accidental detention there, who had that impalpable grievance about
the misappropriated Fund on which the Marshal was supposed to batten.
He presented himself as deputation to escort the Father to the Chair, it
being an occasion on which he had promised to preside over the assembled
Collegians in the enjoyment of a little Harmony.

'Such, you see, Mr Clennam,' said the Father, 'are the incongruities
of my position here. But a public duty! No man, I am sure, would more
readily recognise a public duty than yourself.'

Clennam besought him not to delay a moment. 'Amy, my dear, if you can
persuade Mr Clennam to stay longer, I can leave the honours of our poor
apology for an establishment with confidence in your hands, and
perhaps you may do something towards erasing from Mr Clennam's mind
the--ha--untoward and unpleasant circumstance which has occurred since
tea-time.'

Clennam assured him that it had made no impression on his mind, and
therefore required no erasure.

'My dear sir,' said the Father, with a removal of his black cap and a
grasp of Clennam's hand, combining to express the safe receipt of his
note and enclosure that afternoon, 'Heaven ever bless you!'

So, at last, Clennam's purpose in remaining was attained, and he could
speak to Little Dorrit with nobody by. Maggy counted as nobody, and she
was by.

CHAPTER 32. More Fortune-Telling

Maggy sat at her work in her great white cap with its quantity of opaque
frilling hiding what profile she had (she had none to spare), and her
serviceable eye brought to bear upon her occupation, on the window side
of the room. What with her flapping cap, and what with her unserviceable
eye, she was quite partitioned off from her Little Mother, whose seat
was opposite the window. The tread and shuffle of feet on the pavement
of the yard had much diminished since the taking of the Chair, the tide
of Collegians having set strongly in the direction of Harmony. Some few
who had no music in their souls, or no money in their pockets, dawdled
about; and the old spectacle of the visitor-wife and the depressed
unseasoned prisoner still lingered in corners, as broken cobwebs and
such unsightly discomforts draggle in corners of other places. It was
the quietest time the College knew, saving the night hours when the
Collegians took the benefit of the act of sleep. The occasional rattle
of applause upon the tables of the Snuggery, denoted the successful
termination of a morsel