These are letters for Mr Dombey, Sir.' 'Very well, Sir,' returned Mr Carker the Manager, plucking them sharply from his hand.

'Go about your business.' But in taking them with so little ceremony, Mr Carker dropped one on the floor, and did not see what he had done; neither did Mr Dombey observe the letter lying near his feet.

Walter hesitated for a moment, thinking that one or other of them would notice it; but finding that neither did, he stopped, came back, picked it up, and laid it himself on Mr Dombey's desk.

The letters were post-letters; and it happened that the one in question was Mrs Pipchin's regular report, directed as usual--for Mrs Pipchin was but an indifferent penwoman--by Florence.

Mr Dombey, having his attention silently called to this letter by Walter, started, and looked fiercely at him, as if he believed that he had purposely selected it from all the rest.
'You can leave the room, Sir!' said Mr Dombey, haughtily.
He crushed the letter in his hand; and having watched Walter out at the door, put it in his pocket without breaking the seal.
'These continual references to Mr Carker the Junior,' Mr Carker the Manager began, as soon as they were alone, 'are, to a man in my position, uttered before one in yours, so unspeakably distressing--' 'Nonsense, Carker,' Mr Dombey interrupted.