Little Dorrit

by Charles Dickens

‘Mr Clennam,’ returned Mrs Tickit, ‘I was a little heavy in my eyes, being that I was waiting longer than customary for my cup of tea which was then preparing by Mary Jane. I was not sleeping, nor what a person would term correctly, dozing. I was more what a person would strictly call watching with my eyes closed.’ Without entering upon an enquiry into this curious abnormal condition, Clennam said, ‘Exactly. Well?’