aves and liars in the
world, were nothing to the honesty and truth of one dead friend.

The only thing the honest Captain made out clearly, in this state of
mind, besides the loss of Walter, was, that with him almost the whole
world of Captain Cuttle had been drowned. If he reproached himself
sometimes, and keenly too, for having ever connived at Walter's innocent
deceit, he thought at least as often of the Mr Carker whom no sea could
ever render up; and the Mr Dombey, whom he now began to perceive was as
far beyond human recall; and the 'Heart's Delight,' with whom he must
never foregather again; and the Lovely Peg, that teak-built and trim
ballad, that had gone ashore upon a rock, and split into mere planks
and beams of rhyme. The Captain sat in the dark shop, thinking of these
things, to the entire exclusion of his own injury; and looking with
as sad an eye upon the ground, as if in contemplation of their actual
fragments, as they floated past.

But the Captain was not unmindful, for all that, of such decent and
rest observances in memory of poor Walter, as he felt within his power.
Rousing himself, and rousing Rob the Grinder (who in the unnatural
twilight was fast asleep), the Captain sallied forth with his attendant
at his heels, and the door-key in his pocket, and repairing to one of
those convenient slop-selling establishments of which there is abundant
choice at the eastern end of London, purchased on the spot two suits of
mourning--one for Rob the Grinder, which was immensely too small, and
one for himself, which was immensely too large. He also provided Rob
with a species of hat, greatly to be admired for its symmetry and
usefulness, as well as for a happy blending of the mariner with the
coal-heaver; which is usually termed a sou'wester; and which was
something of a novelty in connexion with the instrument business. In
their several garments, which the vendor declared to be such a miracle
in point of fit as nothing but a rare combination of fortuitous
circumstances ever brought about, and the fashion of which was
unparalleled within the memory of the oldest inhabitant, the Captain and
Grinder immediately arrayed themselves: presenting a spectacle fraught
with wonder to all who beheld it.

In this altered form, the Captain received Mr Toots. 'I'm took aback,
my lad, at present,' said the Captain, 'and will only confirm that there
ill news. Tell the young woman to break it gentle to the young lady,
and for