im. I was still peering about,
when Mr. Mell came back, and asked what I did up there.

"I beg your pardon, sir," said I, "I'm looking for the dog."

"Dog," said he, "What dog?"

"The one that's to be taken care of, sir; that bites."

"Copperfield," said he, gravely, "that's not a dog. That's a boy. My
instructions are, Copperfield, to put this placard on your back. I am
sorry to make such a beginning with you, but I must do it."

With that he took me down, and tied the placard on my shoulders, and
wherever I went afterwards I carried it. What I suffered from that
placard, nobody can imagine. I always fancied that somebody was reading
it, and I began to have a dread of myself, as a kind of wild boy who _did_
bite. Above and beyond all, I dreaded the coming back of the boys and what
they might think of me, and my days and nights were filled with gloomy
forebodings. In a month Mr. Creakle, the proprietor of Salem House
arrived. He was stout, with a bald head, a fiery face, small, deep-set
eyes, thick veins in his forehead, a little nose, and a large chin. His
face always looked angry, but what impressed me most about him was that he
spoke always in a whisper. He inquired at once about my behaviour, and
seemed disappointed to find that there was nothing against me so far. He
then told me that he knew my stepfather as a man of strong character, and
that he should carry out his wishes concerning me. He pinched my ear with
ferocious playfulness, and I was very much frightened by his manner and
words; but before I was ordered away, I ventured to ask if the placard
might not be removed. Whether Mr. Creakle was in earnest, or only meant to
frighten me, I don't know, but he made a burst out of his chair, before
which I precipitately retreated, and never once stopped until I reached my
own bedroom, where, finding I was not pursued, I went to bed, and lay
quaking for a couple of hours.

The next day the other masters and the scholars began to arrive. Jolly
Tommy Traddles was the first boy back, and it was a happy circumstance for
me. He enjoyed my placard so much that he saved me from the embarrassment
of either disclosure or concealment, by presenting me to the other boys in
this way; "Look here! Here's a game!" Happily, too, most of the boys came
back low-spirited, and were not as boisterous at my expense as I expected.
Some of them did dance about me like wild Indians and pretended I was a
dog, patting me and saying, "Lie d