before he existed. The education of such a young gentleman must not be delayed. It must not be left imperfect. It must be very steadily and seriously undertaken, Mrs. Pipchin.' `Well, Sir,' said Mrs. Pipchin, `I can say nothing to the contrary.'

`I was quite sure, Mrs. Pipchin,' returned Mr. Dombey, approvingly, `that a person of your good sense could not, and would not.'

`There is a great deal of nonsense--and worse--talked about young people not being pressed too hard at first, and being tempted on, and all the rest of it, Sir,' said Mrs. Pipchin, impatiently rubbing her hooked nose. `It never was thought of in my time, and it has no business to be thought of now. My opinion is "keep'em at it."'

`My good madam,' returned Mr. Dombey, `you have not acquired your reputation undeservedly; and I beg you to believe, Mrs. Pipchin, that I am more than satisfied with your excellent system of management, and shall have the greatest pleasure in commending it whenever my poor commendation'--Mr. Dombey's loftiness when he affected to disparage his own importance, passed all bounds--`can be of any service. I have been thinking of Doctor Blimber's, Mrs. Pipchin.'

`My neighbour, Sir?' said Mrs. Pipchin. `I believe the Doctor's is an excellent establishment. I've heard that it's very strictly conducted, and there is nothing but learning going on from morning to night.'

`And it's very expensive,' added Mr. Dombey.

`And it's very expensive, Sir,'returned Mrs. Pipchin, catching at the fact, as if in omitting that, she had omitted one of its leading merits.

`I have had some communication with the Doctor, Mrs. Pipchin,' said Mr. Dombey, hitching his chair anxiously a little nearer to the fire, `and he does not consider Paul at all too young for his purpose. He mentioned several instances of boys in Greek at about the same age. If I have any little uneasiness in my own mind, Mrs. Pipchin, on the subject of this change, it is not on that head. My son not having known a mother has gradually concentrated much--too much--of his childish affection on his sister. Whether their separation--' Mr. Dombey said no more, but sat silent.

`Hoity-toity!' exclaimed Mrs. Pipchin, shaking out her black bombazeen skirts, and plucking up all the ogress within her. `If she don't like it, Mr. Dombey, she must be taught to lump it.' The good lady apologised immediately afterwards for using so common a figure of speech, but said (and truly) that that was the way she reasoned with 'em.

Mr. Dombey waited until Mrs. Pipchin had done bridling and shaking her head, and frowning down a legion of Bitherstones and Pankeys; and then said quietly, but correctively, `He, my good madam, he.'

Mrs. Pipchin's system would have applied very much the same mode of cure to any uneasiness on the part of Paul, too; but as the hard grey eye was sharp enough to see that the recipe, however Mr. Dombey might admit its efficacy in the case of the daughter, was not a sovereign remedy for the son, she argued the point; and contended that change, and new society, and the different form of life he would lead at Doctor Blimber's, and the studies he would have to master, would very soon prove sufficient alienations. As this chimed in with Mr. Dombey's own hope and belief, it gave that gentleman a still higher opinion of Mrs. Pipchin's understanding: and as Mrs. Pipchin, at the same time, bewailed the loss of her dear little friend (which was not an overwhelming shock to her, as she had long expected it, and had not looked, in the beginning, for his remaining with her longer than three months), he formed an equally good opinion of Mrs. Pipchin's disinterestedness. It was plain that he had given the subject anxious consideration, for he had formed a plan, which he announced to the ogress, of sending Paul to the Doctor's as a weekly boarder for the first half year, during which time Florence would remain at the castle, that she might receive her brother there, on Saturdays. This would wean him by degrees,