The third stage of Pip's expectations: Dealing with reality and its consequences
Pip was a young boy and having absorbed the first shock of the convict's coming, Pip considers what he must do to deal with the convict's presence, considering the dangers they both are facing. He and Herbert no longer have a servant, but they have a nosy cleaning lady and her niece, so Pip resolves to tell whoever visits his "uncle" had arrived unexpectedly from the country. Since the storm caused a blackout, Pip feels his way down the stairs to find the night watchman and have him get a lantern. In doing so, he stumbles over someone crouching in a corner, who silently steals away. Pip runs for the watchman, but they find no-one there on their return. Pip asks the watchman who came through the gate during the night, and the watchman mentions the visitor who asked for Pip; i.e., the convict, who Pip says is his uncle. Then the watchman asks whether Pip also saw "the person with him," who stayed close by the convict, stopping when he did, and following when he moved on; this discovery makes Pip even more fearful. Back in his apartment, Pip and the convict have a conversation, where the convict reveals his assumed name in London is Provis, but his real name is Abel Magwitch, who was brought up to be a "warmint." Magwitch tells Pip he was tried in London, and it was Jaggers who was his attorney. He is not especially afraid of discovery, even though being caught would mean death, because many years had passed since he was last seen in England. Because of this, he tells Pip he has come back for good; he has already evaded many traps before and will only concern himself when faced with immediate danger. Despite the fact Magwitch put his life in great peril to reach Pip and he greatly admires him, Pip can only feel loathing towards him. After five days, Herbert returns and is informed of the situation by Pip. Herbert appears to share the same repugnance against their visitor, and while talking alone, Pip declares he cannot accept any more of Magwitch's riches, even though he is deeply in debt. Herbert, however, warns him simply disowning his great expectations would likely drive Magwitch to great desperation after devoting his entire life and safety to his welfare. They finally agree the only possible course of action is for Pip to get Magwitch out of England by going with him. When Magwitch wakes up, Pip says to him he wants to know about his life story and also about the other convict he had fought with before capture. After reminding Herbert he is under oath not to repeat any of it, Magwitch complies. He says all that happened to him for a while was he was in and out of jail several times. Just about every punishment was inflicted upon him, save for hanging: being locked up, pushed around, put in stocks, and whipped. He knows his name is Abel Magwitch, but cannot recall how he knows. He has no idea where he was born, and his first memories were of stealing turnips for a living and being abandoned by a tinker. He also cannot recall anyone in his youth who was not frightened of him as a declared hardened criminal, and either avoided or fought him. He begged and stole and sometimes worked when someone would give him some work. More than 20 years earlier, he fell in with a con man named Compeyson, the other convict he was fighting on the marshes in Pip's childhood. Unlike him, Compeyson was a smooth talker who could pass off as a gentleman. At the time Magwitch met Compeyson, Compeyson had another confederate named Arthur who was deathly ill. Arthur and Compeyson "had been in a bad thing with a rich lady (who turns out to be miss Havisham) some years afore, and they'd made a pot of money by it." Now, Arthur was dying and going insane too, although Compeyson showed little concern. Arthur dies after hallucinating his late wife taking him to the afterlife. Magwitch realises he should have taken warning from the example of Arthur about Compeyson's perfidy but did not and was betrayed as a result. The two had several misdemeanor brushes with the law, but after four or five years were brought up on a felony charge of passing stolen notes. Compeyson set up Magwitch to take the greater part of blame by telling him they would put up separate defences. As a result, at trial, Compeyson passed off as the dignified gentleman, while Magwitch had to sell his belongings to hire Jaggers. Magwitch received a fourteen-year sentence while Compeyson was given half of the time. They were put in the same prison-ship, but Magwitch could not get at him. At one point he did get ahold of Compeyson but was immediately seen and placed in the "black-hole" of the ship, from which he promptly escaped and made his way to shore, where he was hiding among the graves when he encountered the then-seven-year-old Pip. Young Pip's mention to Magwitch of the other person he encountered on the marshes made Magwitch realise Compeyson was there, too, apparently driven to escape by his terror of Magwitch. Magwitch attacked and beat Compeyson until he was stopped by the arrival of the soldiers. Compeyson was again given a light punishment for his escape, but Magwitch was retried and sent for life imprisonment, though he later was released on condition of never returning to England. Pip asks if Compeyson is dead, and Magwitch replies he has never heard from him since. When Magwitch's story is finished, Herbert, who has been writing in the cover of a book, softly pushes the book over to Pip, who reads Herbert's words: "Young Havisham’s name was Arthur. Compeyson is the man who professed to be Miss Havisham's lover." Pondering on this, Pip's mind turns to Estella. He decides not to tell Magwitch about Estella but he must see both her and Miss Havisham the next day before going abroad with Magwitch. Upon reaching Richmond, however, he learns Estella has already gone to Satis House. This disturbs him, as Estella has never returned to Satis House without Pip as her companion. Arriving at Satis House, Pip finds Miss Havisham with Estella, who is quietly knitting. Pip tells Havisham he has found out who his benefactor was, but he can reveal no more, since it is not his secret, but another's. He says he now understands he was brought to Satis House as a child on Miss Havisham's whim, as no more than a kind of paid servant. Miss Havisham nods her assent; then Pip brings up Jaggers, his benefactor, and Havisham's mutual attorney, but Havisham cuts him off, saying the coincidence has no greater meaning. Miss Havisham also agrees she took advantage of the fact the Pocket family thought Pip was their rival for Miss Havisham's money, and she took pleasure in letting them think so. Pip hastens to let Havisham know he had become close to one part of the Pocket family, Herbert and his father Matthew, and she has wronged them, as they are "generous, upright, open, and incapable of anything designing or mean." Pip contrasts them with the other Pockets, a point that Havisham seems to appreciate. Havisham then asks Pip what he wants for part of the family. Pip first states he only wants her to treat them differently than the others, then goes on to request further monetary compensation for Herbert's welfare. After settling these matters, Pip turns to Estella, confessing his love for her ever since he met her as a child. Estella shakes her head to this, to which Pip states Miss Havisham would have realized the cruelty of her encouragement of his futile hopes for her if she had not been so fixated on her own troubles. Miss Havisham reacts to this by placing her hand on her heart, but Estella is unmoved, saying he can stir no emotions in her heart. She asks him if he has not, to which Pip miserably replies, "Yes." He explains he pursued her against her warnings because he could not believe such a beautiful and young person could be so irrevocably cold. The conversation then turns to Bentley Drummle, and Estella acknowledges he is to dine with her today. Pip protests Estella could never love him, much less marry him. Estella then devastates him with the declaration she will in fact be married to him. An anguished Pip buries his face into his hands; when he looks up again, he notices the colour has drained out of Havisham's face. Pip vainly tries to persuade Estella to choose a more worthy man than Drummle, but Estella, only amazed at his earnestness, restates her decision to marry Drummle. She offers her hand in friendship to Pip, saying he will move on with this, but a heartbroken Pip declares he could never forget her, as he has never got her out of his thoughts since childhood. In his despair and defeat, Pip decides he cannot go back to the inn to see a triumphant Drummle, and instead sets out to walk the entire distance back to London. It is past midnight when he arrives there. A guard at the Temple, after hearing his name for identification, gives him a note from Wemmick reading, "DON'T GO HOME". Leaving the gate immediately, Pip heads to Covent Garden where he spends a restless night in a sooty and dusty room. Early the next morning, he travels to the Castle, Wemmick's home, and finds him in a cheerful mood. Wemmick, communicating indirectly to him by hints and indirect statements because he is in his personal space now, informs Pip he has overheard talk that suggests rumors have arisen about the convict's whereabouts and Pip's quarters are being watched. Pip asks Wemmick if he knows of Compeyson and if he is alive, and Wemmick affirms both facts. Wemmick also tells Pip he sought out and found Herbert, and informed him if he knew of suspicious people hanging around his chambers, he should get anybody out of the way, meaning Magwitch must be moved, but it is not yet safe to ship him from England. Herbert decided to move Magwitch to the home of his fiancée, Clara Barley, at Mill Pond Bank. After spending the rest of the day at Wemmick's home, Pip goes to the Barleys' residence, where he finds Magwitch comfortably residing. He asks Magwitch if he trusts Jaggers's judgment, and Magwitch says he does. Pip goes on to tell him of the danger he is in, and he will stay here until he can be safely moved from England by boat. Magwitch is pleased at this proposal, and Pip takes his leave. Pip returns to the Temple, where he obtains a boat to practice rowing on the Thames in the following days to prepare to remove Magwitch when the time is right. Pip practices hard and often, sometimes alone and sometimes with Herbert. He becomes a familiar presence rowing on the Thames, which is his intention, so his comings and goings on the boat will not arouse suspicion. Though weeks pass with no hint of trouble, Pip lives in constant fear the convict's pursuers may appear at any time. Nothing is heard from Wemmick for some time. Pip's financial affairs are deteriorating and he feels he cannot take any more of Magwitch's money, returning the cash-filled pocketbook he had given him for safekeeping. Another of Pip's fears is Estella has already married, and he avoids newspapers lest he read something to confirm that fear. One cold February evening, after a day of rowing, Pip decides to stop at a chophouse for dinner. There he unexpectedly encounters Mr. Wopsle, who Pip heard had given up his pursuit in theatre, now performing comic pantomime. To Pip's surprise, he sees Mr. Wopsle glaring in his direction with a look as though he had unconfirmed suspicions of him. As Pip leaves the performance, he finds Mr. Wopsle waiting for him. He tells Pip he saw him, but also saw someone else. Becoming alarmed, Pip presses Mr. Wopsle to explain, and Mr. Wopsle replies he saw a figure sitting behind Pip "like a ghost", and he was certain it was someone he had seen on Christmas Day long ago, when Pip was a child. He asserts he feels the person was one of the two fighting prisoners on the marshes, "the one who had been mauled." Pip realizes with terror the person who had been behind him was Compeyson, Magwitch's enemy. About a week after his encounter with Mr. Wopsle, Pip runs into Jaggers after another day of rowing, who invites him to dine at his home with Wemmick. There, Pip is given a note from Miss Havisham stating she wishes to see him on a matter of business, meaning the gift for Herbert. Jaggers comments "the Spider," or Drummle, has won, which confirms his status as Estella's husband. Pip is then distracted by the arrival of Molly, Jaggers's maidservant, who he sees make "a certain action of her fingers as she spoke that arrested my attention." The action strongly resembles the motions Pip saw of Estella's knitting. He scrutinises Molly's looks and becomes convinced she is Estella's mother. Pip and Wemmick leave Jaggers's dinner early, and as they walk, the "right" Wemmick emerges. Pip asks Wemmick if he knows anything about Molly's backstory. Wemmick obliges, explaining some years ago, Molly was tried for murder, with Jaggers as her attorney. Evidence made it clear the murderer had been an exceptionally strong woman who had strangled another woman in a passionate fight. While all available evidence pointed to Molly as the murderer, Jaggers acquitted her by claiming a woman as small as Molly could never overpower another so much larger. He dressed Molly so as to make her appear more delicate than she really was, and explained the lacerations on the back of her hands as the result of being scratched by brambles. Jaggers also challenged the prosecution's classification of the murder as one of jealousy, and Molly had destroyed her child to exact revenge upon the man who had wronged her; he demands on why Molly is not being tried for the murder of her child, and the jury is forced to concede and acquit Molly. Pip asks Wemmick if he knew the gender of Molly's child, and Wemmick replies, "Said to have been a girl." After this discovery, Pip goes to Satis House once more to talk with Miss Havisham. Sensing the house is disquietingly empty now Estella is gone, Pip finds Miss Havisham in a disconcerted state. After Miss Havisham gets from him the exact amount of money to write to Herbert, she asks him about Estella. Pip restates his feelings for Estella, and is surprised when Miss Havisham crawls to him on her knees, lamenting, "What have I done!" Miss Havisham says Pip's confession of love to Estella and Estella's coldness at this made her realise the folly of raising her to have a heart of ice. She insists when she first received Estella as a baby, she only planned to protect her from the misery she had suffered from being jilted, but when Estella grew up to be beautiful, her intentions changed to using her as a tool to take out her revenge on men. Pip asks her if she knows where Estella came from, but Miss Havisham says she knows nothing about this, other than Jaggers ).
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