Her attachments, however
ludicrously shown, were real and strong; and she was, as she expressed
it, 'deeply hurt by the unmerited contumely she had met with from
Louisa.' But there was no such thing as anger in Miss Tox's composition.
If she had ambled on through life, in her soft spoken way, without any
opinions, she had, at least, got so far without any harsh passions.
The mere sight of Louisa Chick in the street one day, at a considerable
distance, so overpowered her milky nature, that she was fain to seek
immediate refuge in a pastrycook's, and there, in a musty little back
room usually devoted to the consumption of soups, and pervaded by an
ox-tail atmosphere, relieve her feelings by weeping plentifully.

Against Mr Dombey Miss Tox hardly felt that she had any reason of
complaint. Her sense of that gentleman's magnificence was such, that
once removed from him, she felt as if her distance always had been
immeasurable, and as if he had greatly condescended in tolerating her at
all. No wife could be too handsome or too stately for him, according to
Miss Tox's sincere opinion. It was perfectly natural that in looking
for one, he should look high. Miss Tox with tears laid down this
proposition, and fully admitted it, twenty times a day. She never
recalled the lofty manner in which Mr Dombey had made her subservient to
his convenience and caprices, and had graciously permitted her to be
one of the nurses of his little son. She only thought, in her own words,
'that she had passed a great many happy hours in that house, which she
must ever remember with gratification, and that she could never cease to
regard Mr Dombey as one of the most impressive and dignified of men.'

Cut off, however, from the implacable Louisa, and being shy of the Major
(whom she viewed with some distrust now), Miss Tox found it very irksome
to know nothing of what was going on in Mr Dombey's establishment. And
as she really had got into the habit of considering Dombey and Son as
the pivot on which the world in general turned, she resolved, rather
than be ignorant of intelligence which so strongly interested her, to
cultivate her old acquaintance, Mrs Richards, who she knew, since
her last memorable appearance before Mr Dombey, was in the habit of
sometimes holding communication with his servants. Perhaps Miss Tox,
in seeking out the Toodle family, had the tender motive hidden in her
breast of having somebody to whom she could talk about Mr Dombey,