Great Expectations

hould be. It appeared to me that he must be a very happy man indeed, to have so many little drawers in his shop; and I wondered when I peeped into one or two on th

ere was a general air and flavour about the corduroys, so much in the nature of seeds, and a general air and flavour about the seeds, so much in the nature of corduroys, that I hardly knew which was which. The same opportunity served me for noticing that Mr Pumblechook appeared to conduct his business by looking across the street at the saddler, who appeared to transact his business by keeping his eye on the coach-maker, who appeared to get on in

th as little butter, and putting such a quantity of warm water into my milk that it would have been more candid to have left the milk out altogether - his conversation consisted of nothing but arithmetic. On my politely bidding him Good morning, he said, pompously, `Seven times nine, boy?' And how should I be able to answer, dodged in that way, in a strange place, on an empty stomach! I was hungry, but before I had s

brick, and dismal, and had a great many iron bars to it. Some of the windows had been walled up; of those that remained, all the lower were rustily barred. There was a court-yard in front, and that was barred; so, we had to wait, after ringing the bell, until some one should come

or replied, `Pumblechook.' The voice returned, `Quite right,' and the window was

Mr Pumblech

young lady, who was very pretty and

ng in also, when she st

Did you wish to s

to see me,' returned Mr

girl; `but you

me severely - as if I had done anything to him! - and departed with the words reproachfully delivered: `Boy! Let your behaviour here be a credit unto

nication with it, and the wooden gates of that lane stood open, and all the brewery beyond, stood open, away to the high enclosing wall; and all was empty and disused. The cold wind see

`You could drink without hurt all the st

could, miss' sai

here now, or it would turn out

s like i

d the place will stand as idle as it is, till it falls. As to strong beer

name of this

its name

e than one,

ch is Greek, or Latin, or Hebrew, or all

id I; `that's a cu

given, that whoever had this house, could want nothing else. They must have

e was of about my own age. She seemed much older than I, of course, being a girl, and beautiful

thing I noticed was, that the passages were all dark, and that she had left a candle burning there. She took it up

he door of a room, a

hyness than politenes

; I am not going in.' And scornfully walked away

found myself in a pretty large room, well lighted with wax candles. No glimpse of daylight was to be seen in it. It was a dressing-room, as I supposed from the furniture, though much of i

ting at it, I cannot say. In an arm-chair, with an elbow resting on the table and her

k and on her hands, and some other jewels lay sparkling on the table. Dresses, less splendid than the dress she wore, and half-packed trunks, were scattered about. She had not quite finished dressing, for she had but one shoe on - the other was on the table n

like the dress, and like the flowers, and had no brightness left but the brightness of her sunken eyes. I saw that the dress had been put upon the rounded figure of a young woman, and that the figure upon which it now hung loose, had shrunk to skin and bone. Once, I had been taken to see some ghastly waxwork at the Fair, representin

said the lady

, ma

ip

's boy, ma'am.

et me look at y

rounding objects in detail, and saw that her watch had stopped at twenty minut

u are not afraid of a woman who has n

afraid of telling the enormous li

she said, laying her hands, one

t made me think

do I t

r he

oke

a weird smile that had a kind of boast in it. Afterwards, she kept her han

m. `I want diversion, and I hav

he could hardly have directed an unfortunate boy to do anything in

fancy that I want to see some play. There there!' with an impatie

med character of Mr Pumblechook's chaise-cart. But, I felt myself so unequal to the performance that I gave it up, and stood lookin

ullen and

trouble with my sister, so I would do it if I could; but it's so new here, and so strange, and so fine - and mel

and looked at the dress she wore, and at the dressi

me; so strange to him, so familiar to me;

tion of herself, I thought she was sti

ashing a look at me. `You can do

neither visible nor responsive, and feeling it a dreadful liberty so to roar out her name, was almost as

ed its effect upon her fair young bosom and against her pretty brown hair. `Your own,

hy, he is a commo

answer - only it seemed so unlikel

asked Estella of myself,

beggar my nei

Havisham to Estella. S

cards, I glanced at the dressing-table again, and saw that the shoe upon it, once white, now yellow, had never been worn. I glanced down at the foot from which the shoe was absent, and saw that the silk stocking on it, once white, now yellow,

en, of the discoveries that are occasionally made of bodies buried in ancient times, which fall to powder in the moment of being distinctly s

la with disdain, before our first game was out. `A

began to consider them a very indifferent pair. Her contempt fo

ural, when I knew she was lying in wait for me to do wrong

, as she looked on. `She says many hard things of you,

ke to say,'

,' said Miss Havis

ery proud,' I rep

hing

she is ve

hing

' (She was looking at me then w

hing

should like

r again, though s

't like to see her again, but

aid Miss Havisham, alo

ly when all the things about her had become transfixed - and it looked as if nothing could ever lift it up again. Her chest had dropped, so that she stooped; and her voice had dropp

me. She threw the cards down on the table when she had won

here again?' said miss

dnesday, when she checked me with her former imp

the week; I know nothing of weeks of the

, ma

something to eat, and let him roam and

she opened the side entrance, I had fancied, without thinking about it, that it must necessarily be night-time. The rush

boy,' said Estella; and dis

rable. They had never troubled me before, but they troubled me now, as vulgar appendages. I determined to ask Joe why he had ever taught me to call th

umiliated, hurt, spurned, offended, angry, sorry - I cannot hit upon the right name for the smart - God knows what its name was - that tears started to my eyes. The moment they sprang there, the girl looked at me with a quic

e, and leaned my sleeve against the wall there, and leaned my forehead on it and cried. As I cried, I kicked the wall, and t

se stands as many hands high, according to scale, as a big-boned Irish hunter. Within myself, I had sustained, from my babyhood, a perpetual conflict with injustice. I had known, from the time when I could speak, that my sister, in her capricious and violent coercion, was unjust to me. I had cherished a profound conviction that her b

out of my hair, and then I smoothed my face with my sleeve, and came from behind the gate. The bread and

re were no pigeons in the dove-cot, no horses in the stable, no pigs in the sty, no malt in the store-house, no smells of grains and beer in the copper or the vat. All the uses and scents of the brewery might have evaporated with its last reek of smoke. In a by-ya

lking away from me even then. But she seemed to be everywhere. For, when I yielded to the temptation presented by the casks, and began to walk on them. I saw her walking on them at the end of the yard of casks. She had her back towards me, and held her pretty brown hair spread out in her two hands, and never looked round, and passed out of my view directly. So, in the brewery itsel

ilding near me on my right hand, and I saw a figure hanging there by the neck. A figure all in yellow white, with but one shoe to the feet; and it hung so, that I could see that the faded trimmings of the dress were like earthy paper, and that the face was Miss Havisham's, with a movement goi

of the bread and meat and beer, would have brought me round. Even with those aids, I might not have come to myself as soon as I did, but that I saw Estella approac

so coarse and my boots were so thick, and she opened the gate, and stood holding it

on't y

I don't

crying till you are half blind, a

s wanted at Miss Havisham's again, I set off on the four-mile walk to our forge; pondering, as I went along, on all I had seen, and deeply revolving that I was a common labouring-boy; that my hands were coarse;