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

'Mine, Sir?' said Paul.
'Your invitation,' returned Mr. Feeder.
Paul, looking at it, found, in copper-plate print, with the exception of his
own name and the date, which were in Mr. Feeder's Penmanship, that Doctor
and Mrs. Blimber requested the pleasure of Mr. P. Dombey's company at an
early party on Wednesday Evening the Seventeenth Instant; and that the hour
was half-past seven o'clock; and that the object was Quadrilles. Mr. Toots
also showed him, by holding up a companion sheet of paper, that Doctor and
Mrs. Blimber requested the pleasure of Mr. Toots's company at an early party
on Wednesday Evening the Seventeenth Instant, when the hour was half-past
seven o'clock, and when the object was Quadrilles. He also found, on
glancing at the table where Mr. Feeder sat, that the pleasure of Mr.
Briggs's company, and of Mr. Tozer's company, and of every young gentleman's
company, was requested by Doctor and Mrs. Blimber on the same genteel
occasion.
Mr. Feeder then told him, to his great joy, that his sister was invited, and
that it was a half-yearly event, and that, as the holidays began that day,
he could go away with his sister after the party, if he liked, which Paul
interrupted him to say he would like, very much. Mr. Feeder then gave him to
understand that he would be expected to inform Doctor and Mrs. Blimber, in
superfine small-hand, that Mr. P. Dombey would be happy to have the honour
of waiting on them, in accordance with their polite invitation. Lastly, Mr.
Feeder said, he had better not refer to the festive occasion, in the hearing
of Doctor and Mrs. Blimber; as these preliminaries, and the whole of the
arrangements, were conducted on principles of classicality and high
breeding; and that Doctor and Mrs. Blimber on the one hand, and the young
gentlemen on the other, were supposed, in their scholastic capacities, not
to have the least idea of what was in the wind.
Paul thanked Mr. Feeder for these hints, and pocketing his invitation, sat
down on a stool by the side of Mr. Toots as usual. But Paul's head, which
had long been ailing more or less, and was sometimes very heavy and painful,
felt so uneasy that night, that he was obliged to support it on his hand.