name or another. A which?' says the Cap'en. 'A so-and-so,' says the man. 'Brother,' says the Cap'en, will you take a observation round the shop ?' Well,' says the man, 'I've done 'Do you see wot you want?' says the Cap'en. 'No, I don't,' says the man. 'Do you know it wen you do see it?'

it.'

says the Cap'en. 'No, I don't,' says the man.

'Why, then, I tell you wot, my lad,' says the Cap'en, 'you'd better go back and ask wot it's like, outside, for no more don't I !' ”

"That_an't the way to make money, though, is it?" said Polly.

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Money, mother! He'll never make money. He has such ways as I never see. He an't a bad master, though, I'll say that for him. But that an't much to me, for I don't think I shall stop with him long."

"Not stop in your place, Rob!" cried his mother; while Mr. Toodle opened his eyes.

"Not in that place, p'raps," returned the Grinder, with a wink. "I shouldn't wonder-friends at court you know—but never you mind, mother, just now; I'm all right, that's all."

The indisputable proof afforded in these hints, and in the Grinder's mysterious manner, of his not being subject to that failing which Mr. Toodle had, by implication, attributed to him, might have led to a renewal of his wrongs, and of the sensation in the family, but for the opportune arrival of another visitor, who, to Polly's great surprise, appeared at the door, smiling patronage and friendship on all there.

"How do you do, Mrs. Richards ?" said Miss Tox. come to see you. May I come in ?"

"I have

The cheery face of Mrs. Richards shone with a hospitable reply, and Miss Tox, accepting the proffered chair, and gracefully recognising Mr. Toodle on her way to it, untied her bonnet strings, and said that in the first place she must beg the dear children, one and all, to come and kiss her.

The ill-starred youngest Toodle but one, who would appear, from the frequency of his domestic troubles, to have been born under an unlucky planet, was prevented from performing his part in this general salutation by having fixed the sou'wester hat (with which he had been previously trifling) deep on his head, hind

side before, and being unable to get it off again; which accident presenting to his terrified imagination a dismal picture of his passing the rest of his days in darkness, and in hopeless seclusion from his friends and family, caused him to struggle with great violence, and to utter suffocated cries. Being released, his face was discovered to be very hot, and red, and damp; and Miss Tox took him on her lap, much exhausted.

"You have almost forgotten me, Sir, I dare say," said Miss Tox to Mr. Toodle.

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No, Ma'am, no," said Toodle. "But we've all on us got a

little older since then."

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"And how do you find yourself, Sir?" inquired Miss Tox, blandly. Hearty, Ma'am, thank'ee," replied Toodle. "How do you find yourself, Ma'am. Do the rheumaticks keep off pretty well, Ma'am? We must all expect to grow into 'em, as we gets on.' "Thank you," said Miss Tox. "I have not felt any incon venience from that disorder yet."

There

"You're wery fortunate, Ma'am," returned Mr. Toodle. “Many people at your time of life, Ma'am, is martyrs to it. was my mother- But catching his wife's eye here, Mr. Toodle judiciously buried the rest in another mug of tea. "You never mean to say, Mrs. Richards," cried Miss Tox, looking at Rob, "that is your-"

"Eldest, Ma'am," said Polly. "Yes, indeed it is. That's the little fellow, Ma'am, that was the innocent cause of so much."

"This here, Ma'am," said Toodle, "is him with the short legs-and they was," said Mr. Toodle, with a touch of poetry in his tone, "unusual short for leathers-as Mr. Dombey made a Grinder on."

The subject

The recollection almost overpowered Miss Tox. of it had a peculiar interest for her directly. She asked him to shake hands, and congratulated his mother on his frank, ingenuous face. Rob, overhearing her, called up a look to justify the eulogium, but it was hardly the right look.

"And now, Mrs. Richards," said Miss Tox,—" and you too, Sir," addressing Toodle-"I'll tell you, plainly and truly, what

I have come here for. You may be aware, Mrs. Richards,— and, possibly, you may be aware too, Sir-that a little distance has interposed itself between me and some of my friends, and that where I used to visit a good deal, I do not visit now."

Polly, who, with a woman's tact, understood this at once, expressed as much in a little look. Mr. Toodle, who had not the faintest idea of what Miss Tox was talking about, expressed that also, in a stare.

"Of course," said Miss Tox, "how our little coolness has arisen is of no moment, and does not require to be discussed. It is sufficient for me to say, that I have the greatest possible respect for, and interest in, Mr. Dombey;" Miss Tox's voice faltered; "and everything that relates to him."

Mr. Toodle, enlightened, shook his head, and said he had heerd it said, and, for his own part, he did think, as Mr. Dombey was a difficult subject.

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Pray don't say sc Sir, if you please," returned Miss Tox. "Let me entreat you not to say so, Sir, either now, or at any future time. Such observations cannot but be very painful to me, and to a gentleman, whose mind is constituted as, I am quite sure, yours is, can afford no permanent satisfaction."

Mr. Toodle, who had not entertained the least doubt of offer. ing a remark that would be received with acquiescence, was greatly confounded.

"All that I wish to say, Mrs. Richards," resumed Miss Tox," and I address myself to you too, Sir,-is this. That any intelligence of the proceedings of the family, of the welfare of the family, of the health of the family, that reaches you, will be always most acceptable to me. That I shall be always very glad to chat with Mrs. Richards about the family, and about old times. And as Mrs. Richards and I never had the least difference (though I could wish now that we had been better acquainted, but I have no one but myself to blame for that), I hope she will not object to our being very good friends now, and to my coming backwards and forwards here, when I like, without being a stranger. Now, I really hope, Mrs. Richards," said Miss Tox, earnestly, "that you will take this, as I mean it, like a goodhumored creature, as you always were.'