CHAPTER FOUR

A Present from a Stranger

I wanted to be accepted by Estella so badly that I even asked Mr Wopsle's cousin Biddy to begin teaching me everything she knew. Even though she helped me the best she could, I knew it would be a long time before I could reach Estella's level of education.

One evening I went to the village pub to fetch Joe. Though she never allowed him much, my sister would sometimes allow Joe a trip to the pub to smoke his pipe and have a beer. When I arrived Mr Wopsle and Joe were sitting with a man I'd never seen before. He wore a big hat that covered most of his head, and one of his eyes was half-closed. He had just ordered hot rum for the three of them, and looked very interestedly at me when I arrived.

"I find it very lonely out here in the country, gentlemen," he said.

"Yes," said Joe, "just wetlands as far as one can see, all the way down to the river."

"Do people ever spend the night on the wetlands?" asked the stranger.

"No," replied Joe, "except an escaped prisoner now and then. They can hide quite well there. One night all of us went out to look for one, didn't we, Pip?"

"Yes, that's right, Joe."

The stranger looked at me with his good eye.

"His name is Pip? Is he your son?"

"He's the wife's brother," explained Mr Wopsle, sounding very official in his church clerk's voice.

The drinks arrived, and the stranger began to mix his hot rum and water not with a spoon, but with a tool for cutting iron. He put the tool back in his pocket when he had finished, but not before he looked at me to make sure that I had seen it, too. As soon as I saw the tool, I knew it was the one I had stolen from Joe, and I knew that this man knew my prisoner. I looked at him in horror.

The men continued to speak to one another in a friendly way until Joe stood up. He took my hand to leave.

"Please, a moment," said the stranger. "I want to give the boy something." He wrapped a gold coin in some old paper from his pocket and handed it to me with a look full of meaning. "That's yours!" he said.

"Thank you, sir," I said, even though I could hardly talk after knowing who it was. Joe and I walked home together and Joe kept his mouth open all the way home so that my sister wouldn't know that he had been drinking rum.

When we arrived home, we took out the coin from the paper and found two pounds that the stranger had given me as well. My sister thought the stranger must have made a mistake, so she kept the pound notes in case he came back. I didn't feel good about the two pounds. I knew they were from my prisoner, and I felt having such criminal friends made me more common than ever.

The next time I went to Miss Havisham's house, I had to wait in a different room. There were several ladies and gentlemen, relations of hers, who were waiting as well. Estella called my name first to enter and her relatives turned and looked at me in disgust.

Leading me along the dark passages, Estella looked more beautiful than the first time I saw her. She stopped suddenly and put her face close to mine.

"Look at me, common boy! Do you think I am pretty?"

"Yes, you're very pretty."

"Am I rude to you?"

"Not as rude as last time."

Then she slapped my face very hard.

"You rough, common little boy! Now what do you think of me?"

"I won't tell you."

"Are you going to cry again, you fool?"

"I'll never cry for you again," I said. I knew this was a lie, because I was crying inside after she slapped me, and only I would know later how much I cried for her.

As we made our way upstairs we met a gentleman. He was a large, heavy man, with very dark skin, sharp eyes, and a huge head that had little hair. He smelled strongly of perfumed soap. At the time I didn't know how important he would become later in my life.

"Who's this?" he asked Estella, stopping to look at me.

"A local boy. Miss Havisham asked for him," she replied.

"Well, I think most boys are bad," he said to me. "So you'd better behave yourself!" He continued downstairs in the dark.

This time Miss Havisham was in a room I had not seen before. The furniture was completely covered in dust. In the middle of the room was a long table, and in the middle of the table was a large yellow thing, with hundreds of insects running around it. I felt quite sick looking at the insects.

"This table," said Miss Havisham, "is where they will lay me after I'm dead. Here my relations can come and look at me." She laid her bony hand on my shoulder, but I didn't want her to touch me. I thought she was going to die there and then. "That," she added, pointing to the yellow shape, "was my wedding cake. My wedding cake!" she shouted. "Come!" she suddenly said. "Call Estella and help me walk round the room!"

I had to hold her arm to help her as she walked. As we were going slowly and around the room, Estella brought in Miss Havisham's relations. They had been waiting downstairs for a long time. As they stood watching us at the door, I began to feel that they blamed me for Miss Havisham's cold manner towards them.

"Dear Miss Havisham!" said one of the ladies, trying to sound caring. "How well you look in your dress!"

"You know I do not," replied Miss Havisham sharply. "I am nothing but yellow skin and bone."

"It's not possible for Miss Havisham to look well after all her suffering," said a second lady quickly. "An impossible and silly idea!"

"And how are you doing?" Miss Havisham asked this lady. We were close to her then and I would have stopped, but Miss Havisham insisted on walking past her. I thought it was a rather rude way to treat guests.

"Not well," said this lady sadly. "My feelings are not so important—I often stay awake at night thinking of you and how you are, dear Miss Havisham!"

"Well, you shouldn't!" said Miss Havisham cruelly, and we hurried past the little group again.

"There's nothing I can do. I try to be less sensitive and loving. But that's how I am and I have to live with myself!" She started to cry softly. "And what of poor Matthew now!" she added. "Matthew never comes to see you, my dear Miss Havisham. But I—"

Upon hearing Matthew's name, Miss Havisham came to a stop in front of the speaker, who suddenly became silent.

"Matthew will be here," said Miss Havisham firmly, "When I die. He will see me laid on that table. All of you will stand around and look at me—you here, you there, you next to her, you two there. So now you know where to stand to look at my dead body. Now leave here, quickly!"

The group left slowly from the room. Some were even complaining that they had not spent enough time with their dear relation. After they had all gone, Miss Havisham whispered to me:

"Today is my birthday, Pip. My relations always come on this day once a year to give me their greetings. On this day, long before you were born, I was going to be married. Maybe I shall die on this day too. Then they will lay me in my wedding dress on this table and I'll have my revenge on him!"

She was a ghostly figure in her yellow-white bride's dress in the heavy, dark room. I felt she had been waiting for death to visit her for a long time. Then she became silent again.

I left the house and was walking towards the gate when something strange happened. I met a pale young gentleman with fair hair in the garden.

"Hello!" he said. "Come over this way and fight!"

I followed him without a word.

"Wait just a minute," he said, turning round quickly. "First I must give you a reason for fighting. There it is!" He pulled my hair and then hit his head hard into my stomach. After this I was ready to fight him, but he kept dancing about so much that I couldn't get close to him.

"Remember to follow the laws of the game!" he said. I thought he knew so much about fighting he would be hard to beat, but I was surprised when I knocked him down to the ground with my first hit. He got up immediately and seemed very glad to be fighting in the correct manner. I knocked him down again with my second hit. Again he got up and I thought him great for his bravery and his cheerfulness. Finally he agreed that I had won, and we said goodbye.

When I reached the gate, I saw that Estella had been waiting for me. I wondered if she had been watching our fight because she seemed very pleased about something. Before I walked out of the gate she said, "Here! You can kiss me if you like."

I kissed her cheek. Though I wanted to kiss her so very much, I felt her offer was like a coin thrown to a poor common boy, which hurt very much because it was not worth anything.

I continued my visits to Miss Havisham for almost a year. She enjoyed watching my growing love for Estella, but seemed to enjoy more my unhappiness when Estella laughed at me.

"Go ahead, my darling," she whispered in Estella's ear, "break men's hearts and have no mercy! I want my revenge!"

Meanwhile my sister and that old fool Pumblechook never stopped talking about Miss Havisham and her large wealth, something they expected me to receive part of either before or after her death. One day Miss Havisham decided it was time to have me serve and work under Joe, and ordered me to bring him along to her house. My sister was very angry that she was not invited as well.

Dear Joe simply could not believe his eyes when we entered Miss Havisham's room the next day. The darkness, the candles, the dust, the ancient furniture, the old lady in her bride's dress—it was almost too much for him. He refused to speak to Miss Havisham directly, and spoke only to me during the conversation. I could see Estella laughing at me behind Miss Havisham's shoulder, and I felt deeply embarrassed by Joe's small intelligence.

"So," began Miss Havisham, "you are Joe Gargery the ironworker. Are you ready to train Pip as your worker?"

"You know, Pip," replied Joe, speaking to me "that we've both been looking forward to working together. Haven't we, Pip?"

"When he becomes your worker you don't expect any payment?" she continued.

Joe seemed rather hurt and offended by her question. "Between you and me that question doesn't need an answer, does it, Pip?"

Miss Havisham looked kindly at Joe. She was more understanding of his character than Estella. "Here," she said, picking up a little bag from the table, "Pip has earned this. There is twenty-five pound in this bag. Give it to your master Joe, Pip."

Miss Havisham's gift seemed to make Joe go mad. Even so, he insisted on speaking to me.

"This is very kind and generous of you, Pip. Very kind. Now, old boy, we must do our duty to each other. Mustn't we, Pip?" I really had no idea what duty Joe was talking about.

"Goodbye, Pip!" said Miss Havisham. "Show them out, Estella!"

"Shall I come again to see you?" I asked on my way out.

"No, Gargery is your master now. Gargery! Remember, this money is because he has been a good boy. Don't expect anything more from me!"

I somehow managed to get Joe out of the house, and in the daylight he slowly returned to normal. In fact, his intelligence was improved because as we walked home he came up with a surprisingly clever plan.

"Well," cried my sister, as soon as we arrived, "you've finished visiting your fine ladies, I suppose? I'm surprised you even bother to come home at all!"

"Miss Havisham wanted me to send," said Joe, as if he couldn't remember the exact words, "her best wishes? Is that right, Pip? To Mrs J. Gargery ... "

"Best wishes," I agreed.

"Then she apologized for not being in good health enough to ... , what was it, Pip?"

"To have the pleasure," I said.

"To have the pleasure of a lady's company," he said, looking like a man glad to pass on a correct message.

This greatly pleased my sister. "She ought to have Sent that message earlier, but better late than never. What did she give the boy?"

"Nothing," said Joe firmly. This greatly angered Mrs Joe and she opened her mouth to start shouting when Joe raised his hand to stop her. "What she gave," he continued, "she gave to his sister, Mrs J. Gargery. That's what she said. Didn't she, Pip?"

"How much did she give?" asked my sister, laughing. I could not believe she was actually laughing!

"What would you think of ten pounds?" asked Joe.

"Not bad," said my sister.

"Then what would you say to twenty pounds?"

"That's even better!" said my sister.

"Well, here you are—twenty-five pounds, in fact!" said Joe. He delightedly handed the bag to my sister.

(end of section)