LITMIR.BIZ

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was going to fly at me, – I had no shadow of defence, for Joe was busy in the forge – when Mr. Pumblechook interposed with “No! Don’t lose your temper. Leave this lad to me, ma’am; leave this lad to me.” Mr. Pumblechook then turned me towards him, as if he were going to cut my hair, and said,

      “First (to get our thoughts in order): Forty-three pence?[40]”

      To which I replied, after a long interval of reflection, “I don’t know.” And I was so aggravated that I almost doubt if I did know.

      Mr. Pumblechook said, “Is forty-three pence seven and sixpence three fardens, for instance?[41]”

      “Yes!” said I. The answer spoilt his joke, and brought him to a dead stop.

      “Boy! What like is Miss Havisham?[42]” Mr. Pumblechook began again when he had recovered; folding his arms tight on his chest and applying the screw.

      “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 had never seen Miss Havisham, for she was nothing of the kind.

      “Good!” said Mr. Pumblechook. (“This is the way to have him,[43] I think, Mum!”)

      “I am sure, uncle,” returned Mrs. Joe, “I wish you had him always; you know so well how to deal with him.”

      “Now, boy! What was she a doing of, when you went in today?” asked Mr. Pumblechook.

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

      Mr. Pumblechook and Mrs. Joe stared at one another – as they well might – and both repeated, “In a black velvet coach?”

      “Yes,” said I. “And Miss Estella – that’s her niece, I think – handed her in cake and wine at the coach-window, on a gold plate. And we all had cake 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 silver basket.”

      Mr. Pumblechook and Mrs. Joe stared at one another again, in utter amazement. I was perfectly frantic and would have told them anything.

      “Where was this coach, in the name of gracious?[44]” asked my sister.

      “In Miss Havisham’s room.” They stared again. “But there weren’t any horses to it.”

      “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 a sedan-chair.[45] She’s flighty, you know – very flighty – quite flighty enough to pass her days in a sedan-chair.”

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

      “How could I,” he returned, “when I never see her in my life?”

      “Goodness, uncle! And yet you have spoken to her?”

      “Why, don’t you know,” said Mr. Pumblechook, “that when I have been there, I have been took up to the outside of her door, and the door has stood ajar, and she has spoke to me that way. Don’t say you don’t know that, Mum. But the boy went there to play. What did you play at, boy?”

      “We played with flags,” I said.

      “Flags!” echoed my sister.

      “Yes,” said I. “Estella waved a blue flag, and I waved a red one, and Miss Havisham waved one sprinkled all over with little gold stars, out at 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 – and pills. And there was no daylight in the room, but it was all lighted up with candles.”

      “That’s true, Mum,” said Mr. Pumblechook, with a grave nod. “That’s the state of the case, for that much I’ve seen myself.” And then they both stared at me, and I stared at them.

      Now, when I saw Joe open his blue eyes and roll them all round the kitchen in helpless amazement; but only as regarded him – not in the least as regarded the other two. Towards Joe, and Joe only, I considered myself a young monster. They had no doubt that Miss Havisham would “do something” for me. My sister stood out for “property.” Mr. Pumblechook was in favour of a handsome premium[46] for schooling.

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

      “Should you, Pip?” said Joe. “Then tell me. What is it, Pip?”

      “Joe,” said I, taking hold of his shirt sleeve, and twisting it between my finger and thumb, “you remember all that about Miss Havisham’s?”

      “Remember?” said Joe. “I believe you! Wonderful!”

      “It’s a terrible thing, Joe; it isn’t true.”

      “What are you telling of, Pip?” cried Joe, falling back in the greatest amazement. “You don’t mean to say it’s – ”

      “Yes I do; it’s lies, Joe.”

      “But not all of it?” I stood shaking my head. “But at least there were dogs, Pip? Come, Pip,” said Joe, “at least there were dogs?”

      “No, Joe.”

      “A dog?” said Joe. “A puppy? Come?”

      “No, Joe, there was nothing at all of the kind. It’s terrible, Joe; isn’t it?”

      “Terrible?” cried Joe. “Awful! What possessed you?”

      “I don’t know what possessed me, Joe,” I replied, letting his shirt sleeve go, and sitting down in the ashes at his feet, hanging my head; “but I wish 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 been able to explain myself to Mrs. Joe and Pumblechook, who were so rude to me, and that there had been a beautiful young lady at Miss Havisham’s who was dreadfully proud, and that she had said I was common, and that I knew I was common, and that I wished I was not common, and that the lies had come of it somehow, though I didn’t know how.

      “There’s one thing you may be sure of, Pip,” said Joe, after some rumination, “namely, that lies is lies. Don’t you tell more of them, Pip. That isn’t the way to get out of being common, old chap. But you are uncommon in some things. You’re uncommon small. There was a flag, perhaps?”

      “No,

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