I feared that some difference between him and his mother might have led to his being in the frame of mind in which I had found him at the solitary fireside.

I hinted so.
'Oh no!' he said, shaking his head, and giving a slight laugh.

'Nothing of the sort! Yes.

He is come down, that man of mine.' 'The same as ever ?' said I.
'The same as ever,' said Steerforth.

'Distant and quiet as the North Pole.