Mr Flintwinch had been already rearranging and dusting his own
particular little office, as if to do honour to his accession to new
dignity. He resumed this occupation when he was replete with beef, had
sucked up all the gravy in the baking-dish with the flat of his knife,
and had drawn liberally on a barrel of small beer in the scullery. Thus
refreshed, he tucked up his shirt-sleeves and went to work again; and Mr
Arthur, watching him as he set about it, plainly saw that his father's
picture, or his father's grave, would be as communicative with him as
this old man.
'Now, Affery, woman,' said Mr Flintwinch, as she crossed the hall. 'You
hadn't made Mr Arthur's bed when I was up there last. Stir yourself.
Bustle.' But Mr Arthur found the house so blank and dreary, and was so unwilling
to assist at another implacable consignment of his mother's enemies
(perhaps himself among them) to mortal disfigurement and immortal ruin,
that he announced his intention of lodging at the coffee-house where he
had left his luggage. Mr Flintwinch taking kindly to the idea of getting
rid of him, and his mother being indifferent, beyond considerations of
saving, to most domestic arrangements that were not bounded by the walls
of her own chamber, he easily carried this point without new offence.
Daily business hours were agreed upon, which his mother, Mr Flintwinch,
and he, were to devote together to a necessary checking of books and
papers; and he left the home he had so lately found, with depressed
heart. But Little Dorrit?
The business hours, allowing for intervals of invalid regimen of oysters
and partridges, during which Clennam refreshed himself with a walk,
were from ten to six for about a fortnight. Sometimes Little Dorrit was
employed at her needle, sometimes not, sometimes appeared as a humble
visitor: which must have been her character on the occasion of his
arrival. His original curiosity augmented every day, as he watched for
her, saw or did not see her, and speculated about her. Influenced by his
predominant idea, he even fell into a habit of discussing with himself
the possibility of her being in some way associated with it. At last he
resolved to watch Little Dorrit and know more of her story.