s
upon him, and dare to aspire to contemplate the possibility of his
uniting himself to you! Why, it is an idea,' said Mrs Chick, with
sarcastic dignity, 'the absurdity of which almost relieves its
treachery.'

'Pray, Louisa,' urged Miss Tox, 'do not say such dreadful things.'

'Dreadful things!' repeated Mrs Chick. 'Dreadful things! Is it not
a fact, Lucretia, that you have just now been unable to command your
feelings even before me, whose eyes you had so completely closed?'

'I have made no complaint,' sobbed Miss Tox. 'I have said nothing. If I
have been a little overpowered by your news, Louisa, and have ever
had any lingering thought that Mr Dombey was inclined to be particular
towards me, surely you will not condemn me.'

'She is going to say,' said Mrs Chick, addressing herself to the whole
of the furniture, in a comprehensive glance of resignation and appeal,
'She is going to say--I know it--that I have encouraged her!'

'I don't wish to exchange reproaches, dear Louisa,' sobbed Miss Tox 'Nor
do I wish to complain. But, in my own defence--'

'Yes,' cried Mrs Chick, looking round the room with a prophetic smile,
'that's what she's going to say. I knew it. You had better say it.
Say it openly! Be open, Lucretia Tox,' said Mrs Chick, with desperate
sternness, 'whatever you are.'

'In my own defence,' faltered Miss Tox, 'and only In my own defence
against your unkind words, my dear Louisa, I would merely ask you if you
haven't often favoured such a fancy, and even said it might happen, for
anything we could tell?'

'There is a point,' said Mrs Chick, rising, not as if she were going to
stop at the floor, but as if she were about to soar up, high, into
her native skies, 'beyond which endurance becomes ridiculous, if not
culpable. I can bear much; but not too much. What spell was on me when I
came into this house this day, I don't know; but I had a presentiment--a
dark presentiment,' said Mrs Chick, with a shiver, 'that something was
going to happen. Well may I have had that foreboding, Lucretia, when my
confidence of many years is destroyed in an instant, when my eyes are
opened all at once, and when I find you revealed in your true colours.
Lucretia, I have been mistaken in you. It is better for us both that
this subject should end here. I wish you well, and I shall ever wish you
well. But, as an individual who desires to be true to herself in her own
poor position, whatever that position may be, or may no