wondered at my own courage:
‘If you please, sir—’
Mr. Creakle whispered, ‘Hah! What’s this?’ and bent his eyes
upon me, as if he would have burnt me up with them.
‘If you please, sir,’ I faltered, ‘if I might be allowed (I am very
sorry indeed, sir, for what I did) to take this writing off, before the
boys come back—’
Whether Mr. Creakle was in earnest, or whether he only did it
to frighten me, I don’t know, but he made a burst out of his chair,
before which I precipitately retreated, without waiting for the
escort Of the man with the wooden leg, and never once stopped
until I reached my own bedroom, where, finding I was not
pursued, I went to bed, as it was time, and lay quaking, for a
couple of hours.
Next morning Mr. Sharp came back. Mr. Sharp was the first
master, and superior to Mr. Mell. Mr. Mell took his meals with the
boys, but Mr. Sharp dined and supped at Mr. Creakle’s table. He
was a limp, delicate-looking gentleman, I thought, with a good deal
of nose, and a way of carrying his head on one side, as if it were a
little too heavy for him. His hair was very smooth and wavy; but I
was informed by the very first boy who came back that it was a wig
(a second-hand one he said), and that Mr. Sharp went out every
Saturday afternoon to get it curled.
It was no other than Tommy Traddles who gave me this piece
of intelligence. He was the first boy who returned. He introduced
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David Copperfield
himself by informing me that I should find his name on the right-
hand corner of the gate, over the top-bolt; upon that I said,
‘Traddles?’ to which he replied, ‘The same,’ and then he asked me
for a full account of myself and family.
It was a happy circumstance for me that Traddles came back
first. He enjoyed my placard so much, that he saved me from the
embarrassment of either disclosure or concealment, by presenting
me to every other boy who came back, great or small, immediately
on his arrival, in this form of introduction, ‘Look here! Here’s a
game!’ Happily, too, the greater part of the boys came back low-
spirited, and were not so boisterous at my expense as I had
expected. Some of them certainly did dance about me like wild
Indians, and the greater part could not resist the temptation of
pretending that I was a dog, and patting and soothing me, lest I
should bite, and saying, ‘Lie down, sir!’ and calling me Towzer.
This was naturally confusing, among so many strangers, and cost
me some tears, but on the whole it was much better than I had
anticipated.
I was not considered as being formally received into the school,
however, until J. Steerforth arrived. Before this boy, who was
reputed to be a great scholar, and was very good-looking, and at
least half-a-dozen years my senior, I was carried as before a
magistrate. He inquired, under a shed in the playground, into the
particulars of my punishment, and was pleased to express his
opinion that it was ‘a jolly shame’; for which I became bound to
him ever afterwards.
‘What money have you got, Copperfield?’ he said, walking aside
with me when he had disposed of my affair in these terms. I told
him seven shillings.
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f
David "};
