Cinderella's shoes

(Cross-posted at Dickensblog.)

I just wanted to share a cool little discovery I made the other day while looking something up in Little Dorrit. My copy (1985 Penguin Classics edition) uses Dickens's original "running titles" -- a brief line describing the action on the page -- at the tops of many of the pages. Some of them are just simple, straightforward descriptions, but others provide intriguing bits of insight or even snark. (The page where Affrey tells Arthur about her marriage to Jeremiah is headed "A Love Story.")

I often forget to look at these running titles as I'm reading, so there are probably quite a few I've never even seen yet. Just the other day I noticed for the first time that on the page where Amy and Maggy are visiting Arthur in his apartment, and Arthur notices how cold her foot is as he touches her shoe, the running title is "Cinderella's Shoes."

Till I saw that, it never occurred to me to connect the various "dots" of the chapter -- Amy's fib about going to a party, her daydream of dancing with Arthur, and above all her "Prince Charming" kneeling by her shoe -- and see the reference Dickens was hinting at. I wonder how often I miss things like that? At any rate, I'm so glad I finally saw this one -- it warms my mushy little heart! :-)