Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com Was there anything about me which would reveal my pro-
ceedings in connexion with the Micawber family - all those
pawnings, and sellings, and suppers - in spite of myself?
Suppose some of the boys had seen me coming through
Canterbury, wayworn and ragged, and should find me out?
What would they say, who made so light of money, if they
could know how I had scraped my halfpence together, for
the purchase of my daily saveloy and beer, or my slices of
pudding? How would it affect them, who were so innocent
of London life, and London streets, to discover how know-
ing I was (and was ashamed to be) in some of the meanest
phases of both? All this ran in my head so much, on that first
day at Doctor Strong’s, that I felt distrustful of my slightest
look and gesture; shrunk within myself whensoever I was
approached by one of my new schoolfellows; and hurried
off the minute school was over, afraid of committing myself
in my response to any friendly notice or advance.
But there was such an influence in Mr. Wickfield’s old
house, that when I knocked at it, with my new school-books
under my arm, I began to feel my uneasiness softening away.
As I went up to my airy old room, the grave shadow of the
staircase seemed to fall upon my doubts and fears, and to
make the past more indistinct. I sat there, sturdily con-
ning my books, until dinner-time (we were out of school for
good at three); and went down, hopeful of becoming a pass-
able sort of boy yet.
Agnes was in the drawing-room, waiting for her father,
who was detained by someone in his office. She met me with
her pleasant smile, and asked me how I liked the school. I