite of being thus adjured 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 goodbye said the child God bless you I shall come to see you again soon and you'll 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 that 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 a marriage to Cheney Mrs Richards but I may know how to leave the London docks Richards assented to the proposition this house ain't so exactly ringing with merry-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 why I need offer the whole set this proposition was also assented to by Richards as an obvious one so I'm agreeable 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 me Miss Floyd you haven't got your things if 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 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 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 passage 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 but she was a good plain sample of a nature that is ever in the mass better, truer, higher, nobler quicker to feel more constant to retain all tenderness and pity self-denial and devotion than 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 of Polly only thought at that time of improving on her successful propitiation of Miss Nipper and devising some means of having little Florence beside 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 about it a long time with the baby in her arms when to her great surprise and dismay Mr. Dombie 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 gave you everything you want I hope oh yes thank you sir she suddenly appended such an obvious hesitation by 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 beg them to take you 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 do go out 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 careful sir as seeing other children playing about him 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 you can continue your walk if you please with that he disappeared into his inner room 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 if you really think that sort of society is good for the child he said sharply as if there had been no interval since she proposed it where's Miss Florence nothing could be better than Miss Florence sir said Polly eagerly but I understood from her little maid that they were not too Mr. Dombie rang the bell and walked till it was answered tell them always 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 that it was a good cause and she was bold 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 color change that the expression of his face quite altered that he turned hurriedly as if to gain say what he 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 son on whom he built such high hopes he could not forget that closing scene he could not forget that he 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 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 feelings of indifference towards little Florence changed into an uneasiness of an extraordinary kind 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 his 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 humor 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 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. Dombie stopped in his pacing up and down and looked towards her had he looked with greater interest and with a father's eye he might have read in her keen glance the impulses and fears that made her waiver the passionate desire to run clinging to him crying as she hid her face in his embrace oh 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 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 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 it wore she looked down again and put out her trembling hand Mr. Dombie 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 looking her on the head and regarding her as it were by stealth with a disturbed and doubtful look go to Richard's go 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 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 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 hard indeed thought Polly if he takes only to one little motherless 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 with her eyes as if to shut out her own unworthiness oh no no he doesn'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 to say good night to Mrs. Richards it doesn't matter return 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 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. Richards I am very well pleased thank you return 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 him here I find but though there's an excellent party wall between this house and the next I may and exactly like to go to it Mrs. Richards not withstanding End of Chapter 3