"Capital," said Mr. Benjamin Allen.
"Prime," ejaculated Mr. Bob Sawyer. 5
"You skate, of course, Winkle?" said Wardle.
"Ye—yes; oh, yes!" replied Mr. Winkle. "I—I—am
rather out of practice."
"Oh, do skate, Mr. Winkle," said Arabella. "I like to
see it so much." 10
"Oh, it is so graceful," said another young lady.
A third young lady said it was "elegant," and a fourth expressed
her opinion that it was "swanlike."
"I should be very happy, I'm sure," said Mr. Winkle,
reddening; "but I have no skates." 15
This objection was at once overruled. Trundle had a
couple of pair, and the fat boy announced that there were
half a dozen more in the house; whereat Mr. Winkle expressed
exquisite delight and looked exquisitely uncomfortable. 5
Mr. Winkle, with his face and hands blue with the cold,
forced a gimlet into the soles of his feet, put his skates on
with the points behind, and got the straps into a very
complicated and entangled state, with the assistance of
Mr. Snodgrass, who knew rather less about skates than a 10
Hindu. At length, however, with the assistance of Mr.
Weller, the unfortunate skates were firmly screwed and
buckled on, and Mr. Winkle was raised to his feet.