'My sister, ma'am.' 'I am glad to see your sister, Miss Dorrit. I did not remember that you

had a sister.' 'I did not mention that I had,' said Fanny. 'Ah!'

Mrs Merdle curled the little finger of her left hand as who should

say, 'I have caught you. I know you didn't!' All her action was usually

with her left hand because her hands were not a pair; and left being

much the whiter and plumper of the two. Then she added: 'Sit down,' and

composed herself voluptuously, in a nest of crimson and gold cushions,

on an ottoman near the parrot. 'Also professional?' said Mrs Merdle, looking at Little Dorrit through

an eye-glass. Fanny answered No. 'No,' said Mrs Merdle, dropping her glass. 'Has not a

professional air. Very pleasant; but not professional.'

'My sister, ma'am,' said Fanny, in whom there was a singular mixture

of deference and hardihood, 'has been asking me to tell her, as between

sisters, how I came to have the honour of knowing you. And as I had

engaged to call upon you once more, I thought I might take the liberty

of bringing her with me, when perhaps you would tell her. I wish her to

know, and perhaps you will tell her?' 'Do you think, at your sister's

age--' hinted Mrs Merdle.

'She is much older than she looks,' said Fanny; 'almost as old as I am.'

'Society,' said Mrs Merdle, with another curve of her little finger,

'is so difficult to explain to young persons (indeed is so difficult to

explain to most persons), that I am glad to hear that.

I wish Society was not so arbitrary, I wish it was not so

exacting--Bird, be quiet!' The parrot had given a most piercing shriek, as if its name were Society

and it asserted its right to its exactions.

'But,' resumed Mrs Merdle, 'we must take it as we find it. We know it is

hollow and conventional and worldly and very shocking, but unless we

are Savages in the Tropical seas (I should have been charmed to be one

myself--most delightful life and perfect climate, I am told), we

must consult it. It is the common lot. Mr Merdle is a most extensive

merchant, his transactions are on the vastest scale, his wealth and

influence are very great, but even he--Bird, be quiet!'

The parrot had shrieked another shriek; and it filled up the sentence so

expressively that Mrs Merdle was under no necessity to end it.

'Since your sister begs that I would terminate our personal

acquaintance,' she began again, addressing Little Dorrit, 'by relating

the circumstances that are much to her credit, I cannot object to comply

with her request, I am sure. I have a son (I was first married extremely

young) of two or three-and-twenty.'




readonlinefreebook.com Copyright 2016 - 2024