“To lose ’em, Sir.”
“Can you read?” asked Mr Dombey.
“Why, not partickk’ller, Sir.”
“Write?”
“With chalk, Sir?”
“With anything?”
“I could make shift to chalk a little bit, I think, if I was put to it,” said Toodle after some reflection.
“And yet,” said Mr Dombey, “you are two or three and thirty, I suppose?”
“Thereabouts, I suppose, Sir,” answered Toodle, after more reflection
“Then why don’t you learn?” asked Mr Dombey.