You are too great a man, Dombey, to be thoughtful.

In your position, Sir, you're far above that kind of thing.' The Major even in his friendly remonstrances, thus consulting the dignity and honour of Mr Dombey, and showing a lively sense of their importance, Mr Dombey felt more than ever disposed to defer to a gentleman possessing so much good sense and such a well-regulated mind; accordingly he made an effort to listen to the Major's stories, as they trotted along the turnpike road; and the Major, finding both the pace and the road a great deal better adapted to his conversational powers than the mode of travelling they had just relinquished, came out of his entertainment.
But still the Major, blunt and tough as he was, and as he so very often said he was, administered some palatable catering to his companion's appetite.

He related, or rather suffered it to escape him, accidentally, and as one might say, grudgingly and against his will, how there was great curiosity and excitement at the club, in regard of his friend Dombey.

How he was suffocated with questions, Sir.

How old Joe Bagstock was a greater man than ever, there, on the strength of Dombey.