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

arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Chick, his lawful relatives, who soon presented
themselves.
'My dear Paul,' Mrs. Chick murmured, as she embraced him, 'the beginning, I
hope, of many joyful days!'
'Thank you, Louisa,' said Mr. Dombey, grimly. 'How do you do, Mr. John?'
'How do you do, Sir?' said Chick.
He gave Mr. Dombey his hand, as if he feared it might electrify him. Mr.
Dombey took it as if it were a fish, or seaweed, or some such clammy
substance, and immediately returned it to him with exalted politeness.
'Perhaps, Louisa,' said Mr. Dombey, slightly turning his head in his cravat,
as if it were a socket, 'you would have preferred a fire?'
'Oh, my dear Paul, no,' said Mrs. chick, who had much ado to keep her teeth
from chattering; 'not for me.'
'Mr. John,' said Mr. Dombey, 'you are not sensible of any chill?'
Mr. John, who had already got both his hands in his pockets over the wrists,
and was on the very threshold of that same canine chorus which had given
Mrs. Chick so much offence on a former occasion, protested that he was
perfectly comfortable.
He added in a low voice, 'With my tiddle tol toor rul'--when he was
providentially stopped by Towlinson, who announced:
'Miss Tox!'
And enter that fair enslaver, with a blue nose and indescribably frosty
face, referable to her being very thinly clad in a maze of fluttering odds
and ends, to do honour to the ceremony.