CHAPTER FIFTEEN

A Safe Place for Magwitch

I spent the night at a hotel, but I wasn't able to rest. I kept worrying about the reasons for Wemmick's warning. Early the next morning I went to see him at the Castle. He said he had heard I was being watched at my house and that someone was looking for Magwitch. He also told me that Compeyson, Magwitch's enemy was alive and living in London. During my time away, Wemmick had told Herbert to move Magwitch to a safer place. Herbert had arranged to rent rooms for Magwitch in Clara's house near the open sea. She lived there with her father and there were many empty rooms. The house was further away from the middle of London than our home, and its location meant that we could easily take Magwitch abroad by boat from there.

"Magwitch is there now," said Wemmick, "and you can go to visit him tonight. But it's not safe to go back there after that. Remember, Mr Pip," he added firmly, "remember to ask him for his cash. Don't let anything happen to his cash. You don't know what will happen to him and your future is uncertain, too."

I was not able to tell Wemmick how I felt about Magwitch's money, so I quietly agreed.

That evening I went to the house, and met Clara, Herbert's girlfriend. She was a very lovely girl, and she was obviously in love with Herbert. I thought of how lucky she and Herbert were, and I felt sad again when I thought of Estella.

Magwitch was much quieter than the last time I had seen him. He was grateful for all our arrangements. Also, he had become more gentle and likeable. I was almost sorry to say goodbye to him later that night.

Life went on as normal for the next few weeks. Herbert went to work and visited Clara in the evenings. I had decided to keep a rowboat near our house so that Herbert and I could visit Magwitch. I often rowed on the river, and waited for news from Wemmick.

One evening I decided to go to the theatre. I knew that Mr Wopsle was acting in a certain play, and I hoped that some entertainment would take my mind off of recent events. Mr Wopsle noticed me in the audience, and he kept looking at me in a very strange way that I did not understand. After the play we met outside the theatre, and he immediately asked, "You didn't see that man sitting right behind you, Mr Pip?"

I felt suddenly cold. "No. Who was he?" I asked.

"Remember that Christmas Day, Mr Pip, when you were a young boy? We had the soldiers come to the house and then we went on to the wetlands with them to find a couple of escaped prisoners. Well, one of them was sitting behind you, looking over your shoulder during the play tonight."

"Do you know which one it was?" I asked, holding my breath.

"The one whose face was bleeding when we arrived," he answered.

Compeyson was still following me! I knew then Magwitch was in greater danger than we imagined. Later that evening I discussed the problem with Herbert, and we promised each other to be more careful.

A week later I met Mr Jaggers in the street. As we hadn't seen each other in a while, he invited me to dinner at his house that evening. When I arrived, Wemmick was also there. Mr Jaggers told me Miss Havisham had asked to see me on business, so I agreed to go there the next day.

Then Jaggers said, "Well, Pip! Our friend Drummle has won himself a great prize! He has just married Estella!"

Even though I had been expecting this news for a while, it still came as a terrible shock.

"I'd like to see," continued Jaggers, "who will be the stronger one in the marriage—the wife or the husband? He may have to beat her—"

"Surely he wouldn't do something like that!" I cried.

"Perhaps, but perhaps not. She is certainly more intelligent than him, so we shall see."

Right after Jaggers said this, I noticed the housekeeper putting a dish on the table. I looked hard at her. I knew those eyes and those hands. I had seen them somewhere, along with the same expression very recently! Suddenly I was absolutely certain that this woman was Estella's mother.

Later, after Wemmick and I had left Jaggers' house together, I asked him about Jaggers' housekeeper. He told me that, many years ago, his housekeeper had become jealous of her husband and another woman. Later, the other woman was murdered and Jaggers' housekeeper was accused of murdering her. Jaggers was her lawyer at the trial, and he managed to convince everyone that she was not strong enough to have killed the woman. She was also believed to have killed her three-year-old daughter, who had strangely disappeared. But because of Jaggers' clever arguing and skill, she was judged innocent of murder. She left her husband after the trial and became Jaggers' housekeeper.

(end of section)