 Micawber described himself, as a prey to these
dismal calamities, was only to be equalled by the emphasis with which he read
his letter; and the kind of homage he rendered to it with a roll of his head,
when he thought he had hit a sentence very hard indeed.
    »In an accumulation of Ignominy, Want, Despair, and Madness, I entered the
office - or, as our lively neighbour the Gaul would term it, the Bureau - of the
Firm, nominally conducted under the appellation of Wickfield and - HEEP, but, in
reality, wielded by - HEEP alone. HEEP, and only HEEP, is the mainspring of that
machine. HEEP, and only HEEP, is the Forger and the Cheat.«
    Uriah, more blue than white at these words, made a dart at the letter, as if
to tear it in pieces. Mr. Micawber, with a perfect miracle of dexterity or luck,
caught his advancing knuckles with the ruler, and disabled his right hand. It
dropped at the wrist, as if it were broken. The blow sounded as if it had fallen
on wood.
    »The Devil take you!« said Uriah, writhing in a new way with pain. »I'll be
even with you.«
    »Approach me again, you - you - you HEEP of infamy,« gasped Mr. Micawber,
»and if your head is human, I'll break it. Come on, come on!«
    I think I never saw anything more ridiculous - I was sensible of it, even at
the time - than Mr. Micawber making broad-sword guards with the ruler, and
crying, »Come on!« while Traddles and I pushed him back into a corner, from
which, as often as we got him into it, he persisted in emerging again.
    His enemy, muttering to himself, after wringing his wounded hand for some
time, slowly drew off his neck-kerchief and bound it up; then, held it in his
other hand, and sat upon his table with his sullen face looking down.
    Mr. Micawber, when he was sufficiently cool, proceeded with his letter.
    »The stipendiary emoluments in consideration of which I entered into the
service of - HEEP,« always pausing before that word and uttering it with
astonishing vigour, »were not defined, beyond the pittance, of twenty-two
shillings and six per week. The rest was left contingent on the value of my
professional exertions; in other and more expressive words, on the baseness of
my nature, the cupidity of my
