“My God!” he suddenly exclaimed. “It’s little Copperfield!”

I grasped him by both hands, and could not let them go. But for very shame, and the fear that it might displease him, I could have held him round the neck and cried.

“I never, never, never was so glad! My dear Steerforth, I am so overjoyed to see you!”

“And I am rejoiced to see you, too!” he said, shaking my hands heartily. “Why, Copperfield, old boy, don’t be overpowered!” And yet he was glad, too, I thought, to see how the delight I had in meeting him affected me.

I brushed away the tears that my utmost resolution had not been able to keep back, and I made a clumsy laugh of it, and we sat down together, side by side.

“Why, how do you come to be here?” said Steerforth, clapping me on the shoulder.