but I liked him no better than at first. The sight of him filled me with a
fear that something was going to happen, and time proved that I was right
in my apprehension. One night when my mother, as usual, was out, Peggotty
asked me,

"Master Davy, how should you like to go along with me and spend a
fortnight at my brother's at Yarmouth? Wouldn't _that_ be a treat?"

"Is your brother an agreeable man, Peggotty?" I inquired, provisionally.

"Oh what an agreeable man he is!" cried Peggotty, holding up her hands.
"Then there's the sea; and the boats; and the fishermen; and the beach;
and 'Am to play with----"

Peggotty meant her nephew Ham, but she spoke of him as a morsel of English
Grammar.

I was flushed with her summary of delights, and replied that it would
indeed be a treat, but what would my mother say?

But Peggotty was sure that I would be allowed to go, and so it proved. My
mother did not seem nearly so much surprised as I expected, and arranged
at once for my visit.

The day soon came for our going. I was in a fever of expectation, and half
afraid that an earthquake might stop the expedition, but soon after
breakfast we set off, in a carrier's cart, and the carrier's lazy horse
shuffled along, carrying us towards Yarmouth. We had a fine basket of
refreshments, and we ate a good deal, and slept a good deal, and finally
arrived in Yarmouth, where at the public-house we found Ham waiting for
us. He was a huge, strong fellow of six feet, with a simpering boy's face
and curly light hair, and he insisted on carrying me on his back, as well
as a small box of ours under his arm. We turned down lanes, and went past
gas-works, boat-builders' yards, and riggers' lofts, and presently Ham
said,

"Yon's our house, Mas'r Davy!"

I looked over the wilderness, and away at the sea, and away at the river,
but no house could _I_ make out. There was a black barge not far off, high
and dry on the ground, with an iron funnel for a chimney, and smoking very
cosily.

"That's not it?" said I. "That ship-looking thing?"

"That's it, Mas'r Davy," returned Ham.

If it had been Aladdin's palace, I could not have been more charmed with
the romantic idea of living in it. There was a delightful door cut in the
side, and it was roofed in, and there were little windows in it. It was
beautifully clean inside and as tidy as possible. There was a table, and a
Dutch clock, and a chest of drawers. On the walls were some coloured
picture