But Mr Micawber did not move. He stared coldly at his employer.

Traddles and I had both received rather strange letters from Mr Micawber, in which he asked us to come to Canterbury, with my aunt. At this meeting, he said, he would show to all of us the proof of Uriah Heep's wickedness. Dora was too ill to come with us, so Traddles, my aunt, Mr Dick and I travelled to Canterbury by coach, spent the night in a hotel there, and arrived punctually at the Wickfields' house the next morning. Mr Micawber met us at the door and showed us into Uriah Heep's office. Uriah himself seemed rather surprised to see us, but pretended to welcome us as old friends. Mr Micawber brought Agnes into the room too, and then stood firmly by the door.

"Don't wait, Micawber," said Uriah to his assistant.

"Yes!" replied Micawber. "But I don't choose to leave. Listen to me, Heep! I don't care if I lose my job! I don't wish to work any longer for the wickedest man in England!"

"Did you hear what I said, Micawber?" said Uriah angrily, his little eyes becoming redder while his long face went very pale.

"Mr Micawber," I said calmly, "please tell us what you were going to say about this man!"

Uriah fell back, shocked. Looking slowly round at us, with a dark, evil expression on his face, he said, "I see! You've all arranged this between you! But I know who to blame for this! It's you, Copperfield! You're jealous of my new position, aren't you? But I know things about all of you which I can use against you -- for example, I know about your father's business mistakes, Miss Agnes, and I know about your past in the warehouse, Copperfield! So be careful, I warn you all!"

"I am a lawyer and a friend of Mr Wickfield, sir," said Traddles, in a businesslike way. "And he's asked me to carry out all his business arrangements from now on. " This came as a surprise to me as well as to Uriah.

Just then Traddles, who had disappeared a few minutes before, reappeared with Mrs Heep. Uriah had not noticed Traddles before. "Who are you?" he demanded angrily.

"The old fool has been drinking too much again!" said Uriah, looking uglier than ever. "You can't believe anything he says! And you've bribed my assistant, I suppose, to speak against me!"

"Ladies and gentlemen," he began, "when very poor and desperate for work, I came to Canterbury as assistant to this evil man Heep. I am sorry to say I was soon involved in all his wicked plans. I may be poor, but I can't accept his lies, his cheating, his bribes and all the rest of it. And so I've brought you here today, ladies and gentlemen, to hear me accuse Heep publicly! One, he has confused and lied to his partner so often that poor Mr Wickfield now thinks he has himself been dishonest. Two, he has sometimes copied Mr Wickfield's signature on to false documents and cheques. Three, for years he has been stealing large amounts of money from Mr Wickfield and the firm!"

"It's you who have been dishonest," said Traddles firmly, "as we shall hear from Mr Micawber." And we all looked expectantly towards that large, important-looking gentleman. He was clearly delighted to have such an interested audience, and cleared his throat several times before starting to speak. As he spoke, his voice became louder and louder with excitement, until he was almost shouting.

"I have taken copies of all the necessary documents," said Mr Micawber confidently, "while working as your clerk. And just to make sure, I've given them to Mr Traddles to keep safely."

"Uriah, my dear boy," cried his mother, sobbing bitterly, "tell them how humble you are! Say you didn't mean to hurt anyone! Say you're sorry, and arrange matters with these gentlemen! Do, dear boy!"

"You can never prove it!" cried Uriah wildly.

Suddenly my aunt attacked Uriah, hitting his head with her umbrella. "Give me back my investments!" she cried. "I thought Mr Wickfield had lost my money, and I didn't want to hurt Agnes by saying so! But now I know you've had control of the firm, and you've stolen my money…" Somehow I managed to get her away from him before she hurt him too badly.

Then Mrs Heep fell on her knees to all of us, begging us to forgive her dear boy, and to remember how humble he always was.

"Mother, be quiet!" he whispered angrily. "Don't help my enemies! Copperfield here would have given you a hundred pounds to say what you've just said!"

"Not asking, demanding, Heep. You will give us the keys to all your boxes and drawers, all your documents and cheque-books, everything in fact that belongs to the firm. You will stay in this house until we've checked all the documents."

"Be silent, Mother!" said her son. He turned to Traddles and asked unpleasantly, "Well? What are you asking me to do?"

"And if I don't agree?" he asked, frowning.

"Copperfield, perhaps you would fetch a couple of policemen. Things move slowly in the law courts, but in the end Mr Wickfield will get his business back, and you, Heep, will be in prison for a very long time."

In the next few days Traddles and Micawber worked very hard together to put right what Uriah had done. They discovered my aunt's money and gave it back to her, and paid all the firm's debts. Mr Wickfield decided to sell his business, and retire. The Wickfields would not have much money, but at least they did not owe anything. In the end Uriah Heep and his mother left Canterbury, but we all thought he was too evil to stay out of trouble for long.

Uriah realized that he had to do what we wanted, and went to fetch the documents, with Mr Dick at his side. At the door, with his blackest, most evil expression, Heep turned and said to me, "I've always hated you, Copperfield!" Then he was taken away.

My aunt had a wonderful idea for the Micawber family. "Have you ever thought of going to live in Australia?" she suggested. "It's a new country, with a lot of business opportunities."

"I was a silly little girl, David, and you know it. It's just as well that I won't live much longer. Perhaps if I lived, you'd wish you'd married someone more sensible, more practical, someone like…" She did not finish what she was saying.

Mr Micawber was very interested. "Something could easily turn up there," he agreed. My aunt generously offered to lend him the necessary money to pay for the journey, and the whole Micawber family started planning and packing immediately.

When I returned to London, I realized my poor Dora was much worse. She stayed upstairs all the time now, and the sitting-room seemed very quiet without my little child-wife in her usual place. One day when I was sitting with her in her room, she said lovingly, "You know, David dear, I'm afraid I was too young."

"Don't say that, Dora!" I whispered, conscious that she was speaking of herself in the past.

"But we've been so happy, Dora!" I said, trying not to cry.

She took my band and kissed it. "We have, haven't we? David, do you think if you asked Agnes, she'd come and see me? I have something particular to say to her."

Agnes came the next day, and went straight upstairs to see Dora. Although the doctor and my aunt had told me there was no hope that Dora would live, when I held her hand and saw her love for me in her innocent blue eyes, I could not believe she would be taken from me. But when Agnes came downstairs so calmly and silently, and said nothing, but raised her hand and pointed upwards, I knew! It was over, and I remembered only darkness for a long time afterwards.

"Of course, my love, I'll write to her tonight."

In the middle of my terrible sadness I received a message from Emily. She asked me to take a letter from her to Ham her last words to the man who had loved her so much -- before she and Daniel left England for Australia. They were sailing in two weeks' time, and the Micawbers were going on the same ship. I remembered my childish love for little Emily, and agreed to do what she asked.

The weather was very stormy as I travelled through the night to Yarmouth. Several times the coach was almost knocked off the road by the wind and the rain. By the time we arrived in Yarmouth, most of the local people were in the streets, afraid to stay in their houses, in case the roof or the chimney blew down. Many women were crying, afraid for their husbands or brothers who were out fishing in their small boats. The sea itself, with its huge waves crashing noisily on the beach, frightened us all very much.

"Two ships have gone down, sir!" a local fisherman shouted to me. "A few miles away! We couldn't save any of the men on them! The waves were too high! And look! There's another!"

And suddenly I gasped in horror. I could see a great ship, which had been pushed violently on to the rocks by the waves. It was in danger of falling back into the waves, or of breaking in half, at any moment. Several figures were visible on the ship, especially one very active, curly-haired young man, who seemed to be giving orders. The crowd on the beach cried out as the ship rolled and a huge wave swept over it, carrying the men into the rushing water. In a moment the only figure we could see was the curly-haired young man, holding desperately on to the side of the ship and calling for help. What could we do? It was certain death for any man to enter those waves.

I went to the hotel, and tried to sleep a little after my tiring journey. But the wind made so much noise that I could not sleep, and I went down to the beach again, where a lot of people were standing together, watching the waves. By now the storm had got even worse.

Just then I saw Ham Peggotty running through the crowd to the edge of tM water. One end of a rope was tied around his waist, and the other end was held firmly be three strong men standing on the beach.

He dived in under a great wave, and swam strongly towards the ship. In another moment he would have reached it, when a high green hill of water appeared, and the ship went down with a great crash. The people on the beach pulled on Ham's rope, and he arrived at my feet -- dead. They carried him to the nearest house, and I called a doctor, but nothing could be done for him. He had been beaten to death by that great wave, and his generous heart had stopped for ever.

"Let me go, Master David!" he replied cheerfully, shaking both my hands. "If God thinks it's time for me to die, then I'm ready! Friends, I'm going in! Give me more rope!"

As I sat hopelessly by his bed, a fisherman who had known me when Emily and I were children, came to tell me he recognized the curly-haired sailor, whose body had been thrown out of the water by the waves. I went to see. And there on the beach where she and I had played, I saw Steerforth lying, with his handsome face on his arm. He would never smile at me or Emily again.

"No, Ham!" I cried, trying to hold him back. "Don't try to rescue that poor sailor! You'll kill yourself!"

One evening I arrived in a village in Switzerland, and received a packet of letters that had been waiting for me.

As the light died out of the sky, and I watched the colour of the snow on the mountain tops change, I felt I was waking from my unhappy dream, and I began to understand how much I loved Agnes. She had been the one who had always guided and supported me, and now I realized I needed her love for the rest of my life. Had falling in love with Dora been a mistake? We had both been very young, it is true. I had always called Agnes sister, and now perhaps I no longer had the right to ask whether her love for me was more than sisterly.

I was surrounded by too many ghosts to return to London and my old life. I was selfishly sad that I had lost my child-wife and my childhood friend, and sometimes I felt I wanted to die. So I left England, and travelled for many months in Europe. I lived in a dark, miserable dream, with no hope or interest in my future.

The first one I opened was from Agnes. She gave me no advice, but she told me simply that she trusted me to find a purpose in life, and that she would always be proud of me, and love me as a sister.

However, I decided to return, and travelled home to England, after three years of absence. I was delighted to find that Traddles had married his Sophy, and was doing well as a lawyer. My aunt had moved back to her old Dover house, and was living happily there with Mr Dick and Peggotty. When I visited my aunt, I took the opportunity of asking her about Agnes.

"Has she -- has she any young man she'd like to marry?" I asked as lightly as possible.

My aunt looked carefully at me as she replied, "I suspect she has, David. She's never mentioned it to me, but I think -- I feel sure she's going to marry soon."

I was firm with myself and did not show my feelings. I borrowed a horse and rode to Canterbury to ask Agnes myself. When I saw that beautiful, gentle face again, I knew I had come home. I knew how dear she was to me, and would always be.

"Agnes," I said, "I am so grateful to you, for making me what I am, for helping me to be good! But I think you have a secret. Let me share it, Agnes, as your brother! Tell me whom you love!"

She had stopped crying now and was calmer. "If I have a secret, David, it is -- not a new one. It has been my secret -- for a long time!"

We held each other for some time, sure now of each other's love.

Agnes turned away from me and burst into tears. Somehow these tears did not sadden me, but gave me hope. "My dear Agnes! Don't cry!"

"Agnes, you're dearer to me than anything in the world. Don't think I'll be jealous of any man you choose to marry. I only want you to be happy!"

I was wild with hope. "Not a new one"! Did she mean…? "Dearest Agnes! Dare I hope to call you more than a sister!" She was in my arms and sobbing again, but this time with happiness. "I went away, Agnes, loving you! I returned home, loving you!"

"David, leave me! I can't talk about it now!" she sobbed.

"There is something I must tell you, David," she said gently, looking calmly into my face. "I have loved you all my life!" She added, "And something else -- before our sweet Dora died, she asked me -- can you guess -- to fill the empty place in your heart." And Agnes laid her head on my shoulder, and cried. And I cried with her, although we were both so happy.

My story has almost come to an end. I have published several books now, and I am a well-known writer. Agnes and I have been married for twenty years, and live in perfect happiness, with our children around us. We have heard from Daniel Peggotty in Australia. He and Emily have made friends there and are happy. Mr Micawber has become an important figure in a large Australian town, and his family are quite used to living there. My aunt, Mr Dick and Peggotty are all white-haired and old now, but still very fit, and they love playing with our children whenever they can. My old friend Traddles has two sons of his own, and will soon become a judge.

When I think of my friends and family, Agnes's lovely face shines above them all. She is here, next to me, as I write, and I hope that when my life comes to its end, she will be with me in the shadows, pointing upwards to the light!