Jeremiah, whose eyes glistened as if they saw money, darted a sudden

look at the son, which seemed to say, 'I owe YOU no thanks for this; YOU

have done nothing towards it!' and then told the mother that he thanked

her, and that Affery thanked her, and that he would never desert her,

and that Affery would never desert her. Finally, he hauled up his watch

from its depths, and said, 'Eleven. Time for your oysters!' and with

that change of subject, which involved no change of expression or

manner, rang the bell.

But Mrs Clennam, resolved to treat herself with the greater rigour for

having been supposed to be unacquainted with reparation, refused to

eat her oysters when they were brought. They looked tempting; eight in

number, circularly set out on a white plate on a tray covered with a

white napkin, flanked by a slice of buttered French roll, and a little

compact glass of cool wine and water; but she resisted all persuasions,

and sent them down again--placing the act to her credit, no doubt, in

her Eternal Day-Book.

This refection of oysters was not presided over by Affery, but by the

girl who had appeared when the bell was rung; the same who had been in

the dimly-lighted room last night. Now that he had an opportunity of

observing her, Arthur found that her diminutive figure, small features,

and slight spare dress, gave her the appearance of being much younger

than she was. A woman, probably of not less than two-and-twenty, she

might have been passed in the street for little more than half that

age.

Not that her face was very youthful, for in truth there was more

consideration and care in it than naturally belonged to her utmost

years; but she was so little and light, so noiseless and shy, and

appeared so conscious of being out of place among the three hard elders,

that she had all the manner and much of the appearance of a subdued

child. In a hard way, and in an uncertain way that fluctuated between patronage

and putting down, the sprinkling from a watering-pot and hydraulic

pressure, Mrs Clennam showed an interest in this dependent. Even in the

moment of her entrance, upon the violent ringing of the bell, when the

mother shielded herself with that singular action from the son, Mrs

Clennam's eyes had had some individual recognition in them, which seemed

reserved for her. As there are degrees of hardness in the hardest metal,

and shades of colour in black itself, so, even in the asperity of Mrs

Clennam's demeanour towards all the rest of humanity and towards Little

Dorrit, there was a fine gradation.




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