“To lose ’em, sir.”
“Can you read?” asked Mr. Dombey.
“Why, not partick’ler, 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?”
“Thereabout, I suppose, sir,” answered Toodle, after more reflection.
“Then why don’t you learn?” asked Mr. Dombey.