A disposition began to be perceived in him to exaggerate the number of years he had been there; it was generally understood that you must deduct a few from his account; he was vain, the fleeting generations of debtors said.
All new-comers were presented to him.

He was punctilious in the exaction of this ceremony.

The wits would perform the office of introduction with overcharged pomp and politeness, but they could not easily overstep his sense of its gravity.

He received them in his poor room (he disliked an introduction in the mere yard, as informal--a thing that might happen to anybody), with a kind of bowed-down beneficence.

They were welcome to the Marshalsea, he would tell them.