ty bound, I laid at the feet of
Steerforth, and begged him to divide it among the boys.

"Now, I'll tell you what, young Copperfield," said he, "the wine shall
be kept to wet your whistle when you are story-telling."

I blushed at the idea, and begged him, in my modesty, not to think of
it. But he said he had observed I was sometimes hoarse--a little roopy
was his exact expression--and it should be, every drop, set apart to the
purpose he had mentioned. Accordingly, it was locked up in his box, and
drawn off by himself in a phial, and administered to me through a piece
of quill in the cork, when I was supposed to be in want of something to
restore my voice. Sometimes, to make it more powerful, he was so kind as
to squeeze orange juice into it, or to stir it up with ginger, or
dissolve a peppermint drop in it.

We seem to me to have been months over Peregrine, and months more over
the other stories. The school never flagged for want of a story, I am
certain; and the wine lasted out almost as well as the matter. Poor
Traddles--I never think of that boy but with a strange disposition to
laugh, and with tears in my eyes--was a sort of echo to the story; and
pretended to be overcome with laughing at the funny parts, and to be
overcome with fear when there was any passage of an alarming character
in the story. This rather put me out very often. It was a great jest of
his, I recollect, to pretend that he couldn't keep his teeth from
chattering, whenever mention was made of an Alguazil in connection with
the adventures of Gil Blas; and I remember when Gil Blas met the captain
of the robbers in Madrid, this unlucky joker acted such a shudder of
terror that he was overheard by Mr. Creakle, who was prowling about the
passage, and handsomely flogged for disorderly conduct in the bedroom.

One day I had a visit from Mr. Peggotty and Ham, who had brought two
enormous lobsters, a huge crab, and a large canvas bag of shrimps, as
they "remembered I was partial to a relish with my meals."

I was proud to introduce my friend Steerforth to these kind, simple
friends, and told them how good Steerforth was to me, and how he helped
me with my work and took care of me, and Steerforth delighted the
fishermen with his friendly, pleasant manners.

The "relish" was greatly enjoyed by the boys at supper that night. Only
poor Traddles became very ill from eating crab so late.

At last the holidays came, and I went home. The carrier, Barkis, me