ds in the English language for which she has a respect
amounting almost to veneration, those words are, Dombey and Son.'

'Well,' said Mr Dombey, 'I believe it. It does Miss Tox credit.'

'And as to anything in the shape of a token, my dear Paul,' pursued
his sister, 'all I can say is that anything you give Miss Tox will be
hoarded and prized, I am sure, like a relic. But there is a way, my dear
Paul, of showing your sense of Miss Tox's friendliness in a still more
flattering and acceptable manner, if you should be so inclined.'

'How is that?' asked Mr Dombey.

'Godfathers, of course,' continued Mrs Chick, 'are important in point of
connexion and influence.'

'I don't know why they should be, to my son, said Mr Dombey, coldly.

'Very true, my dear Paul,' retorted Mrs Chick, with an extraordinary
show of animation, to cover the suddenness of her conversion; 'and
spoken like yourself. I might have expected nothing else from you. I
might have known that such would have been your opinion. Perhaps;' here
Mrs Chick faltered again, as not quite comfortably feeling her way;
'perhaps that is a reason why you might have the less objection to
allowing Miss Tox to be godmother to the dear thing, if it were only as
deputy and proxy for someone else. That it would be received as a great
honour and distinction, Paul, I need not say.

'Louisa,' said Mr Dombey, after a short pause, 'it is not to be
supposed--'

'Certainly not,' cried Mrs Chick, hastening to anticipate a refusal, 'I
never thought it was.'

Mr Dombey looked at her impatiently.

'Don't flurry me, my dear Paul,' said his sister; 'for that destroys
me. I am far from strong. I have not been quite myself, since poor dear
Fanny departed.'

Mr Dombey glanced at the pocket-handkerchief which his sister applied to
her eyes, and resumed:

'It is not be supposed, I say 'And I say,' murmured Mrs Chick, 'that I
never thought it was.'

'Good Heaven, Louisa!' said Mr Dombey.

'No, my dear Paul,' she remonstrated with tearful dignity, 'I must
really be allowed to speak. I am not so clever, or so reasoning, or so
eloquent, or so anything, as you are. I know that very well. So much the
worse for me. But if they were the last words I had to utter--and
last words should be very solemn to you and me, Paul, after poor dear
Fanny--I would still say I never thought it was. And what is more,'
added Mrs Chick with increased dignity, as if she had withheld her
crushing argument u