Dombey and Son : Chapter 1. Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens @ Classic Reader Mr Dombey coughed. 'It's so extraordinary,' said Louisa; smiling through her tears, which indeed were not overpowering, 'as to be perfectly ridiculous. So completely our family. I never saw anything like it in my life!' 'But what is this about Fanny, herself?' said Mr Dombey. 'How is Fanny?' 'My dear Paul,' returned Louisa, 'it's nothing whatever. Take my word, it's nothing whatever. There is exhaustion, certainly, but nothing like what I underwent myself, either with George or Frederick. An effort is necessary. That's all. If dear Fanny were a Dombey! - But I daresay she'll make it; I have no doubt she'll make it. Knowing it to be required of her, as a duty, of course she'll make it.

My dear Paul, it's very weak and silly of me, I know, to be so trembly and shaky from head to foot; but I am so very queer that I must ask you for a glass of wine and a morsel of that cake.' Mr Dombey promptly supplied her with these refreshments from a tray on the table. 'I shall not drink my love to you, Paul,' said Louisa: 'I shall drink to the little Dombey. Good gracious me! - it's the most astonishing thing I ever knew in all my days, he's such a perfect Dombey.' Quenching this expression of opinion in a short hysterical laugh which terminated in tears, Louisa cast up her eyes, and emptied her glass. 'I know it's very weak and silly of me,' she repeated, 'to be so trembly and shaky from head to foot, and to allow my feelings so completely to get the better of me, but I cannot help it. I thought I should have fallen out of the staircase window as I came down from seeing dear Fanny, and that tiddy ickle sing.' These last words originated in a sudden vivid reminiscence of the baby.

They were succeeded by a gentle tap at the door. 'Mrs Chick,' said a very bland female voice outside, 'how are you now, my dear friend?' 'My dear Paul,' said Louisa in a low voice, as she rose from her seat, 'it's Miss Tox. The kindest creature! I never could have got here without her! Miss Tox, my brother Mr Dombey. Paul, my dear, my very particular friend Miss Tox.' The lady thus specially presented, was a long lean figure, wearing such a faded air that she seemed not to have been made in what linen-drapers call 'fast colours' originally, and to have, by little and little, washed out. But for this she might have been described as the very pink of general propitiation and politeness. From a long habit of listening admiringly to everything that was said in her presence, and looking at the speakers as if she were mentally engaged in taking off impressions of their images upon her soul, never to part with the same but with life, her head had quite settled on one side. Her hands had contracted a spasmodic habit of raising themselves of their own accord as in involuntary admiration.

Her eyes were liable to a similar affection. She had the softest voice that ever was heard; and her nose, stupendously aquiline, had a little knob in the very centre or key-stone of the bridge, whence it tended downwards towards her face, as in an invincible determination never to turn up at anything. Miss Tox's dress, though perfectly genteel and good, had a certain character of angularity and scantiness. She was accustomed to wear odd weedy little flowers in her bonnets and caps. Strange grasses were sometimes perceived in her hair; and it was observed by the curious, of all her collars, frills, tuckers, wristbands, and other gossamer articles - indeed of everything she wore which had two ends to it intended to unite - that the two ends were never on good terms, and wouldn't quite meet without a struggle. She had furry articles for winter wear, as tippets, boas, and muffs, which stood up on end in rampant manner, and were not at all sleek.

She was much given to the carrying about of small bags with snaps to them, that went off like little pistols when they were shut up; and when full-dressed, she wore round her neck the barrenest of lockets, representing a fishy old eye, with no approach to speculation in it. These and other appearances of a similar nature, had served to propagate the opinion, that Miss Tox was a lady of what is called a limited independence, which she turned to the best account. Possibly her mincing gait encouraged the belief, and suggested that her clipping a step of ordinary compass into two or three, originated in her habit of making the most of everything. 'I am sure,' said Miss Tox, with a prodigious curtsey, 'that to have the honour of being presented to Mr Dombey is a distinction which I have long sought, but very little expected at the present moment.

My dear Mrs Chick - may I say Louisa!' Mrs Chick took Miss Tox's hand in hers, rested the foot of her wine-glass upon it, repressed a tear, and said in a low voice, 'God bless you!' 'My dear Louisa then,' said Miss Tox, 'my sweet friend, how are you now?' 'Better,' Mrs Chick returned. 'Take some wine. You have been almost as anxious as I have been, and must want it, I am sure.' Mr Dombey of course officiated, and also refilled his sister's glass, which she (looking another way, and unconscious of his intention) held straight and steady the while, and then regarded with great astonishment, saying, 'My dear Paul, what have you been doing!' 'Miss Tox, Paul,' pursued Mrs Chick, still retaining her hand, 'knowing how much I have been interested in the anticipation of the event of to-day, and how trembly and shaky I have been from head to foot in expectation of it, has been working at a little gift for Fanny, which I promised to present. Miss Tox is ingenuity itself.' 'My dear Louisa,' said Miss Tox.

'Don't say so. 'It is only a pincushion for the toilette table, Paul,' resumed his sister; 'one of those trifles which are insignificant to your sex in general, as it's very natural they should be - we have no business to expect they should be otherwise - but to which we attach some interest. 'Miss Tox is very good,' said Mr Dombey. 'And I do say, and will say, and must say,' pursued his sister, pressing the foot of the wine-glass on Miss Tox's hand, at each of the three clauses, 'that Miss Tox has very prettily adapted the sentiment to the occasion. I call "Welcome little Dombey" Poetry, myself!' 'Is that the device?' inquired her brother. 'That is the device,' returned Louisa.

'But do me the justice to remember, my dear Louisa,' said Miss Toxin a tone of low and earnest entreaty, 'that nothing but the - I have some difficulty in expressing myself - the dubiousness of the result would have induced me to take so great a liberty: "Welcome, Master Dombey," would have been much more congenial to my feelings, as I am sure you know. But the uncertainty attendant on angelic strangers, will, I hope, excuse what must otherwise appear an unwarrantable familiarity.' Miss Tox made a graceful bend as she spoke, in favour of Mr Dombey, which that gentleman graciously acknowledged. Even the sort of recognition of Dombey and Son, conveyed in the foregoing conversation, was so palatable to him, that his sister, Mrs Chick - though he affected to consider her a weak good-natured person - had perhaps more influence over him than anybody else.

'My dear Paul,' that lady broke out afresh, after silently contemplating his features for a few moments, 'I don't know whether to laugh or cry when I look at you, I declare, you do so remind me of that dear baby upstairs.' 'Well!' said Mrs Chick, with a sweet smile, 'after this, I forgive Fanny everything!' It was a declaration in a Christian spirit, and Mrs Chick felt that it did her good. Not that she had anything particular to forgive in her sister-in-law, nor indeed anything at all, except her having married her brother - in itself a species of audacity - and her having, in the course of events, given birth to a girl instead of a boy: which, as Mrs Chick had frequently observed, was not quite what she had expected of her, and was not a pleasant return for all the attention and distinction she had met with. Mr Dombey being hastily summoned out of the room at this moment, the two ladies were left alone together. Miss Tox immediately became spasmodic. 'I knew you would admire my brother. I told you so beforehand, my dear,' said Louisa. Miss Tox's hands and eyes expressed how much.

'And as to his property, my dear!' 'Ah!' said Miss Tox, with deep feeling. 'Im-mense!' 'But his deportment, my dear Louisa!' said Miss Tox. 'His presence! His dignity! No portrait that I have ever seen of anyone has been half so replete with those qualities. Something so stately, you know: so uncompromising: so very wide across the chest: so upright! A pecuniary Duke of York, my love, and nothing short of it!' said Miss Tox. 'That's what I should designate him.' 'Why, my dear Paul!' exclaimed his sister, as he returned, 'you look quite pale! There's nothing the matter?' 'I am sorry to say, Louisa, that they tell me that Fanny - ' 'Now, my dear Paul,' returned his sister rising, 'don't believe it. Do not allow yourself to receive a turn unnecessarily. Remember of what importance you are to society, and do not allow yourself to be worried by what is so very inconsiderately told you by people who ought to know better.

Really I'm surprised at them.' 'I hope I know, Louisa,' said Mr Dombey, stiffly, 'how to bear myself before the world.' 'Nobody better, my dear Paul. Nobody half so well. They would be ignorant and base indeed who doubted it.' 'Ignorant and base indeed!' echoed Miss Tox softly. 'But,' pursued Louisa, 'if you have any reliance on my experience, Paul, you may rest assured that there is nothing wanting but an effort on Fanny's part. And that effort,' she continued, taking off her bonnet, and adjusting her cap and gloves, in a business-like manner, 'she must be encouraged, and really, if necessary, urged to make. Now, my dear Paul, come upstairs with me.' Mr Dombey, who, besides being generally influenced by his sister for the reason already mentioned, had really faith in her as an experienced and bustling matron, acquiesced; and followed her, at once, to the sick chamber. The lady lay upon her bed as he had left her, clasping her little daughter to her breast.

The child clung close about her, with the same intensity as before, and never raised her head, or moved her soft cheek from her mother's face, or looked on those who stood around, or spoke, or moved, or shed a tear. 'Restless without the little girl,' the Doctor whispered Mr Dombey. 'We found it best to have her in again.' 'Can nothing be done?' asked Mr Dombey. The Doctor shook his head. 'We can do no more.' The windows stood open, and the twilight was gathering without. The scent of the restoratives that had been tried was pungent in the room, but had no fragrance in the dull and languid air the lady breathed. There was such a solemn stillness round the bed; and the two medical attendants seemed to look on the impassive form with so much compassion and so little hope, that Mrs Chick was for the moment diverted from her purpose. But presently summoning courage, and what she called presence of mind, she sat down by the bedside, and said in the low precise tone of one who endeavours to awaken a sleeper: 'Fanny!

Fanny!' There was no sound in answer but the loud ticking of Mr Dombey's watch and Doctor Parker Peps's watch, which seemed in the silence to be running a race. 'Fanny, my dear,' said Mrs Chick, with assumed lightness, 'here's Mr Dombey come to see you. Won't you speak to him? They want to lay your little boy - the baby, Fanny, you know; you have hardly seen him yet, I think - in bed; but they can't till you rouse yourself a little. Don't you think it's time you roused yourself a little? Eh?' She bent her ear to the bed, and listened: at the same time looking round at the bystanders, and holding up her finger. 'Eh?' she repeated, 'what was it you said, Fanny? I didn't hear you.' No word or sound in answer. Mr Dombey's watch and Dr Parker Peps's watch seemed to be racing faster.

'Now, really, Fanny my dear,' said the sister-in-law, altering her position, and speaking less confidently, and more earnestly, in spite of herself, 'I shall have to be quite cross with you, if you don't rouse yourself. It's necessary for you to make an effort, and perhaps a very great and painful effort which you are not disposed to make; but this is a world of effort you know, Fanny, and we must never yield, when so much depends upon us. Come! Try! I must really scold you if you don't!' The race in the ensuing pause was fierce and furious. The watches seemed to jostle, and to trip each other up. 'Fanny!' said Louisa, glancing round, with a gathering alarm. 'Only look at me. Only open your eyes to show me that you hear and understand me; will you? Good Heaven, gentlemen, what is to be done!' The two medical attendants exchanged a look across the bed; and the Physician, stooping down, whispered in the child's ear.

Not having understood the purport of his whisper, the little creature turned her perfectly colourless face and deep dark eyes towards him; but without loosening her hold in the least The whisper was repeated. 'Mama!' said the child. The little voice, familiar and dearly loved, awakened some show of consciousness, even at that ebb. For a moment, the closed eye lids trembled, and the nostril quivered, and the faintest shadow of a smile was seen. 'Mama!' cried the child sobbing aloud. 'Oh dear Mama! oh dear Mama!' The Doctor gently brushed the scattered ringlets of the child, aside from the face and mouth of the mother. Alas how calm they lay there; how little breath there was to stir them! Thus, clinging fast to that slight spar within her arms, the mother drifted out upon the dark and unknown sea that rolls round all the world. Navigate: David Perdue's Charles Dickens Page - Characters C-D Carker, James ( Dombey and Son ) Opportunistic manager at Dombey and Son. Brother of John and Harriet Carker , he elopes with Dombey's wife and is later killed when struck by a train.

A gentleman thirty-eight or forty years old, of a florid complexion, and with two unbroken rows of glistening teeth, whose regularity and whiteness were quite distressing. It was impossible to escape the observation of them, for he showed them whenever he spoke; and bore so wide a smile upon his countenance (a smile, however, very rarely, indeed, extending beyond his mouth), that there was something in it like the snarl of a cat. (top) Carker, John ( Dombey and Son ) Older brother of James although called "the Junior" because of his low position at the firm of Dombey and Son. He is looked upon with scorn by his younger brother because he embezzled money from the firm when a young man. Harriet Carker is his sister. (top) Caroline ( A Christmas Carol ) Wife of the debtor who cannot help being glad that Ebenezer Scrooge is dead and that their debt will be transferred elsewhere at which time they will be ready with the money. She was a mild and patient creature if her face spoke truth; but she was thankful in her soul to hear it, and she said so, with clasped hands.

She prayed forgiveness the next moment, and was sorry; but the first was the emotion of her heart. (top) Carstone, Richard ( Bleak House ) Ward of Mr. Jarndyce and a party to the case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce. He marries Ada Clare and later dies when his health declines as the estate he hopes to acquire is consumed in court costs. He was a handsome youth with an ingenuous face and a most engaging laugh...He was very young, not more than nineteen. (top) Carton, Sydney ( A Tale of Two Cities ) Barrister in the employ of Mr Stryver . ...idlest and most unpromising of men. Carton is able to get a charge of treason reversed for Charles Darnay due to a strong physical resemblance. He becomes infatuated with Lucie Manette who marries Charles Darnay . Carton later takes Darnay's place at the guillotine. It is a far, far better thing I do than I have ever done, it is a far, far better rest I go to than I have ever known.

(top) Casby, Christopher ( Little Dorrit ) Father of Flora Finching and landlord who gouges the residents of Bleeding Heart Yard through his collector, Pancks . Pancks later exposes Casby by cutting his long gray hair in front of the residents of Bleeding Heart Yard. (top) Cavalletto, John Baptist ( Little Dorrit ) Small time Italian smuggler and fellow prisoner with Rigaud as the novel opens. Later employed by Arthur Clennam in Bleeding Heart Yard after being injured in a mail coach accident. Aids in the search for Rigaud. (top) Rev Chadband ( Bleak House ) Typical Dickensian hypocritical reverend, admonishing Jo in the spirit while he starves. Marries the former Mrs Rachael . Much given to describe himself, both verbally and in writing, as a vessel, he is occasionally mistaken by strangers for a gentleman connected with navigation, but he is, as he expresses it, "in the ministry." Mr. Chadband is attached to no particular denomination and is considered by his persecutors to have nothing so very remarkable to say on the greatest of subjects as to render his volunteering, on his own account, at all incumbent on his conscience; but he has his followers.

(top) Charley ( David Copperfield ) Proprietor of a second-hand clothes shop in Chatham where David Copperfield sells his coat. He was a dreadful old man to look at, in a filthy flannel waistcoat, and smelling terribly of rum. (top) Cheeryble Brothers ( Nicholas Nickleby ) Charles and Edwin (Ned). Benevolent businessmen who employ and befriend Nicholas Nickleby and his family. Frank Cheeryble , who marries Kate Nickleby , is their nephew. (top) Chester, Edward ( Barnaby Rudge ) Son of John , eventually overcomes the opposition of his father and her uncle and marries Emma Haredale . The couple relocate to the West Indies. (top) Chester, John ( Barnaby Rudge ) Father of Edward , tries to prevent Edward's marriage to Emma Haredale . Becomes a member of Parliament. Killed in a duel by Emma's uncle Geoffrey. (top) Chestle, Mr ( David Copperfield ) A hop grower whom the eldest Miss Larkins marries. A plain elderly gentleman. (top) Chick, John ( Dombey and Son ) Husband of Louisa .

A stout bald gentleman, with a very large face, and his hands continually in his pockets, and who had a tendency in his nature to whistle and hum tunes. (top) Chick, Louisa ( Dombey and Son ) Sister of Paul Dombey Sr . and friend to Mrs. Tox . Quote: Make an effort. (top) Chickenstalker, Anne ( The Chimes ) A stout lady who keeps a shop in the general line to whom Trotty owes some small debts. In Trotty's dream she marries Tugby and is Meg's landlady. (top) Chickweed, Conkey ( Oliver Twist ) Keeper of a public house "over Battlebridge way" who faked a burglary of his establishment and was arrested by Jem Spyers in a story told by Blathers . (top) Childers, E.W.B. ( Hard Times ) A member of Sleary's circus troupe. His face, close-shaven, thin, and sallow, was shaded by a great quantity of dark hair, brushed into a roll all round his head, and parted up the centre. His legs were very robust, but shorter than legs of good proportions should have been.

His chest and back were as much too broad, as his legs were too short. He was dressed in a Newmarket coat and tight-fitting trousers; wore a shawl round his neck; smelt of lamp-oil, straw, orange-peel, horses' provender, and sawdust; and looked a most remarkable sort of Centaur, compounded of the stable and the play-house. (top) Mr. Chillip ( David Copperfield ) Doctor who delivers David Copperfield . He was the meekest of his sex, the mildest of little men. He sidled in and out of a room, to take up the less space. He walked as softly as the Ghost in Hamlet, and more slowly. He carried his head on one side, partly in modest depreciation of himself, partly in modest propitiation of everybody else. He later establishes a practice "within a few miles of Bury St. Edmund's" and is a neighbor of Edward and Jane Murdstone . He is married and has a daughter. (top) Chitling, Tom ( Oliver Twist ) One of Fagin's minions recently released from prison.

He had small twinkling eyes, and a pock-marked face; wore a fur cap, a dark corduroy jacket, greasy fustian trousers, and an apron. His wardrobe was, in truth, rather out of repair; but he excused himself to the company by stating that his 'time' was only out an hour before; and that, in consequence of having worn the regimentals for six weeks past, he had not been able to bestow any attention on his private clothes. (top) Chivery, John, Young John, Mrs Chivery ( Little Dorrit ) Turnkeys (jailors) at the Marshalsea . Young John loves Amy Dorrit and assists in finding her father's fortune. Mrs Chivery runs a tobacco shop around the corner from the Marshalsea on Horsemonger Lane. (top) Choke, General Cyrus ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) Member of the Eden Land Corporation who introduces Martin to Scadder . Like many others Martin Meets in America the General is considered "one of the most remarkable men in the country." (top) Chollop, Hannibal ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) Another of "the most remarkable men in the country" Martin meets in Eden.

Chollop enforces the propagation of liberty with a brace of revolving-pistols. (top) Chuckster, Mr ( The Old Curiosity Shop ) Clerk to Mr Witherden , friend of Dick Swiveler , and enemy of Kit . (top) Chuffey ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) Devoted old clerk of Anthony Chuzzlewit . "He looked as if he had been put away and forgotten half a century before, and somebody had just found him in a lumber-closet." (top) Chuzzlewit, Anthony ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) Brother of old Martin Chuzzlewit and father of Jonas Chuzzlewit . Greedy and tight-fisted business man who breeds these same qualities into his son, Jonas, who tries to poison him for his trouble. (top) Chuzzlewit, Jonas ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) Son of Anthony Chuzzlewit , he attempts to kill his father to gain his inheritance. Marries Mercy Pecksniff and, through his cruelty, breaks her spirit. He murders Tigg, the murder is discovered, and on the way to prison poisons himself. (top) Chuzzlewit, Martin ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) Grandson of Martin Sr.

He has a falling out with his grandfather over his love for Mary Graham . Becomes a pupil of Pecksniff who, because of pressure from the grandfather, throws young Martin out. After a trip to America with Mark Tapley , he comes back to England and, after the undoing of Pecksniff , reconciles with his grandfather and marries Mary Graham . (top) Chuzzlewit, Old Martin ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) Grandfather of Martin , cousin of Pecksniff , brother of Anthony, uncle of Jonas . Martin is suspicious of his hypocritical relatives, chiefly Pecksniff , whose hypocrisy Martin exposes and is reconciled with his grandson, young Martin . (top) Clare, Ada ( Bleak House ) Ward of John Jarndyce , friend of Esther Summerson , cousin of Richard Carstone , who she marries and is soon widowed as Richard's health fails in the wake of the unhappy conclusion of the Chancery suit. ...such a beautiful girl! With such rich golden hair, such soft blue eyes, and such a bright, innocent, trusting face! (top) Clarriker ( Great Expectations ) Shipping merchant from whom Pip secretly buys a partnership for Herbert .

After Pip loses his fortune he is also employed in the firm. (top) Claypole, Noah (Morris Bolter) ( Oliver Twist ) Assistant at Sowerberry's with whom Oliver fights. Noah runs away to London with Charlotte and joins Fagin's band, taking the name of Morris Bolter. Fagin uses him to spy on Nancy . After Fagin's capture he testifies against him and becomes an informer for the police. A large-headed, small-eyed youth, of lumbering make and heavy countenance,...a red nose and yellow smalls. (top) Clennam, Arthur ( Little Dorrit ) Returns to England from abroad where he has spent years with his father in the family business. On his father's death he falls out with his mother and gives up his share of the family business. He befriends Amy Dorrit at the Marshalsea and becomes business partner to Daniel Doyce . After losing everything in a banking scam by Merdle he is himself imprisoned in the Marshalsea . His health fails and Amy cares for him in the prison. The novel ends with Arthur and Amy's marriage. (top) Clennam, Mrs.

( Little Dorrit ) Invalid mother of Arthur with whom she has a falling out over the family business. She avoids a blackmail scheme by Rigaud/Blandois when her tumble-down house tumbles down on him. (top) Clickett (The Orfling) ( David Copperfield ) Maid to the Micawbers and an orphan from St. Luke's Workhouse. A dark-complexioned young woman, with a habit of snorting. (top) Cly, Roger ( A Tale of Two Cities ) Former servant of Charles Darnay who testifies against his former master at Darnay's trial for treason. He fakes his death and is buried in a mock funeral in London. Cly surfaces later as a spy and informer in Paris and ends up on the guillotine. (top) Codlin and Short ( The Old Curiosity Shop ) Proprietors of a traveling Punch and Judy show that Nell and her grandfather meet on their travels through the English countryside. (top) Coiler, Mrs ( Great Expectations ) Toady neighbor of the Pockets . A widow lady of that highly sympathetic nature that she agreed with everybody, blessed everybody, and shed smiles and tears on everybody, according to circumstances.

(top) Colonel ( Great Expectations ) Former soldier and prisoner in Newgate Prison for counterfeiting. A Coiner, a very good workman. The Recorder's report is made to-day, and he is sure to be executed on Monday. (top) Compeyson ( Great Expectations ) Con man who deceives Miss Havisham , with the help of Miss Havisham's brother Arthur , to get her money with a promise of marriage, and then leaves her at the altar. He is an accomplice of Magwitch in the original prison break. He later exposes Magwitch and accidentally drowns when Magwitch is recaptured. (top) Copperfield, Clara ( David Copperfield ) Mother of David Copperfield . Orphan and later a nursery-governess when she marries David Copperfield Sr. A widow when David Jr is born, she is later lured into marriage by Edward Murdstone , who destroys her spirit and she dies along with her newborn son while David is away at school. Pretty hair and youthful shape...Meek, mild, and no match for her new husband, Mr Murdstone, and his sister. (top) Copperfield, David ( David Copperfield ) Narrator of the story modeled after Dickens life.

Begins life with his widowed mother and their maid, Peggotty . When his mother marries Mr. Murdstone his life becomes miserable. He is sent to Creakle's school where he meets Steerforth and Traddles . After the death of his mother he goes to work at Murdstone and Grinby and is lodged with the Micawbers . David runs away to live with his aunt Betsey Trotwood in Dover. He later marries his employer Spenlow's daughter, Dora . Dora dies and David marries longtime friend, Agnes Wickfield . David, like Dickens, becomes a successful author. (top) Copperfield, David Sr ( David Copperfield ) Father of David Copperfield, dead six months before his son's birth. Buried in the churchyard in view of David's bedroom window. I was a posthumous child. My father's eyes had closed upon the light of this world six months, when mine opened on it. (top) Cluppins, Elizabeth ( Pickwick Papers ) Friend of Martha Bardell and sister of Mary Ann Raddle . 'A little, brisk, busy-looking woman', she gives evidence against Pickwick in the Bardell vs Pickwick trial.

(top) Coavins ( Bleak House ) Runs a sponging house and employs Neckett as a "follerer" and where Harold Skimpole is a frequent inmate. (top) Corney, Mrs ( Oliver Twist ) Matron of the workhouse where Oliver is born. She marries Bumble making him miserable. The Bumbles are disgraced when they contrive with Monks to hide Oliver's past. They end up as paupers in the workhouse they once ruled over. (top) Corney, Mr ( Oliver Twist ) Mrs Corney's deceased husband, dead not five and twenty years, whom she laments she will never get another like him. After Mrs Corney marries Mr Bumble he wishes the former Mr Corney were still alive. (top) Crackit, Toby ( Oliver Twist ) Bill Sikes' companion in the attempted robbery of the Maylie house. His lair on Jacob's Island is where Sikes eventually seeks refuge after Nancy's murder. He was dressed in a smartly-cut snuff-coloured coat, with large brass buttons; an orange neckerchief; a coarse, staring, shawl-pattern waistcoat; and drab breeches.

[He] had no very great quantity of hair, either upon his head or face; but what he had, was of a reddish dye, and tortured into long corkscrew curls, through which he occasionally thrust some very dirty fingers, ornamented with large common rings. He was a trifle above the middle size, and apparently rather weak in the legs; but this circumstance by no means detracted from his own admiration of his top-boots, which he contemplated, in their elevated situation, with lively satisfaction. (top) Cratchit, Bob ( A Christmas Carol ) Longsuffering clerk of Ebenezer Scrooge . Bob endures Scrooge's mistreatment until Scrooge, reformed by the visit of the three spirits, raises Bob's salary and vows to help his struggling family. The Cratchit family consists of Bob's wife , eldest daughter Martha , daughter Belinda , son Peter , two younger children: boy and girl, and Tiny Tim . They were not a handsome family; they were not well dressed; their shoes were far from being water-proof; their clothes were scanty. (top) Cratchit, Mrs ( A Christmas Carol ) Wife of Bob Cratchit .

She is not quite as mild as her husband, wishing to give Scrooge of her mind to feast upon, and hope he had a good appetite for it. Dressed out but poorly in a twice-turned gown, but brave in ribbons, which are cheap and make a goodly show for sixpence. (top) Cratchit, Belinda ( A Christmas Carol ) Middle daughter of Bob Cratchit . Also brave in ribbons. (top) Cratchit, Martha ( A Christmas Carol ) Oldest daughter of Bob Cratchit . Martha lives away from home and is a poor apprentice at a milliner's shop. (top) Cratchit, Peter ( A Christmas Carol ) Oldest son of Bob Cratchit . Bob Cratchit ... had a situation in his eye for Master Peter, which would bring in, if obtained, full five-and-sixpence weekly. The two young Cratchits laughed tremendously at the idea of Peter's being a man of business; and Peter himself looked thoughtfully at the fire from between his collars, as if he were deliberating what particular investments he should favour when he came into the receipt of that bewildering income.

(top) Cratchit, Tiny Tim ( A Christmas Carol ) Crippled son of Bob Cratchit . The forecast of Tim's death by the Ghosts of Christmas Present and Future is instrumental in Scrooge's reformation after which Tim is afforded proper medical attention and is cured. Dickens based Tiny Tim (and also Paul Dombey Jr ) on his sister Fanny's crippled son Henry Burnett Jr. Alas for Tiny Tim, he bore a little crutch, and had his limbs supported by an iron frame. (top) Creakle, Mr ( David Copperfield ) Severe headmaster of Salem House Academy where David Copperfield first goes to school. He shows up later in the story as a Middlesex Magistrate who gives David and Tommy Traddles a tour of the Pentonville prison. He was based on William Jones, headmaster of Wellington Academy which Dickens attended from 1825-1827. Mr. Creakle's face was fiery, and his eyes were small, and deep in his head; he had thick veins in his forehead, a little nose, and a large chin.

He was bald on the top of his head; and had some thin wet-looking hair that was just turning grey, brushed across each temple, so that the two sides interlaced on his forehead. (top) Creakle, Mrs ( David Copperfield ) Wife of Mr Creakle and more kindhearted than her husband. Thin and quiet. (top) Crewler, Caroline ( David Copperfield ) Daughter of Reverend Horace Crewler and Mrs Crewler and sister to Sophy . Very handsome. (top) Crewler, Reverend Horace ( David Copperfield ) Father of ten children in Devonshire of which the fourth is Sophy . He takes Tommy Traddles' side when his wife comes out strongly against Sophy's marriage. He is an excellent man, most exemplary in every way; and he pointed out to [Mrs Crewler] that she ought, as a Christian, to reconcile herself to the sacrifice (especially as it was so uncertain), and to bear no uncharitable feeling towards me. (top) Crewler, Margaret ( David Copperfield ) Daughter of Reverend Horace Crewler and Mrs Crewler and sister to Sophy .

(top) Crewler, Mrs ( David Copperfield ) Wife of Reverend Horace Crewler and mother of Sophy , whose marriage to Tommy Traddles she is very much against. She is a very superior woman indeed, but the damp country is not adapted to her constitution, and - in fact, she has lost the use of her limbs. (top) Crewler, Sarah ( David Copperfield ) Second daughter of Reverend Horace Crewler and Mrs Crewler and sister to Sophy . Sarah has something the matter with her spine, poor girl. The malady will wear out by and by, the doctors say, but in the meantime she has to lie down for a twelvemonth. Sophy nurses her. (top) Crewler, Sophy ( David Copperfield ) Fourth daughter of Reverend Horace Crewler and Mrs Crewler and fiance of Tommy Traddles . Traddles has trouble gaining permission to marry Sophy because she is indispensible to her large family. Sophy arrives at the house of Dora's aunts, in due course.

She has the most agreeable of faces, ï¿½ not absolutely beautiful, but extraordinarily pleasant, ï¿½ and is one of the most genial, unaffected, frank, engaging creatures I have ever seen. Traddles presents her to us with great pride; and rubs his hands for ten minutes by the clock, with every individual hair upon his head standing on tiptoe, when I congratulate him in a corner on his choice. (top) Crimple, David (Crimp) ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) Pawnbroker (Crimp) and later partner with Tigg Montigue in the Anglo-Bengalee Disinterested Loan and Life Assurance Company. After Montigue is murdered he flees the country with the company's money. (top) Cripples, Mr ( Little Dorrit ) Operates Cripples Evening Academy in the same lodging house where Frederick Dorrit lives. Amy Dorrit attended classes there. (top) Crisparkle, Canon ( The Mystery of Edwin Drood ) Minor canon of Cloisterham Cathedral. He takes Neville Landless as a pupil and helps Neville flee to London when suspicion is cast on him for the disappearance of Edwin Drood . Mr.

Crisparkle, Minor Canon, early riser, musical, classical, cheerful, kind, good-natured, social, contented, and boy-like. (top) Crummles, Vincent ( Nicholas Nickleby ) Manager of a touring stage company who employs and befriends Nicholas Nickleby and Smike . Described as having a very full under-lip, a hoarse voice, as though he were in the habit of shouting very much, and very short black hair, shaved off nearly to the crown of his head--to admit (as he afterwards learnt) of his more easily wearing character wigs of any shape or pattern. (top) Crummles, Mrs ( Nicholas Nickleby ) Wife of Vincent Crummles and actress in his traveling stage troupe. A stout, portly female, apparently between forty and fifty, in a tarnished silk cloak, with her bonnet dangling by the strings in her hand, and her hair (of which she had a great quantity) braided in a large festoon over each temple. (top) Crummles, Ninetta ( Nicholas Nickleby ) Daughter of Vincent Crummles and actress in his traveling stage troupe.

Billed as the Infant Phenomenon, her acting capability is greatly over-rated by her father. She is listed as 10 years old but is apparently much older. though of short stature, had a comparatively aged countenance, and had moreover been precisely the same age -- not perhaps to the full extent of the memory of the oldest inhabitant, but certainly for five good years. But she had been kept up late every night, and put upon an unlimited allowance of gin-and-water from infancy, to prevent her growing tall, and perhaps this system of training had produced in the infant phenomenon these additional phenomena. (top) Cruncher, Jerry ( A Tale of Two Cities ) Odd-job-man for Tellson's Bank who moonlights as a body-snatcher. ...evincing a tendency to keep his own counsel, and to keep his hat cocked over his eyes. He had eyes that assorted very well with that decoration, being of a surface black, with no depth in the colour or form, and much too near togetherï¿½as if they were afraid of being found out in something, singly, if they kept too far apart.

They had a sinister expression, under an old cocked-hat like a three-cornered spittoon, and over a great muffler for the chin and throat, which descended nearly to the wearer's knees. When he stopped for drink, he moved this muffler with his left hand, only while he poured his liquor in with his right; as soon as that was done, he muffled again. (top) Cruncher, Mrs ( A Tale of Two Cities ) Long suffering wife of Jerry Cruncher . She disapproves of his nighttime occupation and is constantly praying (flopping) that he change his ways. Jerry refers to her as aggerawayter (aggravater). A woman of orderly and industrious appearance (top) Cruncher, Young Jerry ( A Tale of Two Cities ) Son of Jerry Cruncher . Young Jerry accompanies his father during the day's work as messenger for Tellson's Bank. He follows his father on one of his mysterious nighttime "fishing trips" and is frightened by what he sees. His head was garnished with tenderer spikes, and whose young eyes stood close by one another, as his father's did.

(top) Crupp, Mrs ( David Copperfield ) David Copperfield's brandy-loving landlady at his residence in Buckingham Street. A stout lady with a flounce of flannel petticoat below a nankeen gown...Mrs. Crupp was a martyr to a curious disorder called 'the spazzums', which was generally accompanied with inflammation of the nose, and required to be constantly treated with peppermint...Mrs. Crupp always called me Mr. Copperfull: firstly, no doubt, because it was not my name; and secondly, I am inclined to think, in some indistinct association with a washing-day. (top) Cute, Alderman ( The Chimes ) City magistrate who is blind to the plight of the poor. Vows to "put down"^ any nonsense claimed by the poor, such as starvation, illness, and suicide. (top) Darnay, Charles ( A Tale of Two Cities ) Son of Marquis de St. Evrémonde . He moves to England and takes the anglicized version of his mother's name (D'Aulnais) in order to distance himself from his family with whom he is estranged.

He is tried for treason in London and is acquitted due to his resemblance to Sydney Carton . He marries Lucie Manette , daughter of Dr. Manette . He returns to Paris to help a friend imprisoned there and is arrested by the revolutionaries. His life is saved when look-alike Carton takes his place on the guillotine. A young man of about five-and-twenty, well-grown and well-looking, with a sunburnt cheek and a dark eye. His condition was that of a young gentleman. He was plainly dressed in black, or very dark grey, and his hair, which was long and dark, was gathered in a ribbon at the back of his neck; more to be out of his way than for ornament. (top) Dartle, Rosa ( David Copperfield ) Companion to Mrs Steerforth , jealously in love with James Steerforth , who has marked her face when a child by throwing a hammer in a fit of temper. Rosa hates Emily for running away with Steerforth. A slight short figure, dark, and not agreeable to look at, but with some appearance of good looks too...

I concluded in my own mind that she was about thirty years of age, and that she wished to be married. She was a little dilapidated, like a house, with having been so long to let; yet had, as I have said, an appearance of good looks. Her thinness seemed to be the effect of some wasting fire within her, which found a vent in her gaunt eyes. (top) Datchery, Dick ( The Mystery of Edwin Drood ) Mysterious visitor to Cloisterham whose white head was unusually large, and his shock of white hair was unusually thick and ample. Datchery keeps an eye on John Jasper after the disappearance of Edwin Drood . The true identity of Datchery is one of the most contested points of the uncompleted mystery. It is widely believed that Datchery is one of the characters in the book in disguise, most likely candidates include Neville , Bazzard , Tartar , Helena , or even Edwin Drood himself. (top) Dedlock, Lady Honoria ( Bleak House ) Wife of Sir Leicester Dedlock and, unknown to her husband, mother of Esther Summerson .

When Tulkinghorn , the family lawyer, learns the secret she runs away and is found dead by Esther at the gates of the cemetery in which Esther's father, Captain Hawdon , lies buried. She has beauty still, and if it be not in its heyday, it is not yet in its autumn. She has a fine face--originally of a character that would be rather called very pretty than handsome, but improved into classicality by the acquired expression of her fashionable state. Her figure is elegant and has the effect of being tall. Not that she is so, but that "the most is made," as the Honourable Bob Stables has frequently asserted upon oath, "of all her points." The same authority observes that she is perfectly got up and remarks in commendation of her hair especially that she is the best-groomed woman in the whole stud. (top) Dedlock, Sir Leicester ( Bleak House ) Devoted husband of Lady Dedlock , owner of Chesney Wold, and guardian of the status quo. Sir Leicester is twenty years, full measure, older than my Lady. He will never see sixty-five again, nor perhaps sixty-six, nor yet sixty-seven.

He has a twist of the gout now and then and walks a little stiffly. He is of a worthy presence, with his light-grey hair and whiskers, his fine shirt-frill, his pure-white waistcoat, and his blue coat with bright buttons always buttoned. (top) Dedlock, Volumnia ( Bleak House ) Poor relation of Sir Leicester Dedlock and a hanger-on at Chesney Wold. A young lady (of sixty)...rouged and necklaced. (top) Defarge, Ernest ( A Tale of Two Cities ) Husband of Thérése Defarge and keeper of a wine shop in Paris. He is a leader among the revolutionaries. This wine-shop keeper was a bull-necked, martial-looking man of thirty, and he should have been of a hot temperament, for, although it was a bitter day, he wore no coat, but carried one slung over his shoulder. His shirt-sleeves were rolled up, too, and his brown arms were bare to the elbows. Neither did he wear anything more on his head than his own crisply-curling short dark hair. He was a dark man altogether, with good eyes and a good bold breadth between them.

Good-humoured looking on the whole, but implacable-looking, too; evidently a man of a strong resolution and a set purpose; a man not desirable to be met, rushing down a narrow pass with a gulf on either side, for nothing would turn the man. (top) Defarge, Madame Thérése ( A Tale of Two Cities ) Wife of wine shop keeper, Ernest Defarge , and a leader among the revolutionaries. She harbors an intense hatred of Charles Darnay for atrocities committed against her family by the Evremonde family. Madame Defarge is killed in a struggle with Miss Pross in Paris. Madame Defarge was a stout woman of about his [Ernest Defarge's] own age, with a watchful eye that seldom seemed to look at anything, a large hand heavily ringed, a steady face, strong features, and great composure of manner. There was a character about Madame Defarge, from which one might have predicated that she did not often make mistakes against herself in any of the reckonings over which she presided.

Madame Defarge being sensitive to cold, was wrapped in fur, and had a quantity of bright shawl twined about her head, though not to the concealment of her large earrings. (top) Demple, George ( David Copperfield ) Pupil at Salem House Academy with David Copperfield . George's father is a doctor. (top) Dennis, Ned ( Barnaby Rudge ) Executioner at Tyburn, becomes involved in the Gordon Riots and is executed. (top) Deputy (Winks) ( The Mystery of Edwin Drood ) Boy hired by Durdles to throw stones at him when he is wandering drunk at night. Deputy resides at the Traveler's Twopenny. Sometimes the stones hit him, and sometimes they miss him, but Durdles seems indifferent to either fortune. The hideous small boy, on the contrary, whenever he hits Durdles, blows a whistle of triumph through a jagged gap, convenient for the purpose, in the front of his mouth, where half his teeth are wanting; and whenever he misses him, yelps out 'Mulled agin!' and tries to atone for the failure by taking a more correct and vicious aim.

(top) Dick, Mr ( David Copperfield ) An eccentric connection and confidant of Betsey Trotwood , whom she has rescued from a lunatic asylum. He becomes a close friend of David Copperfield . Real name: Richard Babley. Grey-headed, and florid: I should have said all about him, in saying so, had not his head been curiously bowed - not by age...and his grey eyes prominent and large, with a strange kind of watery brightness in them that made me, in combination with his vacant manner, his submission to my aunt, and his childish delight when she praised him, suspect him of being a little mad; though, if he were mad, how he came to be there puzzled me extremely. He was dressed like any other ordinary gentleman, in a loose grey morning coat and waistcoat, and white trousers; and had his watch in his fob, and his money in his pockets: which he rattled as if he were very proud of it. (top) Dick ( Oliver Twist ) Oliver's dying little friend in the workhouse.

(top) Dilber, Mrs ( A Christmas Carol ) Scrooge's laundress who sells sheets and towels, a little wearing apparel, two old-fashioned silver teaspoons, a pair of sugar-tongs, and a few boots to Old Joe when Scrooge is shown shadows of the future by the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come . (top) Diver, Colonel ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) Editor of the New York Rowdy Journal. Diver meets Mark and Martin onboard the Screw and directs them to Pawkins boarding house. (top) Dodson and Fogg ( Pickwick Papers ) Sharp dealing lawyers who dupe Mrs. Bardell into bringing a breach of promise to marry suit against Samuel Pickwick . (top) Dolloby, Mr ( David Copperfield ) Proprietor of a second-hand clothes shop where David Copperfield sells his waistcoat for ninepence on the Kent Road on his way to Dover. (top) Dolls, Mr ( Our Mutual Friend ) Drunken father of Jenny Wren whom she refers to as her 'bad child'. (top) Dombey, Paul ( Dombey and Son ) Powerful head of the House of Dombey.

He wants a son, and when a daughter ( Florence ) is born he despises her. His second child, a son ( Paul ), is weak and sickly and dies a child. Paul's first wife dies with the birth of Paul Jr and he remarries. His second wife, Edith Granger , does not love him and eventually runs away with Carker , a manager at the firm. With Carker gone, Paul is incapable of managing the business and it fails. Paul ends his days reconciled with his daughter and doting on his grandchildren, little Paul, but especially little Florence. (top) Dombey, Paul Jr. ( Dombey and Son ) The long hoped-for heir to the house of Dombey and Son. His mother dies at his birth leaving him a frail and sickly child. His father sends him to Brighton in the care of Mrs. Pipchin hoping the sea air will bolster his failing health. He then attends Dr. Blimber's school and his health continues to decline. Paul returns home to London and dies in the care of his sister, Florence , leaving the firm of Dombey and Son without an heir.

Dickens modeled Paul (and also Tiny Tim ) on his sister Fanny's crippled son Henry Burnett Jr. (top) Donny, The Misses ( Bleak House ) Twin sisters and owners of Greenleaf, a boarding school near Reading, where Esther Summerson spends "six happy, quiet years." (top) Dorrit, Amy ( Little Dorrit ) Daughter of William Dorrit , born in the Marshalsea debtor's prison. She works for Mrs Clennam and befriends Arthur . Her father inherits a fortune and they leave the prison and travel abroad. After her father's death she discovers that the fortune has been lost in a banking scam. She nurses Arthur in the Marshalsea when his fortune is lost in the same banking scam. The novel ends with the marriage of Arthur and Amy at St. Georges Church, next to the prison, the same church where she was christened. (top) Dorrit, Fanny ( Little Dorrit ) Sister of Amy . A dancer with social aspirations, Fanny marries Edmund Sparkler , Step-son of Mr. Merdle . Fanny and Sparkler lose everything in the Merdle banking scam.

(top) Dorrit, Frederick ( Little Dorrit ) Father of Amy Brother of William , Uncle of Fanny , Edward , and Amy . He plays clarionet in a small-time theatre. He is due an inheritance but the knowledge is kept from him by the intrigues of Mrs. Clennam . (top) Dorrit, William ( Little Dorrit ) Father of Amy (title character), Fanny , and Edward , and long-time inmate of the Marshalsea debtor's prison. He inherits an estate and leaves the prison, traveling in style with his daughters. After his death Amy learns that his fortune has been lost in the Merdle banking scam. (top) Dowler ( Pickwick Papers ) Grumpy and fierce ex-army, now businessman who travels with the Pickwickians on the coach to Bath and lodges with them at the Royal Crescent there. He threatens Mr. Winkle with bodily harm when he thinks Winkle has made advances to his pretty wife, but later apologizes. (top) Doyce, Daniel ( Little Dorrit ) Inventor of an unspecified mechanical wonder which he is unable to get a patent for in the Circumlocution Office.

He partners with Arthur Clennam who loses the firm's money in the Merdle scandal. Doyce later sells the invention abroad and returns to liberate Arthur from the Marshalsea . (top) The Top 10 Charles Dickens Books The Top 10 Charles Dickens Books By Robert Gottlieb | Nov 30, 2012 Great Expectations: The Sons and Daughters of Charles Dickens is an outstanding biography of the writer with an eye toward his children, including the scandalous possible existence of an 11th child, born to Dickens's mistress. Robert Gottlieb, former Knopf editor, New Yorker editor, and lifelong Dickens reader, gives us the 10 best books from the master. For more on the book, check out our Q&A with Gottlieb . Charles Dickens left us fifteen novels, and in an ideal world everyone would read all of them. (Well, maybe not – Barnaby Rudge is a tired and tiresome historical novel that the young Dickens kept putting off writing until contractual obligations forced him to finish it.) His first published book was Sketches by Boz – a collection of short pieces that brought him considerable attention.

By the time he was finished with his second book – The Pickwick Papers, serialized between March, 1836 and October, 1837 – he was, at twenty-five, the best-known writer in England, and such he remained until his death, at fifty-eight, in 1870. The energy, the fun, the power, the compassion of his work is unmatched in English literature, with the obvious. How do you rate works of genius? Partly by personal inclination, partly by accepted wisdom, partly by popularity. Perhaps his most widely known works are A Christmas Carol and A Tale of Two Cities, and both are wonderful, but they don’t make my own top ten list. Instead: 1. Great Expectations - With its thrilling story that is also a profound look at the moral education of a boy who has been persecuted and deceived but whose essential goodness of heart eventually rescues him from snobbery and delusion. Everything is in harmony in this almost perfect novel: the character of Pip himself, and his interaction with the immense figures of the convict Magwitch, the embittered and half-mad Miss Havisham, and the beautiful, cold Estella.

This is Dickens’s most finely crafted book, and his most moving. 2. Our Mutual Friend - His final complete novel, with its vast panoply of characters, its emotional generosity, its violent drama, its rich humor – and its author’s most likeable (because imperfect) heroine, Bella Wilfer. I’ve actually read this book aloud twice, and still find it irresistible. 3. David Copperfield - Of course – the book closest to Dickens’s heart (it’s not by accident that the hero’s initials reverse Dickens’s own). The first-person narrative sweeps you along, and the characters -- from the wicked Murdstones and conniving Uriah Heep to the warm-hearted if feckless Micawbers, from Aunt Betsey Trotwood, Little Em’ly, and Steerforth, her seducer and betrayer, to the stout-hearted Peggoty and the silly lovable Dora, whom David marries – are indelibly printed on our literary consciousness. (Among its greatest admirers: Tolstoy, Kafka, and Virginal Woolf.) 4. Bleak House - With its vastly complicated plot and its immense cast of characters swirling around the case of Jarndyce vs.

Jarndyce that has been grinding away in the Court of Chancery for decades, Bleak House is for many readers Dickens’s greatest novel. An assault on the legal system, a satire on foolish philanthropy, a gripping melodrama, and an interesting use of point of view (told in both the third and first persons), it is a perpetual fascination. 5. Little Dorrit - In some ways Dickens’s most personal if not autobiographical novel, it has an autumnal quality, given its aging hero and quiet, staunch heroine. Its central characters not only prevail but mature, and its situations – even its comedy – resonate for its readers in countless affecting ways. 6. Oliver Twist - With its larger-than-life villainies and its endless excitements, is the perfect book to begin with. Who will ever forget the supremely wicked Fagin who co-opts homeless boys into a life of crime, the murderous Bill Sikes, the brave young Oliver himself, however idealized? No wonder it had such an immense triumph as successor to the benign and lovable Pickwick! 7.

Nicholas Nickleby - Perhaps the most high-spirited of all Dickens’s novels, yet also a grim, devastating attack on the Yorkshire schools to which unwanted children were dispatched. The comically radiant picaresque adventures of young Nicholas with the Crummles traveling theatrical troupe provide a wonderful contrast to the tragedy of the boy Smike, the saddest victim of the Squeers family who run the unspeakable school called Dotheboys Hall. 8. Dombey and Son - A powerful tragedy of a distant, cold businessman who comes to realize too late the value of his worthy daughter, Florence, after the death of his beloved son, Paul – Dickens’s most famous death scene after that of the famous Little Nell of The Old Curiosity Shop. 9. The Pickwick Papers - And, yes, Pickwick itself – not quite a novel (it started out as a series of sketches to be illustrated) but filled with glorious characters – the benign, naïve Pickwick himself, his cockney valet Sam Weller (who steals the book; the Sancho Panza to Pickwick’s Don Quixote), the rascally Jingle – and hilarious episodes like Pickwick’s trial for breach of promise.

The most decisive debut in English fiction. 10. The Selected Letters of Charles Dickens - Finally, not a work of fiction but the recently published The Selected Letters of Charles Dickens, edited by Jenny Hartley from the twelve volumes of the monumental Pilgrim Edition of Dickens’s correspondence. Here you find in Dickens the man, all the fun, acuity, sensitivity, and tough realism that characterize Dickens the supreme novelist. ADVERTISEMENT

Question: Which christian name is shared by two title characters in the Dickens book Dombey and Son?
Answer: PAUL