pounds instead of
take it, I couldn't have more trouble about it. You are right, old fellow, I
told him, and in future you'll know that we have something to do here.« The
pleasant young Barnacle finished by once more laughing heartily. He was a very
easy, pleasant fellow indeed, and his manners were exceedingly winning.
    Mr. Tite Barnacle's view of the business was of a less airy character. He
took it ill that Mr. Dorrit had troubled the Department by wanting to pay the
money, and considered it a grossly informal thing to do after so many years.
But, Mr. Tite Barnacle was a buttoned-up man, and consequently a weighty one.
All buttoned-up men are weighty. All buttoned-up men are believed in. Whether or
no the reserved and never-exercised power of unbuttoning, fascinates mankind;
whether or no wisdom is supposed to condense and augment when buttoned up, and
to evaporate when unbuttoned; it is certain that the man to whom importance is
accorded is the buttoned-up man. Mr. Tite Barnacle never would have passed for
half his current value, unless his coat had been always buttoned up to his white
cravat.
    »May I ask,« said Lord Decimus, »if Mr. Darrit - or Dorrit - has any
family?«
    Nobody else replying, the host said, »He has two daughters, my lord.«
    »Oh! you are acquainted with him?« asked Lord Decimus.
    »Mrs. Merdle is. Mr. Sparkler is, too. In fact,« said Mr. Merdle, »I rather
believe that one of the young ladies has made an impression on Edmund Sparkler.
He is susceptible, and - I - think-the conquest -« Here Mr. Merdle stopped, and
looked at the table-cloth; as he usually did when he found himself observed or
listened to.
    Bar was uncommonly pleased to find that the Merdle family, and this family,
had already been brought into contact. He submitted, in a low voice across the
table to Bishop, that it was a kind of analogical illustration of those physical
laws, in virtue of which Like flies to Like. He regarded this power of
attraction in wealth to draw wealth to it, as something remarkably interesting
and curious - something indefinably allied to the loadstone and gravitation.
Bishop, who had ambled back to earth again when the present theme was broached,
acquiesced. He said it was indeed highly important to Society that one in the
trying situation of unexpectedly finding himself invested