 over.« Mrs. Flintwinch tucked up the bed.
    »Well?«
    »Well?« repeated Mrs. Flintwinch, »I think so! I sits me down and says it.
Well! - Jeremiah then says to me, As to banns, next Sunday being the third time
of asking (for I've put 'em up a fortnight), is my reason for naming Monday.
She'll speak to you about it herself, and now she'll find you prepared, Affery.
That same day she spoke to me, and she said, So, Affery, I understand that you
and Jeremiah are going to be married. I am glad of it, and so are you, with
reason. It is a very good thing for you, and very welcome under the
circumstances to me. He is a sensible man, and a trustworthy man, and a
persevering man, and a pious man. What could I say when it had come to that?
Why, if it had been - a Smothering instead of a Wedding,« Mrs. Flintwinch cast
about in her mind with great pains for this form of expression, »I couldn't have
said a word upon it, against them two clever ones.«
    »In good faith, I believe so.«
    »And so you may, Arthur.«
    »Affery, what girl was that in my mother's room just now.«
    »Girl?« said Mrs. Flintwinch in a rather sharp key.
    »It was a girl, surely, whom I saw near you - almost hidden in the dark
corner?«
    »Oh! She? Little Dorrit? She's nothing; she's a whim of - hers.« It was a
peculiarity of Affery Flintwinch that she never spoke of Mrs. Clennam by name.
»But there's another sort of girls than that about. Have you forgot your old
sweetheart? Long and long ago, I'll be bound.«
    »I suffered enough from my mother's separating us, to remember her. I
recollect her very well.«
    »Have you got another?«
    »No.«
    »Here's news for you, then. She's well to do now, and a widow. And if you
like to have her, why you can.«
    »And how do you know that, Affery?«
    »Them two clever ones have been speaking about it. - There's Jeremiah on the
stairs!« She was gone in a moment.
    Mrs. Flintwinch had introduced
