 thing pass off well,
that there was no pause in our festivity. I was not quite such good company
during dinner as I could have wished to be, for my chair was opposite the door,
and my attention was distracted by observing that the handy young man went out
of the room very often, and that his shadow always presented itself, immediately
afterwards, on the wall of the entry, with a bottle at its mouth. The young gal
likewise occasioned me some uneasiness: not so much by neglecting to wash the
plates, as by breaking them. For being of an inquisitive disposition, and unable
to confine herself (as her positive instructions were) to the pantry, she was
constantly peering in at us, and constantly imagining herself detected; in which
belief, she several times retired upon the plates (with which she had carefully
paved the floor), and did a great deal of destruction.
    These, however, were small drawbacks, and easily forgotten when the cloth
was cleared, and the dessert put on the table; at which period of the
entertainment the handy young man was discovered to be speechless. Giving him
private directions to seek the society of Mrs. Crupp, and to remove the young
gal to the basement also, I abandoned myself to enjoyment.
    I began, by being singularly cheerful and light-hearted; all sorts of
half-forgotten things to talk about, came rushing into my mind, and made me hold
forth in a most unwonted manner. I laughed heartily at my own jokes, and
everybody else's; called Steerforth to order for not passing the wine; made
several engagements to go to Oxford; announced that I meant to have a
dinner-party exactly like that, once a week, until further notice; and madly
took so much snuff out of Grainger's box, that I was obliged to go into the
pantry, and have a private fit of sneezing ten minutes long.
    I went on, by passing the wine faster and faster yet, and continually
starting up with a corkscrew to open more wine, long before any was needed. I
proposed Steerforth's health. I said he was my dearest friend, the protector of
my boyhood, and the companion of my prime. I said I was delighted to propose his
health. I said I owed him more obligations than I could ever repay, and held him
in a higher admiration than I could ever express. I finished by saying, »I'll
give you Steerforth! God bless him! Hurrah!« We gave him three times three, and
another, and
