“Perhaps,” observed Traddles, “it was mere purposeless impertinence?”

“No,” returned my aunt.

“There was⁠—pardon me⁠—really such a person, and at all in his power?” hinted Traddles.

“Yes, my good friend,” said my aunt.

Traddles, with a perceptible lengthening of his face, explained that he had not been able to approach this subject; that it had shared the fate of Mr. Micawber’s liabilities, in not being comprehended in the terms he had made; that we were no longer of any authority with Uriah Heep; and that if he could do us, or any of us, any injury or annoyance, no doubt he would.

My aunt remained quiet; until again some stray tears found their way to her cheeks. “You are quite right,” she said. “It was very thoughtful to mention it.”