’Brother!’saidtheoldman，conveyingasurprisingenergyintohistremblingvoice，’Iprotestagainstit!Iloveyou；youknowI
loveyoudearly。InthesemanyyearsIhaveneverbeenuntruetoyouinasinglethought。WeakasIam，Iwouldatanytimehavestruckanymanwhospokeillofyou。But，brother，brother，brother，Iprotestagainstit!’
Itwasextraordinarytoseeofwhataburstofearnestnesssuchadecrepitmanwascapable。Hiseyesbecamebright，hisgreyhairroseonhishead，markingsofpurposeonhisbrowandfacewhichhadfadedfromthemforfive-and-twentyyears，startedoutagain，andtherewasanenergyinhishandthatmadeitsactionnervousoncemore。
’MydearFrederick!’exclaimedMrDorritfaintly。’Whatiswrong？
Whatisthematter？’