CHARLES DICKENS DOMBEY AND SON CHAPTER I Dombey and ...

'--Don't you think you would rather die on a moonlight night when the sky
was quite clear, and the wind blowing, as it did last night?'
Mr. Toots said, looking doubtfully at Paul, and shaking his head, that he
didn't know about that.
'Not blowing, at least,' said Paul, 'but sounding in the air like the sea
sounds in the shells. It was a beautiful night. When I had listened to the
water for a long time, I got up and looked out. There was a boat over there,
in the full light of the moon; a boat with a sail.'
The child looked at him so steadfastly, and spoke so earnestly, that Mr.
Toots, feeling himself called upon to say something about this boat, said,
'Smugglers.' But with an impartial remembrance of there being two sides to
every question, he added, 'or Preventive.'
'A boat with a sail,' repeated Paul, 'in the full light of the moon. The
sail like an arm, all silver. It went away into the distance, and what do
you think it seemed to do as it moved with the waves?'
'Pitch,' said Mr. Toots.
'It seemed to beckon,' said the child, 'to beckon me to come!--There she is!
There she is!'
Toots was almost beside himself with dismay at this sudden exclamation,
after what had gone before, and cried 'Who?'
'My sister Florence!' cried Paul, 'looking up here, and waving her hand. She
sees me--she sees me! Good night, dear, good night, good night.'
His quick transition to a state of unbounded pleasure, as he stood at his
window, kissing and clapping his hands: and the way in which the light
retreated from his features as she passed out of his view, and left a
patient melancholy on the little face: were too remarkable wholly to escape
even Toots's notice. Their interview being interrupted at this moment by a