Stories from Dickens

  *II. PIP AND ESTELLA*

  At this time I was only an errand boy around the forge, and my educationwas limited to spelling out the names on the tombstones. So in theevenings they sent me to school to Mr. Wopsle's aunt, a worthy woman whoused to go to sleep regularly from six to seven while her small classwas supposed to study.

  But I was lucky enough to find a friend in her granddaughter, Biddy.She was about my own age, and, while her shoes were generally untied andher hands sometimes dirty, her heart was in the right place and she hada good head. So with her help I struggled through my letters as if theyhad been a bramble-bush, getting considerably worried and scratched byeach letter in turn. Then came the dreaded nine figures to add to mytroubles. But at last I learned to read and cipher.

  I do not know which was the prouder, Joe or I, when I wrote him my firstletter (which was hardly needed, as he sat beside me while I wrote it).

  "I say, Pip, old chap!" he cried, opening his eyes very wide, "what ascholar you are! Ain't you?"

  "I should like to be," I answered, looking at the slate withsatisfaction.

  Mrs. Joe made occasional trips with Uncle Pumblechook on market-days, toassist him in buying such household stuffs and goods as required awoman's judgment; Uncle Pumblechook being a bachelor and reposing noconfidences in his domestic servant. On this particular evening shecame home from such a trip, bringing Uncle Pumblechook with her.

  "Now," said she, unwrapping herself with haste and excitement, andthrowing her bonnet back on her shoulders where it hung by the strings,"if this boy ain't grateful this night, he never will be!"

  I looked as grateful as any boy possibly could, who was whollyuninformed why he ought to assume that expression.

  "You have heard of Miss Havisham up town, haven't you?" continued mysister, addressing Joe. "She wants this boy to go and play there. Andof course he's going. And he had _better_ play there," said my sister,shaking her head at me as an encouragement to be extremely light andsportive, "or I'll work him!"

  I had heard of Miss Havisham up town--everybody for miles round hadheard of Miss Havisham up town--as an immensely rich and grim lady wholived in a large and dismal house barricaded against robbers, and wholed a life of seclusion.

  "Well to be sure!" said Joe, astounded. "I wonder how she come to knowPip!"

  "Noodle!" cried my sister. "Who said she knew him? Couldn't she askUncle Pumblechook if he knew of a boy to go and play there? And couldn'tUncle Pumblechook, being always considerate and thoughtful of us,mention this boy that I have been a willing slave to? And couldn'tUncle Pumblechook, being sensible that for anything we can tell, thisboy's fortune may be made by his going to Miss Havisham's, offer to takehim into town to-night in his own chaise-cart, and to keep him to-night,and to take him with his own hands to Miss Havisham's to-morrow morning?And Lor-a-mussy me!" cried my sister, casting off her bonnet in suddendesperation, "here I stand talking to mere Mooncalfs, with UnclePumblechook waiting, and the mare catching cold at the door, and the boygrimed with dirt from the hair of his head to the sole of his foot!"

  With that, she pounced on me, like an eagle on a lamb, and my face wassqueezed into wooden bowls in sinks, and my head was put under taps ofwater-butts, and I was soaped and kneaded, and towelled, and thumped,and harrowed, and rasped, until I really was quite beside myself.

  When my ablutions were completed, I was put into clean linen of thestiffest character, like a young penitent into sackcloth, and wastrussed up in my tightest and fearfullest suit. I was then deliveredover to Mr. Pumblechook, who formally received me as if he were theSheriff, saying pompously, "Boy, be forever grateful to all friends, butespecially unto them which brought you up by hand!"

  "Good-bye, Joe!"

  "God bless you, Pip, old chap!"

  I had never parted from him before, and what with my feelings and whatwith soap-suds, I could at first see no stars from the chaise-cart. Butthey twinkled out one by one, without throwing any light on thequestions as to why on earth I was going to play at Miss Havisham's, andwhat on earth I was expected to play at.

  I spent the night at Uncle Pumblechook's, and the next morning afterbreakfast we proceeded to Miss Havisham's. It was a dismal lookinghouse with a great many iron bars to it. Some of the windows had beenwalled up, and the others were rustily barred. There was a courtyard infront, which was also barred; so we had to wait, after ringing the bell,for some one to open it.

  Presently a window was raised, and a clear voice demanded, "What name?"

  "Pumblechook," was the reply.

  The voice returned, "Quite right," and the window was shut again, and ayoung lady came across the courtyard, with keys in her hand.

  "This," said Mr. Pumblechook, "is Pip."

  "This is Pip, is it?" returned the young lady, who was very pretty andseemed very proud; "come in, Pip."

  Mr. Pumblechook was coming in also, when she stopped him with the gate.

  "Oh!" she said. "Did you wish to see Miss Havisham?"

  "If Miss Havisham wished to see me," returned Mr. Pumblechook,discomfited.

  "Ah!" said the girl; "but you see she don't."

  She said it so finally, and in such an undiscussible way, that Mr.Pumblechook, though in a condition of ruffled dignity, could notprotest.

  We went into the house by a side door--the great front entrance had twochains across it outside--and the first thing I noticed was that thepassages were all dark, and that she had left a candle burning there.She took it up, and we went through more passages and up a staircase,and still it was all dark, and only the candle lighted us.

  At last we came to the door of a room and she said, "Go in."

  I answered, more in shyness than politeness, "After you, miss."

  To this she returned, "Don't be ridiculous, boy; I am not going in."And scornfully walked away, and--what was worse--took the candle withher.

  This was very uncomfortable, and I was half afraid. However, the onlything to do being to knock at the door, I knocked, and was told fromwithin to enter. I entered, therefore, and found myself in a prettylarge room, well lighted with wax candles. No glimpse of daylight wasto be seen in it. It was a dressing-room, as I supposed from thefurniture, though much of it was of forms and uses then quite unknown tome. But prominent in it was a draped table with a gilded looking-glass,and that I made out at first sight to be a fine lady's dressing-table.

  In an arm-chair, with an elbow resting on the table and her head leaningon that hand, sat the strangest lady I have ever seen, or shall eversee.

  She was dressed in rich materials,--satins and lace and silks,--all ofwhite. Her shoes were white. And she had a long white veil dependentfrom her hair, and she had bridal flowers in her hair, but her hair waswhite. Some bright jewels sparkled on her neck and on her hands, andsome other jewels lay sparkling on the table. Dresses, less splendidthan the dress she wore, and half-packed trunks, were scattered about.She had not quite finished dressing, for she had but one shoe on,--theother was on the table near her hand,--her veil was but half arranged,her watch and chain were not put on, and her handkerchief, gloves, someflowers, and a prayer-book lay confusedly heaped about thelooking-glass.

  "Who is it?" said the lady at the table.

  "Pip, ma'am."

  "Pip?"

  "Mr. Pumblechook's boy, ma'am. Come--to play."

  "Look at me," said Miss Havisham. "You are not afraid of a woman whohas never seen the sun since you were born?"

  I regret to state that I was not afraid of telling the enormous liecomprehended in the answer "No."

  "I am tired," said Miss Havisham. "I want diversion, and I have donewith men and women. Play."

  I looked foolish and bewildered, not knowing what to do.

  "I sometimes have sick fancies," she went on, "and I have a sick fancythat I want to see some play. There, there!" with an impatient movementof the fingers of her right hand; "play, play, play!"

  For a moment, with the fear of my si
ster's working me before my eyes, Ihad a desperate idea of starting round the room in the assumed characterof Mr. Pumblechook's chaise-cart. But I felt myself so unequal to theperformance that I gave it up, and stood looking at Miss Havisham inwhat I suppose she took for a dogged manner, inasmuch as she said, whenwe had taken a good look at each other,

  "Are you sullen and obstinate?"

  "No, ma'am, I am very sorry for you, and very sorry I can't play justnow. If you complain of me I shall get into trouble with my sister, soI would do it if I could; but it's so new here, and so strange, and sofine, and melancholy--" I stopped, fearing I might say too much.

  "Call Estella," she commanded, looking at me. "You can do that."

  To stand in a strange house calling a scornful young lady by her firstname was almost as bad as playing to order. But she answered at last.

  "My dear," said Miss Havisham, "let me see you play cards with thisboy."

  "What do you play, boy?" asked Estella, with the greatest disdain.

  "Nothing but 'beggar my neighbor,' Miss."

  "Beggar him," said Miss Havisham to Estella. So we sat down to cards.

  It was then I began to understand that everything in the room hadstopped, with the watch and the clock, a long time ago. I noticed thatMiss Havisham put down the jewel exactly on the spot from which she hadtaken it up. As Estella dealt the cards, I glanced at thedressing-table again, and saw that the shoe upon it, once white, nowyellow, had never been worn.

  "He calls the knaves, Jacks, this boy!" said Estella with disdain,before our first game was out. "And what coarse hands he has! And whatthick boots!"

  I had never thought of being ashamed of my hands before; but now I beganto consider them. Her contempt for me was so strong that I caught it.

  She won the game, and I dealt. I misdealt, as was only natural, when Iknew she was lying in wait for me to do wrong; and she denounced me fora stupid, clumsy laboring-boy.

  "You say nothing of her," remarked Miss Havisham to me, as she lookedon. "She says many hard things of you, but you say nothing of her.What do you think of her?"

  "I don't like to say," I stammered.

  "Tell me in my ear," said Miss Havisham, bending down.

  "I think she is very proud," I replied, in a whisper.

  "Anything else?"

  "I think she is very pretty."

  "Anything else?"

  "I think she is very insulting." (She was looking at me then with alook of supreme aversion.)

  "Anything else?"

  "I think I should like to go home."

  "You shall go soon," said Miss Havisham aloud; "play the game out."

  I played the game to an end with Estella, and she beggared me. Shethrew the cards down on the table when she had won them all, as if shedespised them for having been won of me.

  "When shall I have you here again?" said Miss Havisham. "Let me think.I know nothing of days of the week, or of weeks of the year. Come againafter six days. You hear?"

  "Yes, ma'am."

  "Estella, take him down. Let him have something to eat, and let himroam and look about him while he eats. Go, Pip."

  I followed the candle down, as I had followed the candle up, and shestood it in the place where we had found it. Until she opened the sideentrance, I had fancied, without thinking about it, that it mustnecessarily be night-time. The rush of the daylight quite confounded me,and made me feel as if I had been in the candle-light of the strangeroom many hours.

  When I reached home, my sister was very curious to know all about MissHavisham and what I had seen and done at her house. Uncle Pumblechook,too, came hurrying over, armed with many questions.

  I was naturally a truthful boy--as boys go--but I knew instinctivelythat I could not make myself understood about that strange visit. So Ididn't try. When he fired his first question, as to What was MissHavisham like?

  "Very tall and dark," I told him.

  "Is she, uncle?" asked my sister.

  Mr. Pumblechook winked assent; from which I at once inferred that he hadnever seen Miss Havisham, for she was nothing of the kind.

  "Good!" said Mr. Pumblechook conceitedly. "Now, boy! What was she adoing of when you went in to-day?" he continued.

  "She was sitting," I answered, "in a black velvet coach."

  Mr. Pumblechook and Mrs. Joe stared at one another--as they wellmight--and both repeated, "In a black velvet coach?"

  "Yes," said I. "And Miss Estella--that's her niece, I think--handed herin cake and wine at the coach-window, on a gold plate. And we all hadcake and wine on gold plates. And I got up behind the coach to eat mine,because she told me to."

  "Was anybody else there?" asked Mr. Pumblechook.

  "Four dogs," said I.

  "Large or small?"

  "Immense," said I. "And they fought for veal cutlets out of a silverbasket."

  Mr. Pumblechook and Mrs. Joe stared at one another again in utteramazement. I was perfectly frantic--a reckless witness under thetorture--and would have told them anything.

  "Where _was_ this coach, in the name of gracious?" asked my sister.

  "In Miss Havisham's room." They stared again. "But there weren't anyhorses to it." I added this saving clause, in the moment of rejectingfour richly caparisoned coursers which I had had wild thoughts ofharnessing.

  "Can this be possible, uncle?" asked Mrs. Joe. "What can the boy mean?"

  "I'll tell you, Mum," said Mr. Pumblechook. "My opinion is, it's asedan-chair. She's flighty, you know--very flighty--quite flightyenough to pass her days in a sedan-chair."

  "Did you ever see her in it, uncle?" asked Mrs. Joe.

  "How could I?" he returned, forced to the admission, "when I never seeher in my life. Never clapped eyes upon her!"

  "Goodness, uncle! And yet you have spoken to her!"

  "Just through the door," he replied testily. "Now, boy, what did youplay?"

  "We played with flags."

  "Flags!" echoed my sister.

  "Yes," said I. "Estella waved a blue flag, and I waved a red one, andMiss Havisham waved one sprinkled all over with little gold stars, outat the coach-window. And then we all waved our swords and hurrahed."

  "Swords!" repeated my sister. "Where did you get swords from?"

  "Out of a cupboard," said I. "And I saw pistols in it--and jam--andpills. And there was no daylight in the room, but it was all lighted upwith candles."

  "That's true, Mum," said Mr. Pumblechook, with a grave nod. "That's thestate of the case, for that much I've seen myself." And then they bothstared at me, and I at them, and plaited the right leg of my trouserswith my right hand.

  If they had asked me any more questions I should undoubtedly havebetrayed myself, for I was even then on the point of mentioning thatthere was a balloon in the yard, and should have hazarded the statementbut for my invention being divided between that phenomenon and a bear.They were so much occupied, however, in discussing the marvels I hadalready presented for their consideration, that I escaped. The subjectstill held them when Joe came in from his work to have a cup of tea. Towhom my sister, more for the relief of her own mind than for thegratification of his, related my pretended experiences.

  Now, when I saw Joe open his blue eyes and roll them all round thekitchen in helpless amazement, I was overtaken by penitence; but only asregarded him--not in the least as regarded the other two. Towards Joe,and Joe only, I considered myself a young monster, while they satdebating what results would come to me from Miss Havisham's acquaintanceand favor. They had no doubt that Miss Havisham would "do something"for me; their doubts related to the form that something would take. Mysister stood out for "property." Mr. Pumblechook was in favor of ahandsome premium for binding me apprentice to some genteel trade,--say,the corn and seed trade, for instance. Joe fell into the deepestdisgrace with both, for offering the bright suggestion that I might onlybe presented with one of the dogs who had fought for the veal cutlets."If a fool's head can't express better opinions than that," s
aid mysister, "and you have got any work to do, you had better go and do it."So he went.

  After Mr. Pumblechook had driven off, and when my sister was washing up,I stole into the forge to Joe, and remained by him until he had done forthe night. Then I said, "Before the fire goes out, Joe, I should liketo tell you something."

  "Should you, Pip?" said Joe, drawing his shoeing-stool near the forge."Then tell us. What is it, Pip?"

  "Joe," said I, taking hold of his rolled-up shirt sleeve, and twistingit between my finger and thumb, "you remember all that about MissHavisham's?"

  "Remember?" said Joe. "I believe you! Wonderful!"

  "It's a terrible thing, Joe; it ain't true."

  "What are you telling of, Pip?" cried Joe, falling back in the greatestamazement. "You don't mean to say it's--"

  "Yes, I do; it's lies, Joe."

  "But not all of it? Why sure you don't mean to say, Pip, that there wasno black welwet co--ch?" For, I stood shaking my head. "But at leastthere was dogs, Pip? Come, Pip," said Joe persuasively, "if there warn'tno weal cutlets, at least there was dogs?"

  "No, Joe."

  "_A_ dog?" said Joe. "A puppy? Come?"

  "No, Joe, there was nothing at all of the kind."

  As I fixed my eyes hopelessly on Joe, Joe contemplated me in dismay."Pip, old chap! This won't do, old fellow! I say! Where do you expectto go to?"

  "It's terrible, Joe; ain't it?"

  "Terrible?" cried Joe. "Awful! What possessed you?"

  "I don't know what possessed me, Joe," I replied, letting his shirtsleeve go, and sitting down in the ashes at his feet, hanging my head;"but I wish you hadn't taught me to call knaves at cards, Jacks; and Iwish my boots weren't so thick nor my hands so coarse."

  And then I told Joe that I felt very miserable, and that I hadn't beenable to explain myself to Mrs. Joe and Pumblechook, and that there hadbeen a beautiful young lady at Miss Havisham's who was dreadfully proud,and that she had said I was common, and much more to that effect.

  "There's one thing you maybe sure of, Pip," said Joe, after somerumination, "namely, that lies is lies. Howsever they come, they didn'tought to come, and they come from the father of lies, and work round tothe same. Don't you tell no more of 'em, Pip. _That_ ain't the way toget out of being common, old chap. And as to being common, I don't makeit out at all clear. You are oncommon in some things. You're oncommonsmall. Likewise you're a oncommon scholar."

  "No, I am ignorant and backward, Joe."

  "Why, see what a letter you wrote last night. Wrote in print even! I'veseen letters--Ah! and from gentlefolks!--that I'll swear weren't wrotein print," said Joe.

  "I have learnt next to nothing, Joe. You think much of me. It's onlythat."

  "Well, Pip," said Joe, "be it so or be it son't, you must be a commonscholar afore you can be a oncommon one, I should hope! The king uponhis throne, with his crown upon his 'ed, can't sit and write his acts ofParliament in print, without having begun, when he were a unpromotedprince, with the alphabet--Ah!" added Joe, with a shake of the head thatwas full of meaning, "and begun at A too, and worked his way to Z!"

  There was some hope in this piece of wisdom, and it rather encouragedme.

  "You're not angry with me, Joe?"

  "No, old chap. But you might bear in mind about them dog fights andweal cutlets when you say your prayers to-night. That's all, old chap,and don't never do it no more."