 the fire; and she would have read me some of
them, and I should have been very glad to hear them too, if he had not
interposed, and coaxed her out of the design.
    »It was at Mr. Creakle's, my son tells me, that you first became
acquainted,« said Mrs. Steerforth, as she and I were talking at one table, while
they played backgammon at another. »Indeed, I recollect his speaking, at that
time, of a pupil younger than himself who had taken his fancy there; but your
name, as you may suppose, has not lived in my memory.«
    »He was very generous and noble to me in those days, I assure you, ma'am,«
said I, »and I stood in need of such a friend. I should have been quite crushed
without him.«
    »He is always generous and noble,« said Mrs. Steerforth, proudly.
    I subscribed to this with all my heart, God knows. She knew I did; for the
stateliness of her manner already abated towards me, except when she spoke in
praise of him, and then her air was always lofty.
    »It was not a fit school generally for my son,« said she; »far from it; but
there were particular circumstances to be considered at the time, of more
importance even than that selection. My son's high spirit made it desirable that
he should be placed with some man who felt its superiority, and would be content
to bow himself before it; and we found such a man there.«
    I knew that, knowing the fellow. And yet I did not despise him the more for
it, but thought it a redeeming quality in him, if he could be allowed any grace
for not resisting one so irresistible as Steerforth.
    »My son's great capacity was tempted on, there, by a feeling of voluntary
emulation and conscious pride,« the fond lady went on to say. »He would have
risen against all constraint; but he found himself the monarch of the place, and
he haughtily determined to be worthy of his station. It was like himself.«
    I echoed, with all my heart and soul, that it was like himself.
    »So my son took, of his own will, and on no compulsion, to the course in
which he can always, when it is his pleasure, outstrip every competitor,« she
pursued. »My son informs me, Mr. Copperfield, that you were quite devoted to
him,
