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

imperfectly understood by himself--if understood at all--he felt a gradually
increasing impulse of affection, towards almost everything and everybody in
the place. He could not bear to think that they would be quite indifferent
to him when he was gone. He wanted them to remember him kindly; and he had
made it his business even to conciliate a great hoarse shaggy dog, chained
up at the back of the house, who had previously been the terror of his life;
that even he might miss him when he was no longer there.
Little thinking that in this, he only showed again the difference between
himself and his compeers, poor tiny Paul set it forth to Miss Blimber as
well as he could, and begged her, in despite of the official analysis, to
have the goodness to try and like him. To Mrs. Blimber, who had joined them,
he preferred the same petition: and when that lady could not forbear, even
in his presence, from giving utterance to her often-repeated opinion, that
he was an odd child, Paul told her that he was sure she was quite right;
that he thought it must be his bones, but he didn't know; and that he hoped
she would overlook it, for he was fond of them all.
'Not so fond,' said Paul, with a mixture of timidity and perfect frankness,
which was one of the most peculiar and most engaging qualities of the child,
'not so fond as I am of Florence, of course; that could never be. You
couldn't expect that, could you, Ma'am?'
'Oh! the old-fashioned little soul!' cried Mrs. Blimber, in a whisper.
'But I like everybody here very much,' pursued Paul, 'and I should grieve to
go away, and think that any one was glad that I was gone, or didn't care.'
Mrs. Blimber was now quite sure that Paul was the oddest child in the world;
and when she told the Doctor what had passed, the Doctor did not controvert
his wife's opinion. But he said, as he had said before, when Paul first
came, that study would do much; and he also said, as he had said on that
occasion, 'Bring him on, Cornelia! Bring him on!'
Cornelia had always brought him on as vigorously as she could; and Paul had
had a hard life of it. But over and above the getting through his tasks, he