rs Pipchin's grey eye scanned his thoughtful face.

'If I grow up,' said Paul. Then he went on immediately to tell Mrs
Pipchin all about the party, about Florence's invitation, about the
pride he would have in the admiration that would be felt for her by all
the boys, about their being so kind to him and fond of him, about his
being so fond of them, and about his being so glad of it. Then he
told Mrs Pipchin about the analysis, and about his being certainly
old-fashioned, and took Mrs Pipchin's opinion on that point, and whether
she knew why it was, and what it meant. Mrs Pipchin denied the fact
altogether, as the shortest way of getting out of the difficulty; but
Paul was far from satisfied with that reply, and looked so searchingly
at Mrs Pipchin for a truer answer, that she was obliged to get up and
look out of the window to avoid his eyes.

There was a certain calm Apothecary, 'who attended at the establishment
when any of the young gentlemen were ill, and somehow he got into the
room and appeared at the bedside, with Mrs Blimber. How they came there,
or how long they had been there, Paul didn't know; but when he saw them,
he sat up in bed, and answered all the Apothecary's questions at full
length, and whispered to him that Florence was not to know anything
about it, if he pleased, and that he had set his mind upon her coming
to the party. He was very chatty with the Apothecary, and they parted
excellent friends. Lying down again with his eyes shut, he heard the
Apothecary say, out of the room and quite a long way off--or he dreamed
it--that there was a want of vital power (what was that, Paul wondered!)
and great constitutional weakness. That as the little fellow had set his
heart on parting with his school-mates on the seventeenth, it would be
better to indulge the fancy if he grew no worse. That he was glad to
hear from Mrs Pipchin, that the little fellow would go to his friends
in London on the eighteenth. That he would write to Mr Dombey, when he
should have gained a better knowledge of the case, and before that day.
That there was no immediate cause for--what? Paul lost that word And
that the little fellow had a fine mind, but was an old-fashioned boy.

What old fashion could that be, Paul wondered with a palpitating heart,
that was so visibly expressed in him; so plainly seen by so many people!

He could neither make it out, nor trouble himself long with the effort.
Mrs Pipchin was again beside him, if she