was very well.

'How's Diogenes going on?' would be Mr Toots's second interrogation.

Very well indeed. Miss Florence was fonder and fonder of him every
day. Mr Toots was sure to hail this with a burst of chuckles, like the
opening of a bottle of some effervescent beverage.

'Miss Florence is quite well, Sir,' Susan would add.

Oh, it's of no consequence, thank'ee,' was the invariable reply of Mr
Toots; and when he had said so, he always went away very fast.

Now it is certain that Mr Toots had a filmy something in his mind, which
led him to conclude that if he could aspire successfully in the fulness
of time, to the hand of Florence, he would be fortunate and blest. It
is certain that Mr Toots, by some remote and roundabout road, had got
to that point, and that there he made a stand. His heart was wounded; he
was touched; he was in love. He had made a desperate attempt, one
night, and had sat up all night for the purpose, to write an acrostic
on Florence, which affected him to tears in the conception. But he
never proceeded in the execution further than the words 'For when I
gaze,'--the flow of imagination in which he had previously written down
the initial letters of the other seven lines, deserting him at that
point.

Beyond devising that very artful and politic measure of leaving a
card for Mr Dombey daily, the brain of Mr Toots had not worked much
in reference to the subject that held his feelings prisoner. But deep
consideration at length assured Mr Toots that an important step to gain,
was, the conciliation of Miss Susan Nipper, preparatory to giving her
some inkling of his state of mind.

A little light and playful gallantry towards this lady seemed the means
to employ in that early chapter of the history, for winning her to
his interests. Not being able quite to make up his mind about it,
he consulted the Chicken--without taking that gentleman into his
confidence; merely informing him that a friend in Yorkshire had written
to him (Mr Toots) for his opinion on such a question. The Chicken
replying that his opinion always was, 'Go in and win,' and further,
'When your man's before you and your work cut out, go in and do it,' Mr
Toots considered this a figurative way of supporting his own view of the
case, and heroically resolved to kiss Miss Nipper next day.

Upon the next day, therefore, Mr Toots, putting into requisition some of
the greatest marvels that Burgess and Co. had ever turned out, went off
to