“It was not judicious, sir, I am willing to admit,” said Mr. Mell. “I should not have done so, if I had been cool.”
Here Steerforth struck in.
“Then he said I was mean, and then he said I was base, and then I called him a beggar. If I had been cool, perhaps I shouldn’t have called him a beggar. But I did, and I am ready to take the consequences of it.”
Without considering, perhaps, whether there were any consequences to be taken, I felt quite in a glow at this gallant speech. It made an impression on the boys too, for there was a low stir among them, though no one spoke a word.
“I am surprised, Steerforth—although your candour does you honour,” said Mr. Creakle, “does you honour, certainly—I am surprised, Steerforth, I must say, that you should attach such an epithet to