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

'And how,' said Mr. Skewton, on the entrance of her daughter and her charge,
'is my charming Florence? You must come and kiss me, Florence, if you
please, my love.'
Florence was timidly stooping to pick out a place in the white part of Mrs.
Skewton's face, when that lady presented her ear, and relieved her of her
difficulty.
'Edith, my dear,' said Mrs. Skewton, 'positively, I--stand a little more in
the light, my sweetest Florence, for a moment.'
Florence blushingly complied.
'You don't remember, dearest Edith,' said her mother, 'what you were when
you were about the same age as our exceedingly precious Florence, or a few
years younger?'
'I have long forgotten, mother.'
'For positively, my dear,' said Mrs. Skewton, 'I do think that I see a
decided resemblance to what you were then, in our extremely fascinating
young friend. And it shows,' said Mrs. Skewton, in a lower voice, which
conveyed her opinion that Florence was in a very unfinished state, 'what
cultivation will do.'
'It does, indeed,' was Edith's stern reply.
Her mother eyed her sharply for a moment, and feeling herself on unsafe
ground, said, as a diversion:
'My charming Florence, you must come and kiss me once more, if you please,
my love.'
Florence complied, of course, and again imprinted her lips or Mrs. Skewton's
ear.