ideas of these matters. But I should
think--merely giving an opinion, Mr Dorrit--I should think Mr Merdle
would be upon the whole,' here she held a review of herself before
adding at her leisure, 'quite charmed.'

At the mention of gentlemen whom Society called capitalists, Mr Dorrit
had coughed, as if some internal demur were breaking out of him. Mrs
Merdle had observed it, and went on to take up the cue.

'Though, indeed, Mr Dorrit, it is scarcely necessary for me to make that
remark, except in the mere openness of saying what is uppermost to one
whom I so highly regard, and with whom I hope I may have the pleasure
of being brought into still more agreeable relations. For one cannot
but see the great probability of your considering such things from Mr
Merdle's own point of view, except indeed that circumstances have made
it Mr Merdle's accidental fortune, or misfortune, to be engaged in
business transactions, and that they, however vast, may a little cramp
his horizons. I am a very child as to having any notion of business,'
said Mrs Merdle; 'but I am afraid, Mr Dorrit, it may have that
tendency.'

This skilful see-saw of Mr Dorrit and Mrs Merdle, so that each of them
sent the other up, and each of them sent the other down, and neither
had the advantage, acted as a sedative on Mr Dorrit's cough. He remarked
with his utmost politeness, that he must beg to protest against its
being supposed, even by Mrs Merdle, the accomplished and graceful
(to which compliment she bent herself), that such enterprises as Mr
Merdle's, apart as they were from the puny undertakings of the rest of
men, had any lower tendency than to enlarge and expand the genius in
which they were conceived. 'You are generosity itself,' said Mrs Merdle
in return, smiling her best smile; 'let us hope so. But I confess I am
almost superstitious in my ideas about business.'

Mr Dorrit threw in another compliment here, to the effect that business,
like the time which was precious in it, was made for slaves; and that it
was not for Mrs Merdle, who ruled all hearts at her supreme pleasure,
to have anything to do with it. Mrs Merdle laughed, and conveyed to
Mr Dorrit an idea that the Bosom flushed--which was one of her best
effects.

'I say so much,' she then explained, 'merely because Mr Merdle has
always taken the greatest interest in Edmund, and has always expressed
the strongest desire to advance his prospects. Edmund's public position,
I think you know