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A Trifle of Management by Mr Carker the Manager.
Mr Carker the Manager sat at his desk, smooth and soft as usual, reading those letters which were reserved for him to open, backing them occasionally with such memoranda and references as their business purport required, and parcelling them out into little heaps for distribution through the several departments of the House.

The post had come in heavy that morning, and Mr Carker the Manager had a good deal to do.
The general action of a man so engaged--pausing to look over a bundle of papers in his hand, dealing them round in various portions, taking up another bundle and examining its contents with knitted brows and pursed-out lips--dealing, and sorting, and pondering by turns--would easily suggest some whimsical resemblance to a player at cards.

The face of Mr Carker the Manager was in good keeping with such a fancy.

It was the face of a man who studied his play, warily: who made himself master of all the strong and weak points of the game: who registered the cards in his mind as they fell about him, knew exactly what was on them, what they missed, and what they made: who was crafty to find out what the other players held, and who never betrayed his own hand.
The letters were in various languages, but Mr Carker the Manager read them all.