 had a secret?« said Clennam, in some surprise. »What Princess
was that, Maggy?«
    »Lor? How you do go and bother a gal of ten,« said Maggy, »catching the poor
thing up in that way. Whoever said the Princess had a secret? I never said so.«
    »I beg your pardon. I thought you did.«
    »No, I didn't. How could I, when it was her as wanted to find it out? It was
the little woman as had the secret, and she was always a spinning at her wheel.
And so she says to her, why do you keep it there? And so, the t'other one says
to her, no I don't; and so the t'other one says to her, yes you do; and then
they both goes to the cupboard, and there it is. And she wouldn't go into the
Hospital, and so she died. You know, Little Mother; tell him that. For it was a
reg'lar good secret, that was!« cried Maggy, hugging herself.
    Arthur looked at Little Dorrit for help to comprehend this, and was struck
by seeing her so timid and red. But, when she told him that it was only a Fairy
Tale she had one day made up for Maggy, and that there was nothing in it which
she wouldn't be ashamed to tell again to anybody else, even if she could
remember it, he left the subject where it was.
    However, he returned to his own subject, by first entreating her to see him
oftener, and to remember that it was impossible to have a stronger interest in
her welfare than he had, or to be more set upon promoting it than he was. When
she answered fervently, she well knew that, she never forgot it, he touched upon
his second and more delicate point - the suspicion he had formed.
    »Little Dorrit,« he said, taking her hand again, and speaking lower than he
had spoken yet, so that even Maggy in the small room could not hear him,
»another word. I have wanted very much to say this to you; I have tried for
opportunities. Don't mind me, who, for the matter of years, might be your father
or your uncle. Always think of me as quite an old man. I know that all your
devotion centres in this room, and that nothing to the last will ever tempt you
away from the duties you discharge here
