I still have a question about the phrase "but of tea not a glimpse" from the novel Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.
I rang for the tea, and the waiter, reappearing with his magic clew, brought in by degrees some fifty adjuncts to that refreshment, but of tea not a glimpse. A teaboard, cups and saucers, plates, knives and forks (including carvers), spoons (various), saltcellars, a meek little muffin confined with the utmost precaution under a strong iron cover, Moses in the bulrushes typified by a soft bit of butter in a quantity of parsley, a pale loaf with a powdered head, two proof impressions of the bars of the kitchen fireplace on triangular bits of bread, and ultimately a fat family urn; which the waiter staggered in with, expressing in his countenance burden and suffering. After a prolonged absence at this stage of the entertainment, he at length came back with a casket of precious appearance containing twigs. These I steeped in hot water, and so from the whole of these appliances extracted one cup of I don’t know what for Estella.
Below is the sentence about which I still have a question.
I rang for the tea, and the waiter, reappearing with his magic clew, brought in by degrees some fifty adjuncts to that refreshment, but of tea not a glimpse.
- Does the word "of" mean "with respect to" in the phrase "but of tea not a glimpse"?
- Does "not a glimpse" mean "the protagonist of the novel saw and inspected all of the fifty adjuncts that were brought by the waiter, and the protagonist of the novel didn't glimpse all of the fifty adjuncts, and the protagonist of the novel saw all of the fifty adjuncts very carefully, and then the protagonist of the novel found that all of the fifty adjuncts were with respect to the tea" in the sentence "but of tea not a glimpse"?
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