ely detherted her; or whether he broke his own heart alone, rather
than pull her down along with him, never will be known, now, Thquire,
till we know how the dogth findth uth out!"

"She keeps the bottle that he sent her for, to this hour, and she will
believe in his affection to the last moment of her life," said Mr.
Gradgrind.

"It theemth to prethent two things to a perthon, don't it?" said Mr.
Sleary musingly, "one, that there ith a love in the world, not all
thelf-interest, after all, but thomething very different; t'other, that
it hath a way of its own of calculating with ith as hard to give a name
to, ath the wayth of the dogth ith!"

Mr. Gradgrind looked out of the window, and made no reply. He was deep
in thought, and the result of his meditation became evident from that
day in a gradual broadening of his nature and purposes. He never again
attempted to replace nature's instincts and affections by his own system
of education, and as the years went by he made no further attempt to
destroy Sissy's loving faith in that father who had left her long ago;
he only tried to compensate her for that loss as best he could;--and
for the education which led to the softening of his hard, cold nature,
the credit belongs to the daughter of a clown, to whom love meant more
than logic.

FLORENCE DOMBEY

[Illustration: FLORENCE DOMBEY]

FLORENCE DOMBEY

There never was a child more loving or more lovable than Florence
Dombey. There never was a child more ready to respond to loving
ministrations than she, more eager to yield herself in docile obedience
to a parent's wish; and to her mother she clung with a desperate
affection at variance with her years.

But the sad day came when, clasped in her mother's arms, the little
creature, with her perfectly colorless face, and deep, dark eyes, never
moved her soft cheek from her mother's face, nor looked on those who
stood around, nor shed a tear, understanding that soon she would be
bereft of that mother's care and love.

"Mamma!" cried the child at last, sobbing aloud; "Oh, dear mamma! oh,
dear mamma!"

Then, clinging fast to that slight spar within her arms, the mother
drifted out upon the dark and unknown sea that rolls round all the
world, leaving Florence and the new-born baby brother in the
father's care.

Alas for Florence! To that father,--the pompous head of the great firm
of Dombey and Son--girls never showed a sufficient justification for
their exis