‘ Little Dorrit,’ said Clennam; and the phrase had already begun, between these two, to stand for a hundred gentle phrases, according to the varying tone and connection in which it was used; ‘do nothing. I will have some talk with my old friend, Mrs Affery. Do nothing, Little Dorrit—except refresh yourself with such means as there are here. I entreat you to do that.’
‘ Thank you, I am not hungry. Nor,’ said Little Dorrit, as he softly put her glass towards her, ‘nor thirsty.—I think Maggy might like something, perhaps.’
‘ We will make her find pockets presently for all there is here,’ said Clennam: ‘but before we awake her, there was a third thing to say.’
‘ Yes. You will not be offended, sir?’
‘ I promise that, unreservedly.’
‘ It will sound strange. I hardly know how to say it
