iling in himself; and
informs his comrade that it's his 'exciseman.' The very tall young man
would say excitement, but his speech is hazy.

The men who play the bells have got scent of the marriage; and the
marrow-bones and cleavers too; and a brass band too. The first, are
practising in a back settlement near Battlebridge; the second, put
themselves in communication, through their chief, with Mr Towlinson, to
whom they offer terms to be bought off; and the third, in the person of
an artful trombone, lurks and dodges round the corner, waiting for
some traitor tradesman to reveal the place and hour of breakfast, for a
bribe. Expectation and excitement extend further yet, and take a wider
range. From Balls Pond, Mr Perch brings Mrs Perch to spend the day with
Mr Dombey's servants, and accompany them, surreptitiously, to see the
wedding. In Mr Toots's lodgings, Mr Toots attires himself as if he were
at least the Bridegroom; determined to behold the spectacle in splendour
from a secret corner of the gallery, and thither to convey the Chicken:
for it is Mr Toots's desperate intent to point out Florence to the
Chicken, then and there, and openly to say, 'Now, Chicken, I will not
deceive you any longer; the friend I have sometimes mentioned to you is
myself; Miss Dombey is the object of my passion; what are your opinions,
Chicken, in this state of things, and what, on the spot, do you advise?
The so-much-to-be-astonished Chicken, in the meanwhile, dips his beak
into a tankard of strong beer, in Mr Toots's kitchen, and pecks up two
pounds of beefsteaks. In Princess's Place, Miss Tox is up and doing; for
she too, though in sore distress, is resolved to put a shilling in the
hands of Mrs Miff, and see the ceremony which has a cruel fascination
for her, from some lonely corner. The quarters of the wooden Midshipman
are all alive; for Captain Cuttle, in his ankle-jacks and with a huge
shirt-collar, is seated at his breakfast, listening to Rob the Grinder
as he reads the marriage service to him beforehand, under orders, to the
end that the Captain may perfectly understand the solemnity he is about
to witness: for which purpose, the Captain gravely lays injunctions on
his chaplain, from time to time, to 'put about,' or to 'overhaul that
'ere article again,' or to stick to his own duty, and leave the Amens to
him, the Captain; one of which he repeats, whenever a pause is made by
Rob the Grinder, with sonorous satisfaction.

Besides a