Page 440 (1/2)

The ter out, and he

was about to dress for another inspection by the Chief Butler (whose

victims were always dressed expressly for him), when one of the servants

of the hotel presented hi it, read:

'Mrs Finching'

The servant waited in speechless deference

'Man, nation,

'explain yourme this ridiculous na, sir?' said Mr Dorrit, perhaps avenging

himself on the Chief Butler by Substitute

'Ha! What do youaselse, for

he backed away froard, as he replied, 'A lady,

sir'

'I know no such lady, sir,' said Mr Dorrit 'Take this card away I know

no Finching of either sex'

'Ask your pardon, sir The lady said she are she edacquainted with Miss Dorrit The lady said, sir, the youngest

Miss Dorrit'

Mr Dorrit knitted his brows and rejoined, after athe name as if the innocent man were

solely responsible for it, 'that she can come up'

He had reflected, in his ht leave soraceful reference to that former state of existence Hence the

concession, and hence the appearance of Flora, piloted in by the man,

with the card in his

hand, and with an air which imported that it would scarcely have been a

first-class pleasure if he had had it, 'of knowing either this name, or

yourself, madam Place a chair, sir' The responsible man, with a start,

obeyed, and went out on tiptoe Flora, putting aside her veil with a

bashful tremor upon her, proceeded to introduce herself At the saular coh the room,

as if some brandy had been put by mistake in a lavender-water bottle, or

as if some lavender-water had been put byMr Dorrit to offer a thousand apologies and indeed they would

be far too few for such an intrusion which I know must appear extreht it best upon the whole

however difficult and even apparently ily accoreat force and

spirit would probably have struck one possessed of such a knowledge of

life as no doubt with so es must have been acquired, for Mr F

hihbourhood

of Blackheath at as high as eighty guineas which is a good deal for

parents and the plate kept back too on going away but that is more a

meanness than its value that he had learnt more in his first years as a

coe commission on the sale of an article

that nobody would hear oftime than in the whole six years in that acadeh why a Bachelor more clever than a married man I

do not see and never did but pray excuse me that is not the point'

Mr Dorrit stood rooted to the carpet, a statue of mystification

'I must openly ad known the dear little thing which under altered circumstances

appears a liberty but is not so intended and Goodness knows there was no

favour in half-a-crown a-day to such a needle as herself but quite the

other way and as to anything lowering in it far from it the labourer is

worthy of his hire and I aot it oftener and s poor soul'

'Madareat effort, as the

relict of the late Mr Finching stopped to take hers; 'madam,' said Mr

Dorrit, very red in the face, 'if I understand you to refer to--ha--to

anything in the antecedents of--hu--ha

hu to observe that the--ha--fact,

assue Hum I

should not have permitted it Ha Never! Never!'

'Unnecessary to pursue the subject,' returned Flora, 'and would not have

it a favourable and only

letter of introduction but as to being fact no doubt whatever and you

may set your mind at rest for the very dress I have on now can prove it

and sweetlythat it would tell better on

a better figure forit down I

know not, pray excuse ain' Mr Dorrit backed to his

chair in a stony way, and seated hi

look and played with her parasol

'The dear little thing,' said Flora, 'having gone off perfectly limp

and white and cold in h not

a freehold still a long lease at a peppercorn on thewhen

Arthur--foolish habit of our youthful days and Mr Clenna circuer a gentles imparted by a person of name of Pancks emboldens me'

At the mention of these two naain, hesitated with his fingers at his lips, as he had hesitated long

ago, and said, 'Do me the favour to--ha--state your pleasure, iving hly natural it seeh more

stately I perceive a likeness filled out of course but a likeness still,

the object of htest consultation

with any hu and most decidedly not with Arthur--pray excuseMr Clennaolden chain to a purple time when all

was ethereal out of any anxiety would be worth to me the ransom of a

monarch not that I have the least idea howit as the total of all I have in the world andthe earnestness of these latter

words, repeated, 'State your pleasure, madam'

'It's not likely I well know,' said Flora, 'but it's possible and being

possible when I had the gratification of reading in the papers that you

had arrived fro back I ht co of hi and relief to all!'

'Allow me to ask, madam,' said Mr Dorrit, with his ideas in wild

confusion, 'to whom--ha--To whom,' he repeated it with a raised voice in

ner from Italy who disappeared in the City as no doubt you

have read in the papers equally with

to private sources by the naathers what

dreadfully ill-natured things so others by thenation of Arthur--quite unable to overcome it Doyce and

Clennam--cannot fail to be'

It happened, fortunately for the elucidation of any intelligible result,

that Mr Dorrit had heard or read nothing about the ies for being in great practical

difficulties as to finding the way to her pocket ath to produce a police handbill, setting forth that

a foreign gentleman of the name of Blandois, last froht in such a part of the city of

London; that he was known to have entered such a house, at such an hour;

that he was stated by the inmates of that house to have left it, about

so ht; and that he had never been beheld

since This, with exact particulars of tiood detailed description of the foreign gentlee

'Blandois!' said Mr Dorrit 'Venice! And this description! I know this

gentleman He has been in ood family (but in indifferent circumstances), of who entreaty is theback you will have the kindness to look for this foreign

gentles and to

e-trees and vineyards

and volcanoes and places for he must be somewhere and why doesn't he

come forward and say he's there and clear all parties up?'

'Pray, ain, 'who is

Clennam and Co? Ha I see the name mentioned here, in connection with

the occupation of the house which Monsieur Blandois was seen to

enter: who is Clennam and Co? Is it the individual of whoe, and to whom I

believe you have referred? Is it--ha--that person?'

'It's a very different person indeed,' replied Flora, 'with no lih his mother'

'Clennam and Co a--hum--a mother!' exclaimed Mr Dorrit

'And an old man besides,' said Flora

Mr Dorrit looked as if he must immediately be driven out of his mind

by this account Neither was it renderedinto a rapid analysis of Mr Flintwinch's cravat, and

describing hihtest boundary line of separation between

his identity and Mrs Clennaaiters Which

coriaiters, so completely stupefied Mr Dorrit, that he was a spectacle to

be pitied 'But I would not detain you one ht its effect, though she was quite

unconscious of having produced it, 'if you would have the goodness to

give your pro back to Italy and

in Italy too you would look for this Mr Blandois high and low and if

you found or heard of hi of

all parties' By that time Mr Dorrit had so far recovered from his

bewilderment, as to be able to say, in a tolerably connected manner,

that he should consider that his duty Flora was delighted with her

success, and rose to take her leave

'With a million thanks,' said she, 'andto be communicated personally, I will not send ht not be acceptable, and indeed there

is no dear little thing left in the transformation so why do it but

both myself and Mr F's Aunt ever wish her well and lay no claim to any

favour on our side you may be sure of that but quite the other way for

what she undertook to do she did and that isof her doing it as Well as it could be

done and I an to

recover the blow of Mr F's death that I would learn the Organ of which

I am extremely fond but of which I a!'

When Mr Dorrit, who attended her to the room-door, had had a little time

to collect his senses, he found that the interview had summoned back

discarded reminiscences which jarred with the Merdle dinner-table

He wrote and sent off a brief note excusing himself for that day, and

ordered dinner presently in his own rooms at the hotel He had another

reason for this His tiageht it behoved his importance to pursue some direct inquiry into the

Blandois disappearance, and be in a condition to carry back to Mr