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

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

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Florence to walk upstairs. If he could have got the idea into his head, he<br />

would have considered it an outrageous breach of hospitality to allow her to<br />

do so. Florence was too weak to dispute the point, <strong>and</strong> the Captain carried<br />

her up out of h<strong>and</strong>, laid her down, <strong>and</strong> covered her with a great watch-coat.<br />

'My lady lass!' said the Captain, 'you're as safe here as if you was at the<br />

top of St. Paul's Cathedral, with the ladder cast off. Sleep is what you<br />

want, afore all other things, <strong>and</strong> may you be able to show yourself smart<br />

with that there balsam for the still small woice of a wownded mind! When<br />

there's anything you want, my Heart's Delight, as this here humble house or<br />

town can offer, pass the word to Ed'ard Cuttle, as'll st<strong>and</strong> off <strong>and</strong> on<br />

outside that door, <strong>and</strong> that there man will wibrate with joy.' The Captain<br />

concluded by kissing the h<strong>and</strong> that Florence stretched out to him, with the<br />

chivalry of any old knight-errant, <strong>and</strong> walking on tip-toe out of the room.<br />

Descending to the little parlour, Captain Cuttle, after holding a hasty<br />

council with himself, decided to open the shopdoor for a few minutes, <strong>and</strong><br />

satisfy himself that now, at all events, there was no one loitering about<br />

it. Accordingly he set it open, <strong>and</strong> stood upon the threshold, keeping a<br />

bright look-out, <strong>and</strong> sweeping the whole street with his spectacles.<br />

'How de do, Captain Gills?' said a voice beside him. The Captain, looking<br />

down, found that he had been boarded by Mr. Toots while sweeping the<br />

horizon.<br />

'How are you, my lad?' replied the Captain.<br />

'Well, I'm pretty well, thank'ee, Captain Gills,' said Mr. Toots. 'You know<br />

I'm never quite what I could wish to be, now. I don't expect that I ever<br />

shall be any more.'<br />

Mr. Toots never approached any nearer than this to the great theme of his<br />

life, when in conversation with Captain Cuttle, on account of the agreement<br />

between them.<br />

'Captain Gills,' said Mr. Toots, 'if I could have the pleasure of a word

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