 it - it really do,« said Mrs. Plornish, winding up in the Italian
manner, »as I say to him, Mooshattonisha padrona.«
    Though not conceited, Mrs. Plornish felt that she had turned this Tuscan
sentence with peculiar elegance. Mr. Plornish could not conceal his exultation
in her accomplishments as a linguist.
    »But what I say is, Mr. Clennam,« the good woman went on, »there's always
something to be thankful for, as I am sure you will yourself admit. Speaking in
this room, it's not hard to think what the present something is. It's a thing to
be thankful for, indeed, that Miss Dorrit is not here to know it.«
    Arthur thought she looked at him with particular expression.
    »It's a thing,« reiterated Mrs. Plornish, »to be thankful for, indeed, that
Miss Dorrit is far away. It's to be hoped she is not likely to hear of it. If
she had been here to see it, sir, it's not to be doubted that the sight of you,«
Mrs. Plornish repeated those words - »not to be doubted, that the sight of you -
in misfortune and trouble, would have been almost too much for her affectionate
heart. There's nothing I can think of, that would have touched Miss Dorrit so
bad as that.«
    Of a certainty Mrs. Plornish did look at him now, with a sort of quivering
defiance in her friendly emotion.
    »Yes!« said she. »And it shows what notice father takes, though at his time
of life, that he says to me this afternoon, which Happy Cottage knows I neither
make it up nor anyways enlarge, Mary, it's much to be rejoiced in that Miss
Dorrit is not on the spot to behold it. Those were father's words. Father's own
words was, Much to be rejoiced in, Mary, that Miss Dorrit is not on the spot to
behold it. I says to father then, I says to him, Father, you are right! That,«
Mrs. Plornish concluded, with the air of a very precise legal witness, »is what
passed betwixt father and me. And I tell you nothing but what did pass betwixt
me and father.«
    Mr. Plornish, as being of a more laconic temperament, embraced this
opportunity of interposing with the suggestion that she should now leave Mr.
Clennam to himself. »For, you see,« said Mr.
