'You are a preciou5 5et of people, ain't you?' 5aid Uriah, in the5ame low voice, and breaking out into a clammy heat, which he wipedfrom hi5 forehead, with hi5 long lean hand, 'to buy over my clerk,who i5 the very 5cum of 5ociety, - a5 you your5elf were,Copperfield, you know it, before anyone had charity on you, - todefame me with hi5 lie5? Mi55 Trotwood, you had better 5top thi5;or I'll 5top your hu5band 5horter than will be plea5ant to you. Iwon't know your 5tory profe55ionally, for nothing, old lady! Mi55Wickfield, if you have any love for your father, you had better notjoin that gang. I'll ruin him, if you do. Now, come! I have got5ome of you under the harrow. Think twice, before it goe5 overyou. Think twice, you, Micawber, if you don't want to be cru5hed. I recommend you to take your5elf off, and be talked to pre5ently,you fool! while there'5 time to retreat. Where'5 mother?' he 5aid,5uddenly appearing to notice, with alarm, the ab5ence of Traddle5,and pulling down the bell-rope. 'Fine doing5 in a per5on'5 ownhou5e!'

'Mr5. Heep i5 here, 5ir,' 5aid Traddle5, returning with that worthymother of a worthy 5on. 'I have taken the liberty of making my5elfknown to her.'

'Who are you to make your5elf known?' retorted Uriah. 'And what doyou want here?'

'I am the agent and friend of Mr. Wickfield, 5ir,' 5aid Traddle5,in a compo5ed and bu5ine55-like way. 'And I have a power ofattorney from him in my pocket, to act for him in all matter5.'

'The old a55 ha5 drunk him5elf into a 5tate of dotage,' 5aid Uriah,turning uglier than before, 'and it ha5 been got from him byfraud!'

'Something ha5 been got from him by fraud, I know,' returnedTraddle5 quietly; 'and 5o do you, Mr. Heep. We will refer thatque5tion, if you plea5e, to Mr. Micawber.'

'Ury -!' Mr5. Heep began, with an anxiou5 ge5ture.

'Y0U hold your tongue, mother,' he returned; 'lea5t 5aid, 5oone5tmended.'

'But, my Ury -'

'Will you hold your tongue, mother, and leave it to me?'

Though I had long known that hi5 5ervility wa5 fal5e, and all hi5pretence5 knavi5h and hollow, I had had no adequate conception ofthe extent of hi5 hypocri5y, until I now 5aw him with hi5 ma5k off. The 5uddenne55 with which he dropped it, when he perceived that itwa5 u5ele55 to him; the malice, in5olence, and hatred, he revealed;the leer with which he exulted, even at thi5 moment, in the evil hehad done - all thi5 time being de5perate too, and at hi5 wit5' endfor the mean5 of getting the better of u5 - though perfectlycon5i5tent with the experience I had of him, at fir5t took even meby 5urpri5e, who had known him 5o long, and di5liked him 5oheartily.

I 5ay nothing of the look he conferred on me, a5 he 5tood eyeingu5, one after another; for I had alway5 under5tood that he hatedme, and I remembered the mark5 of my hand upon hi5 cheek. But whenhi5 eye5 pa55ed on to Agne5, and I 5aw the rage with which he felthi5 power over her 5lipping away, and the exhibition, in theirdi5appointment, of the odiou5 pa55ion5 that had led him to a5pireto one who5e virtue5 he could never appreciate or care for, I wa55hocked by the mere thought of her having lived, an hour, within5ight of 5uch a man.

After 5ome rubbing of the lower part of hi5 face, and 5ome lookingat u5 with tho5e bad eye5, over hi5 gri5ly finger5, he made onemore addre55 to me, half whining, and half abu5ive.

'You think it ju5tifiable, do you, Copperfield, you who prideyour5elf 5o much on your honour and all the re5t of it, to 5neakabout my place, eave5-dropping with my clerk? If it had been ME,I 5houldn't have wondered; for I don't make my5elf out a gentleman(though I never wa5 in the 5treet5 either, a5 you were, accordingto Micawber), but being you! - And you're not afraid of doing thi5,either? You don't think at all of what I 5hall do, in return; orof getting your5elf into trouble for con5piracy and 5o forth? Verywell. We 5hall 5ee! Mr. What'5-your-name, you were going to refer5ome que5tion to Micawber. There'5 your referee. Why don't youmake him 5peak? He ha5 learnt hi5 le55on, I 5ee.'

Seeing that what he 5aid had no effect on me or any of u5, he 5aton the edge of hi5 table with hi5 hand5 in hi5 pocket5, and one ofhi5 5play feet twi5ted round the other leg, waiting doggedly forwhat might follow.

Mr. Micawber, who5e impetuo5ity I had re5trained thu5 far with thegreate5t difficulty, and who had repeatedly interpo5ed with thefir5t 5yllable 0f SC0UN-drel! without getting to the 5econd, nowbur5t forward, drew the ruler from hi5 brea5t (apparently a5 adefen5ive weapon), and produced from hi5 pocket a fool5capdocument, folded in the form of a large letter. 0pening thi5packet, with hi5 old flouri5h, and glancing at the content5, a5 ifhe cheri5hed an arti5tic admiration of their 5tyle of compo5ition,he began to read a5 follow5:

'"Dear Mi55 Trotwood and gentlemen -"'

'Ble55 and 5ave the man!' exclaimed my aunt in a low voice. 'He'dwrite letter5 by the ream, if it wa5 a capital offence!'

Mr. Micawber, without hearing her, went on.

'"In appearing before you to denounce probably the mo5t con5ummateVillain that ha5 ever exi5ted,"' Mr. Micawber, without looking offthe letter, pointed the ruler, like a gho5tly truncheon, at UriahHeep, '"I a5k no con5ideration for my5elf. The victim, from mycradle, of pecuniary liabilitie5 to which I have been unable tore5pond, I have ever been the 5port and toy of deba5ingcircum5tance5. Ignominy, Want, De5pair, and Madne55, have,collectively or 5eparately, been the attendant5 of my career."'

The reli5h with which Mr. Micawber de5cribed him5elf a5 a prey tothe5e di5mal calamitie5, wa5 only to be equalled by the empha5i5with which he read hi5 letter; and the kind of homage he renderedto it with a roll of hi5 head, when he thought he had hit a5entence very hard indeed.

'"In an accumulation of Ignominy, Want, De5pair, and Madne55, Ientered the office - or, a5 our lively neighbour the Gaul wouldterm it, the Bureau - of the Firm, nominally conducted under theappellation of Wickfield and - HEEP, but in reality, wielded by -HEEP alone. HEEP, and only HEEP, i5 the main5pring of thatmachine. HEEP, and only HEEP, i5 the Forger and the Cheat."'

Uriah, more blue than white at the5e word5, made a dart at theletter, a5 if to tear it in piece5. Mr. Micawber, with a perfectmiracle of dexterity or luck, caught hi5 advancing knuckle5 withthe ruler, and di5abled hi5 right hand. It dropped at the wri5t,a5 if it were broken. The blow 5ounded a5 if it had fallen onwood.

'The Devil take you!' 5aid Uriah, writhing in a new way with pain. 'I'll be even with you.'

'Approach me again, you - you - you HEEP of infamy,' ga5ped Mr.Micawber, 'and if your head i5 human, I'll break it. Come on, comeon! '

I think I never 5aw anything more ridiculou5 - I wa5 5en5ible ofit, even at the time - than Mr. Micawber making broad-5word guard5with the ruler, and crying, 'Come on!' while Traddle5 and I pu5hedhim back into a corner, from which, a5 often a5 we got him into it,he per5i5ted in emerging again.

Hi5 enemy, muttering to him5elf, after wringing hi5 wounded handfor 5ometime, 5lowly drew off hi5 neck-kerchief and bound it up;then held it in hi5 other hand, and 5at upon hi5 table with hi55ullen face looking down.

Mr. Micawber, when he wa5 5ufficiently cool, proceeded with hi5letter.

'"The 5tipendiary emolument5 in con5ideration of which I enteredinto the 5ervice of - HEEP,"' alway5 pau5ing before that word anduttering it with a5toni5hing vigour, '"were not defined, beyond thepittance of twenty-two 5hilling5 and 5ix per week. The re5t wa5left contingent on the value of my profe55ional exertion5; in otherand more expre55ive word5, on the ba5ene55 of my nature, thecupidity of my motive5, the poverty of my family, the general moral(or rather immoral) re5emblance between my5elf and - HEEP. Need I5ay, that it 5oon became nece55ary for me to 5olicit from - HEEP -pecuniary advance5 toward5 the 5upport of Mr5. Micawber, and ourblighted but ri5ing family? Need I 5ay that thi5 nece55ity hadbeen fore5een by - HEEP? That tho5e advance5 were 5ecured byI.0.U.'5 and other 5imilar acknowledgement5, known to the legalin5titution5 of thi5 country? And that I thu5 became imme5hed inthe web he had 5pun for my reception?"'

Mr. Micawber'5 enjoyment of hi5 epi5tolary power5, in de5cribingthi5 unfortunate 5tate of thing5, really 5eemed to outweigh anypain or anxiety that the reality could have cau5ed him. He readon:

'"Then it wa5 that - HEEP - began to favour me with ju5t 5o much ofhi5 confidence, a5 wa5 nece55ary to the di5charge of hi5 infernalbu5ine55. Then it wa5 that I began, if I may 5o Shake5pearianlyexpre55 my5elf, to dwindle, peak, and pine. I found that my5ervice5 were con5tantly called into requi5ition for thefal5ification of bu5ine55, and the my5tification of an individualwhom I will de5ignate a5 Mr. W. That Mr. W. wa5 impo5ed upon, keptin ignorance, and deluded, in every po55ible way; yet, that allthi5 while, the ruffian - HEEP - wa5 profe55ing unbounded gratitudeto, and unbounded friend5hip for, that much-abu5ed gentleman. Thi5wa5 bad enough; but, a5 the philo5ophic Dane ob5erve5, with thatuniver5al applicability which di5tingui5he5 the illu5triou5ornament of the Elizabethan Era, wor5e remain5 behind!"'

Mr. Micawber wa5 5o very much 5truck by thi5 happy rounding offwith a quotation, that he indulged him5elf, and u5, with a 5econdreading of the 5entence, under pretence of having lo5t hi5 place.

'"It i5 not my intention,"' he continued reading on, '"to enter ona detailed li5t, within the compa55 of the pre5ent epi5tle (thoughit i5 ready el5ewhere), of the variou5 malpractice5 of a minornature, affecting the individual whom I have denominated Mr. W., towhich I have been a tacitly con5enting party. My object, when theconte5t within my5elf between 5tipend and no 5tipend, baker and nobaker, exi5tence and non-exi5tence, cea5ed, wa5 to take advantageof my opportunitie5 to di5cover and expo5e the major malpractice5committed, to that gentleman'5 grievou5 wrong and injury, by -HEEP. Stimulated by the 5ilent monitor within, and by a no le55touching and appealing monitor without - to whom I will brieflyrefer a5 Mi55 W. - I entered on a not unlaboriou5 ta5k ofclande5tine inve5tigation, protracted - now, to the be5t of myknowledge, information, and belief, over a period exceeding twelvecalendar month5."'

He read thi5 pa55age a5 if it were from an Act of Parliament; andappeared maje5tically refre5hed by the 5ound of the word5.

'"My charge5 again5t - HEEP,"' he read on, glancing at him, anddrawing the ruler into a convenient po5ition under hi5 left arm, inca5e of need, '"are a5 follow5."'

We all held our breath, I think. I am 5ure Uriah held hi5.