on outside that door, and that there man will wibrate with
joy.' The Captain concluded by kissing the hand that Florence stretched
out to him, with the chivalry of any old knight-errant, and walking on
tiptoe out of the room.

Descending to the little parlour, Captain Cuttle, after holding a hasty
council with himself, decided to open the shop-door for a few minutes,
and satisfy himself that now, at all events, there was no one loitering
about it. Accordingly he set it open, and stood upon the threshold,
keeping a bright look-out, and sweeping the whole street with his
spectacles.

'How de do, Captain Gills?' said a voice beside him. The Captain,
looking down, found that he had been boarded by Mr Toots while sweeping
the horizon.

'How are, you, my lad?' replied the Captain.

'Well, I m pretty well, thank'ee, Captain Gills,' said Mr Toots. 'You
know I'm never quite what I could wish to be, now. I don't expect that I
ever shall be any more.'

Mr Toots never approached any nearer than this to the great theme of
his life, when in conversation with Captain Cuttle, on account of the
agreement between them.

'Captain Gills,' said Mr Toots, 'if I could have the pleasure of a word
with you, it's--it's rather particular.'

'Why, you see, my lad,' replied the Captain, leading the way into the
parlour, 'I ain't what you may call exactly free this morning; and
therefore if you can clap on a bit, I should take it kindly.'

'Certainly, Captain Gills,' replied Mr Toots, who seldom had any notion
of the Captain's meaning. 'To clap on, is exactly what I could wish to
do. Naturally.'

'If so be, my lad,' returned the Captain. 'Do it!'

The Captain was so impressed by the possession of his tremendous
secret--by the fact of Miss Dombey being at that moment under his roof,
while the innocent and unconscious Toots sat opposite to him--that a
perspiration broke out on his forehead, and he found it impossible,
while slowly drying the same, glazed hat in hand, to keep his eyes off
Mr Toots's face. Mr Toots, who himself appeared to have some secret
reasons for being in a nervous state, was so unspeakably disconcerted by
the Captain's stare, that after looking at him vacantly for some time in
silence, and shifting uneasily on his chair, he said:

'I beg your pardon, Captain Gills, but you don't happen to see anything
particular in me, do you?'

'No, my lad,' returned the Captain. 'No.'

'Because you know,' said Mr Toots with a ch