Mr. Micawber made a good deal of this, as a new turn of expression⁠—“ ‘who, by making himself necessary to him, had achieved his destruction. All this I undertake to show. Probably much more!’ ”

I whispered a few words to Agnes, who was weeping, half joyfully, half sorrowfully, at my side; and there was a movement among us, as if Mr. Micawber had finished. He said, with exceeding gravity, “Pardon me,” and proceeded, with a mixture of the lowest spirits and the most intense enjoyment, to the peroration of his letter.