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'- ‘ ‘LITTLE’
' 'iWe‘shal1 see," she assented. “ The gentleman is ac-'
quainted with Flintwinch ; and when the gentleman was‘
in London‘ last,‘ I.‘ remember to ‘have heard that :he ‘and
Flintwinch had some entertainment or good-fellowship I
together, . I am not in the way of , knowing .much‘ ;that
passes outside this room, and the jingle of little worldly
things‘ beyond it does.not much interest me ;' but I. re-'
member-to have heard that.” C‘ ,. . j
‘ "Right; madame. - It is true,” he laughed‘ again, and
whistled the burden of the tune he had sung at the door.‘ .
“.‘,',Tl1(-zrefore; Arthur,” said his mother, “the gentle-
man comes here as an acquaintance, and no stranger; and‘
it is much to be regretted that ‘your unreasonable temper
should have found offence in him. ., I regret it. ‘ I say so
to the gentleman. .' You will not say so, I know ; there-
fore I say it for myself and Flintwinch, since with us two
the‘gentleman’s business lies.” ’ . ‘ v " = . Q
The keyof the door below was now heard in the lock,-
and"the door was heard to open and close. ', In due se-
quence Mr. Flintwinch appeared ; on whose entrance the
visitor rosefrom his chair laughing loud, and foldedhim‘
ina closeembrace. - . V " ‘ 3 ‘ “ ‘ ' I‘.
“How goes it, my cherished friend I’’ said he. “ How
goes ‘the; world, my’ Flintwinch ‘Z.', Rose-coloured? So
much the better, so much thrfbetter I Ah, but you look
charming! 'Ah, but you'lo'ok‘ young and fresh as the
llowers of Spring I Ah, good little boy! Brave child,-
hrave child I’? .’. '- s v ' = p " ‘ '
'lYhile'heaping.these compliments on Mr.‘ Flintwinch,
he rolled him about with a hand on each of his shoulders,
uritilthe staggerings ofvthat gentleman, who under the
circumstances was dryer and more twisted than ever,
were like those of a teetotum nearly spent. - .
‘,“..I had’ a presentiment; last time, that we should be
‘better and more intimately acquainted. Y Is it coming on
you; Flintwinch ?.'. Is it yet cominrr on 7.", I ’ ‘
“Why, ‘no, sir,” retorted Mr. Flintwinch’. ' “.Not'un-'
usually. IIadn’t you better be seated ?, You have been
‘calling, for some more of that port, sir, I guess‘?." a ‘
“ “‘Ah ! Little joker l Little pig,". cried the visitor. ."Ha‘
ha‘ ha ’ha!"' And throwing Mr. Flintwinch away, as a
closing piece of raillery, he sat down again. . ’
‘Tlie amazement, suspicion, resentment, and shame,
with which Arthur looked on at all this,struck him dumb.
Mr.‘Flintwinch, who had spun backward some two or
three yards under the impetus last given to him, brought
‘himself up with at face completelyunchanged in its
stolidlt ' except as it was affected by shortness of breath,
and loo ‘ed hard at Arthur. Not a whit less reticent and
wooden‘was -Mr.‘.‘F1intwinch outwardly, than in the
usual course of things ': the "only perceptible difference
in him being that the knot of cravat which was gener-
ally under hisear, had worked round to the back of his
head LVVIJBYO it formed an ornamental appendage, not
unlikea bag-wig, and gave him something of a courtly
appearance. ‘ ' ‘- . 1 .' ‘ J ' -
. As Mrs. Clennam never removed her eyes from Blan-
dois (on whom they had some effect, as a steady look
has on a. lower sort of - dog), so ‘Jeremiah never removed
his from‘ Arthur. . It was as if they had tacitly agreed to
take their different provinces. Thus, in‘. the ensuing
silenc‘e,rJeremiah stoodgscraping his chin and looking at
Arthur, as though he were trying to screw his thoughts
out of him with an instrument. ' .
’ ‘After a little;‘the visitor,'as if he felt the silence irk-
some, rose, and impatiently put himself with his back to
the sacred fire which had burned through so many
years.‘ ' Thereupon Mrs. Clennamvsaid, movingvone of
or" hands for the first time, and moving it very slightly
with an action of dismissal : - ' '
'. “Please to leave us to our business,‘ Arthur.’.’ L I -
. “Mother, I do so with reluctance.” ’ A ‘
‘,‘ Never mind with what,” she returned,‘ “ or with
what not. Please to leave us. Come back at an other
-time when you may consider it a duty to bury alf an
hourwearily here. Good night.” ‘ .
She’ held up her muffled fingers that he might touch
them with his, according to their usual custom, and he
stood overher wheeled chair to touch her facewitli his
lips, ‘-He’ thought, then, that her check was more
strained than usual, and that it was colder. i As he fol-
lowed the direction of her eyes, in rising again, towards
o
lDORRIT,l ix 1. iw 8692
Mr. Flintwinch’s “good friend, Mr. -Blandois, Mr. Blan-I
doissnapped histinger andithumb withrone loud ’con'-'
temptuous snap. . , ' 5" -A -i g v
y’ ‘‘I :leave your-your business acquaintance in m .
mother’s room,‘Mr.;Flintwinc ,” saidvClennam, “wit 1
a great deal of surprise and a: great deal of unwilling-‘V
ness.”. r’ " ’ -'
'7 The person referred to snapped his - finger and thum
a up .,:.., .( .. . .-.-. ‘V ' .
g?‘1Good night; mother.” ‘ " - '
“' Good night." ‘ " '- ' I ' -V
“’ I had a friend once, my good comrade F1intwinch,":
said Blandois, standinghstride before the tire, and so’
evidently saying it to arrest Clennam’s retreating steps,‘.
that he ‘lingered near the door ; -“ I had a friend’ once,
who had heard so much of the dark side of this city and
its ways; that he wouldn’t have confided himself alone’:
.by' night with two people who had an interest in getting
him under the groundeemy faith I not even in a respect-'
able house like this-unless‘he was bodily too strong.
forithem.’-‘ Bah! VV11at it poltroon, my Flintwinch!
Eh?yr ;;.. .-' ,. ., . :,,.
x
i2
r
f‘Acur,‘sir.”‘ 7 M‘ W’
‘ “Agreed I ”' A cur. :‘ But he wouldn't have done it;
my Flintwinch, unless he had known them to have the’
will to silence him, without the power. ‘ He wouldn’t
have drunk from a glass of water, under such circum-"
Flintwinch-unless he had seen one of them drink first,
andswallowtool’’-‘> ‘-51 ' " ‘ I ‘ '
, Disdaining to speak,'and indeed ribt very well able,‘
for he was half-choking, Clennam only glanced at the
visitor as he passed out.‘ The visitor saluted him: with
another parting snap,‘ and his nose came down over his
rnoustac '
in an ominous and ugly smile.‘ - .
sheopened the door for“ him in the dark hall, and he
going on here ‘I ”’ ‘ V . -
- Her own appcarancewas sufficiently ghastly, standing
speaking behind it in a low, dcadened voice.’
dream for ever so long. Go away I” .
‘ He went out, and she shut the’ door upon him: He
lookedup at the windows of his motl1er’s room, and the
dim light, deadened by the yellow blinds, seemed to say
a response after Aiferv, and to mutter, “. Don't ask me
anything. Go away I”
- CHAPTER XI.
f.-t'Le,I.l‘e‘rfrt7"rI1LilttVlelDor1'it.;' ' ‘ A
DEAR 'Ci.1:N‘1v.m, ‘ - ‘ K V - .
‘As I said in my‘last that it was-best for nobodyito
of reading it (perhaps you maynot find leisure for even
that, though I-hope you will some day), I am now going’
to devote an hour to writing to you again.’ -This time I
write from Rome. 4 I I . . .
. “'0 left Venice before Mr. and Mrs. Gowan did, but
they were not so long upon the road as we were, and did
not travel by the same way, and so when we arrived we.
found them in a lodging here, in a place’ called the Via’
Gregoriana. I dare say you know it. ‘ '
Now, I am going to tell you all I can about them, be-
: cause I know that is what” you most want to hcar.:' Theirs
is not a ve comfortable lodging, but perhaps I thought
it less so w zen I first saw it than you would have done',i
because you have been in many countries and have seen‘
many different customs.
place- -millions of times-4than any I have ever been used‘
to until lately; and I fancy I don't look at it with my’
own eyes, but with hers.
that she has always been brought up in a tender and
happy home, cvcn if she had not told me so with , great?
loveforit. ’ “ ‘ ' ' ' '
A Well, it‘is a rather bare lodging up alrather ‘dark’
stances-not even in a respectable house like this, my. ’
e and his moustache went up under his nose; '
" “For Heaven’s‘sake, Affery,” whispered Clennam,‘ as" '
groped his way to the sight of the night-sky, "what is-
in the dark with her apron thrown over her head, and ‘
“Don’t ask me anything, Arthur.‘ I've been in a‘
write to me, and as my sending you another little letter ‘
canvtherefore give you no other trouble than the trouble.
Of course it is a far, far better’.
For itwould‘ be easy to see’