than ever I could say. I — I love her true. There ain’t a gent’lman in all the land — nor yet sailing upon all the sea — that can love his lady more than I love her, though there’s many a common man — would say better — what he meant.’

I thought it affecting to see such a sturdy fellow as Ham was now, trembling in the strength of what he felt for the pretty little creature who had won his heart.

I thought the simple confidence reposed in us by Mr. Peggotty and by himself, was, in itself, affecting. I was affected by the story altogether. How far my emotions were influenced by the recollections of my childhood, I don’t know. Whether I had come there with any lingering fancy that I was still to love little Em’ly, I