"She'll be quite happy, now that she's come home again," said Polly,
nodding to her with a smile, "and will be so pleased to see her dear
papa to-night."
"Lork, Mrs. Richards!" cried Miss Nipper, taking up her words with a
jerk, "Don't! See her dear papa, indeed! I should like to see her do it!
Her pa's a deal too wrapped up in somebody else; and before there was
somebody else to be wrapped up in, she never was a favorite. Girls are
thrown away in this house, I assure you."
"You surprise me," cried Polly. "Hasn't Mr. Dombey seen her since--"
"No," interrupted Miss Nipper. "Not once since. And he hadn't hardly set
his eyes upon her before that, for months and months, and I don't think
he would know her for his own child if he was to meet her in the streets
to-morrow. Oh, there's a Tartar within a hundred miles of here, I can
tell you, Mrs. Richards!" said Susan Nipper; "Wish you good morning,
Mrs. Richards. Now Miss Floy, you come along with me, and don't go
hanging back like a naughty wicked child, that judgments is no example
to, don't."
In spite of being thus adjured, and in spite also of some hauling on the
part of Susan Nipper, little Florence broke away, and kissed her new
friend affectionately, but Susan Nipper made a charge at her, and swept
her out of the room.
When Polly Richards was left alone, her heart was sore for the
motherless little girl, and she determined to devise some means of
having Florence beside her lawfully and without rebellion.
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