Maggy sat at her work in her great white cap with its quantity of opaque

frilling hiding what profile she had (she had none to spare), and her

serviceable eye brought to bear upon her occupation, on the window side

of the room.

What with her flapping cap, and what with her unserviceable

eye, she was quite partitioned off from her Little Mother, whose seat

was opposite the window. The tread and shuffle of feet on the pavement

of the yard had much diminished since the taking of the Chair, the tide

of Collegians having set strongly in the direction of Harmony. Some few

who had no music in their souls, or no money in their pockets, dawdled

about; and the old spectacle of the visitor-wife and the depressed

unseasoned prisoner still lingered in corners, as broken cobwebs and

such unsightly discomforts draggle in corners of other places.

It was the quietest time the College knew, saving the night hours when the

Collegians took the benefit of the act of sleep. The occasional rattle

of applause upon the tables of the Snuggery, denoted the successful

termination of a morsel of Harmony; or the responsive acceptance, by

the united children, of some toast or sentiment offered to them by their

Father.

Occasionally, a vocal strain more sonorous than the generality

informed the listener that some boastful bass was in blue water, or in

the hunting field, or with the reindeer, or on the mountain, or among

the heather; but the Marshal of the Marshalsea knew better, and had got

him hard and fast.

As Arthur Clennam moved to sit down by the side of Little Dorrit, she

trembled so that she had much ado to hold her needle. Clennam gently

put his hand upon her work, and said, 'Dear Little Dorrit, let me lay it

down.' She yielded it to him, and he put it aside. Her hands were then

nervously clasping together, but he took one of them. 'How seldom I have

seen you lately, Little Dorrit!'

'I have been busy, sir.' 'But I heard only to-day,' said Clennam, 'by mere accident, of your

having been with those good people close by me. Why not come to me,

then?' 'I--I don't know. Or rather, I thought you might be busy too. You

generally are now, are you not?'

He saw her trembling little form and her downcast face, and the eyes

that drooped the moment they were raised to his--he saw them almost with

as much concern as tenderness.

'My child, your manner is so changed!' The trembling was now quite beyond her control. Softly withdrawing her

hand, and laying it in her other hand, she sat before him with her head

bent and her whole form trembling.




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