WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.319 --> 00:00:07.559 Chapter fifty three of Great Expectations. This is a LibriVox recording. 2 00:00:08.240 --> 00:00:11.359 All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more 3 00:00:11.359 --> 00:00:17.039 information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. This 4 00:00:17.199 --> 00:00:22.719 recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina. Great 5 00:00:22.760 --> 00:00:30.399 Expectations by Charles Dickens, chapter fifty three. It was a 6 00:00:30.519 --> 00:00:33.479 dark night, though the full moon rose. As I left 7 00:00:33.479 --> 00:00:37.600 the enclosed lands and passed out upon the marshes. Beyond 8 00:00:37.600 --> 00:00:40.000 their dark line, there was a ribbon of clear sky, 9 00:00:40.640 --> 00:00:44.119 hardly broad enough to hold the red large moon. In 10 00:00:44.159 --> 00:00:47.039 a few minutes she had ascended out of that clear field. 11 00:00:47.280 --> 00:00:51.240 In among the piled mountains of cloud. There was a 12 00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:55.280 melancholy wind, and the marshes were very dismal. A stranger 13 00:00:55.320 --> 00:00:58.159 would have found them insupportable, and even to me they 14 00:00:58.200 --> 00:01:02.039 were so oppressive that I hesitated, half inclined to go back. 15 00:01:02.759 --> 00:01:05.319 But I knew them well, and could have found my 16 00:01:05.359 --> 00:01:08.439 way on a far darker night, and had no excuse 17 00:01:08.480 --> 00:01:13.079 for returning being there. So, having come there against my inclination, 18 00:01:13.799 --> 00:01:17.480 I went on against it. The direction that I took 19 00:01:17.599 --> 00:01:20.200 was not that in which my old home lay, nor 20 00:01:20.280 --> 00:01:23.560 that in which we had pursued the convicts. My back 21 00:01:23.680 --> 00:01:26.239 was turned towards the distant hulks as I walked on, 22 00:01:26.840 --> 00:01:28.959 and though I could see the old lights away on 23 00:01:29.040 --> 00:01:32.319 the spits of sand, I saw them over my shoulder. 24 00:01:33.519 --> 00:01:35.400 I knew the lime kiln as well as I knew 25 00:01:35.439 --> 00:01:39.000 the old battery, but they were miles apart, so that 26 00:01:39.319 --> 00:01:41.760 if a light had been burning at each point that night, 27 00:01:42.400 --> 00:01:44.319 there would have been a long strip of the blank 28 00:01:44.359 --> 00:01:48.799 horizon between the two bright specks. At first I had 29 00:01:48.840 --> 00:01:51.200 to shut some gates after me, and now and then 30 00:01:51.280 --> 00:01:53.719 to stand still while the cattle that were lying in 31 00:01:53.760 --> 00:01:57.159 the banked up pathway arose and blundered down among the 32 00:01:57.200 --> 00:02:00.359 grass and reeds. But after a little while, while I 33 00:02:00.400 --> 00:02:04.040 seemed to have the whole flats to myself, it was 34 00:02:04.120 --> 00:02:07.120 another half hour before I drew near to the kiln. 35 00:02:07.359 --> 00:02:10.960 The line was burning with a sluggish, stifling smell, but 36 00:02:11.000 --> 00:02:13.560 the fires were made up and left, and no workmen 37 00:02:13.639 --> 00:02:18.080 were visible. Hard by was a small stone quarry. It 38 00:02:18.159 --> 00:02:21.360 lay directly in my way and had been worked that day, 39 00:02:21.439 --> 00:02:23.840 as I saw by the tools and barrows that were 40 00:02:23.879 --> 00:02:27.759 lying about coming up again to the marsh level. Out 41 00:02:27.800 --> 00:02:31.240 of this excavation for the rude path lay through it. 42 00:02:31.840 --> 00:02:34.680 I saw a light in the old sluice house. I 43 00:02:34.759 --> 00:02:37.319 quickened my pace and knocked at the door with my hand, 44 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:41.840 waiting for some reply. I looked about me, noticing how 45 00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:45.439 the sluice was abandoned and broken, and how the house 46 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:49.080 of wood with a tiled roof would not be proof 47 00:02:49.120 --> 00:02:52.280 against the weather much longer if it were so even now, 48 00:02:52.919 --> 00:02:55.479 and how the mud and ooze were coated with lime, 49 00:02:56.000 --> 00:02:58.479 and how the choking vapor of the kiln crept in 50 00:02:58.479 --> 00:03:02.240 a ghostly way towards me. Still there was no answer, 51 00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:06.400 and I knocked again. No answer still, and I tried 52 00:03:06.400 --> 00:03:10.199 to latch. It rose under my hand and the door yielded. 53 00:03:10.719 --> 00:03:13.240 Looking in I saw a lighted candle on a table, 54 00:03:13.759 --> 00:03:17.159 a bench, and a mattress on a truckle bedstead. As 55 00:03:17.199 --> 00:03:20.560 there was a loft above. I called is any one here? 56 00:03:21.520 --> 00:03:24.879 But no voice answered. Then I looked at my watch, and, 57 00:03:24.919 --> 00:03:28.479 finding that it was past nine, called again is there 58 00:03:28.520 --> 00:03:32.319 any one here? There being still no answer, I went 59 00:03:32.360 --> 00:03:36.280 out at the door, irresolute what to do. It was 60 00:03:36.319 --> 00:03:39.840 beginning to rain fast. Seeing nothing save what I had 61 00:03:39.919 --> 00:03:43.240 seen already, I turned back into the house and stood 62 00:03:43.319 --> 00:03:46.280 just within the shelter of the doorway, looking out into 63 00:03:46.319 --> 00:03:50.120 the night. While I was considering that some one must 64 00:03:50.159 --> 00:03:52.560 have been there lately. I must soon be coming back, 65 00:03:53.120 --> 00:03:55.560 or the candle would not be burning, it came into 66 00:03:55.560 --> 00:03:58.800 my head to look if the wick were long. I 67 00:03:58.879 --> 00:04:01.159 turned round to do so, and had taken up the 68 00:04:01.199 --> 00:04:04.199 candle in my hand when it was extinguished by some 69 00:04:04.400 --> 00:04:07.960 violent shock. And the next thing I comprehended was that 70 00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:10.840 I had been caught in a strong running noose thrown 71 00:04:10.879 --> 00:04:15.840 over my head from behind. Now, said a suppressed voice, 72 00:04:15.879 --> 00:04:21.279 with an oath. I've got you. What is this? I cried, struggling, 73 00:04:21.759 --> 00:04:26.879 who is it? Help? Help, Help? Not only were my 74 00:04:27.040 --> 00:04:29.600 arms pulled close to my sides, but the pressure on 75 00:04:29.720 --> 00:04:34.079 my bad arm caused me exquisite pain. Sometimes a strong 76 00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:38.040 man's hand, sometimes a strong man's breast, was set against 77 00:04:38.040 --> 00:04:41.000 my mouth to deaden my cries. And with a hot 78 00:04:41.040 --> 00:04:44.600 breath always close to me, I struggled ineffectually in the 79 00:04:44.680 --> 00:04:47.800 dark while I was fastened tight to the wall. And 80 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:52.319 now said the suppressed voice, with another oath, Call out again, 81 00:04:52.600 --> 00:04:56.680 and I'll make short work of you. Faint and sick 82 00:04:56.759 --> 00:04:59.920 with the pain of my injured arm, bewildered by the suppor, 83 00:05:00.439 --> 00:05:03.040 and yet conscious how easily this threat could be put 84 00:05:03.079 --> 00:05:07.639 in execution. I desisted and tried to ease my armward 85 00:05:07.680 --> 00:05:11.000 ever so little, but it was bound too tight for that. 86 00:05:11.759 --> 00:05:14.759 I felt as if, having been burnt before, it was 87 00:05:14.839 --> 00:05:19.399 now being broiled. The sudden exclusion of the night, and 88 00:05:19.480 --> 00:05:22.959 the substitution of black darkness in its place, warned me 89 00:05:23.079 --> 00:05:26.560 that the man had closed a shutter. After groping about 90 00:05:26.600 --> 00:05:29.680 for a little, he found the flint and steel he wanted, 91 00:05:30.040 --> 00:05:33.240 and began to strike a light. I strained my sight 92 00:05:33.360 --> 00:05:36.360 upon the sparks that fell among the tinder, and upon 93 00:05:36.399 --> 00:05:39.680 which he breathed, and breathed, match in hand, but I 94 00:05:39.680 --> 00:05:42.439 could only see his lips and the blue point of 95 00:05:42.480 --> 00:05:46.839 the match, even those, but fitfully the tinder was damp. 96 00:05:47.199 --> 00:05:51.120 No wonder there, and one after another the sparks died out. 97 00:05:52.360 --> 00:05:54.800 The man was in no hurry and struck again with 98 00:05:54.879 --> 00:05:58.079 the flint and steel. As the sparks fell thick and 99 00:05:58.120 --> 00:06:01.439 bright about him, I could see his hands and touches 100 00:06:01.480 --> 00:06:03.920 of his face, and could make out that he was 101 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:08.720 seated and bending over the table, but nothing more. Presently 102 00:06:08.720 --> 00:06:11.480 I saw his blue lips again breathing on the tinder, 103 00:06:11.800 --> 00:06:14.879 and then a flare of light flashed up and showed 104 00:06:14.920 --> 00:06:19.560 me Porlick, whom I had looked for. I don't know, 105 00:06:20.040 --> 00:06:23.279 I had not looked for him. Seeing him, I felt 106 00:06:23.319 --> 00:06:26.240 that I was in a dangerous strait, indeed, and I 107 00:06:26.319 --> 00:06:30.160 kept my eyes upon him. He lighted the candle from 108 00:06:30.160 --> 00:06:33.759 the flaring match with great deliberation, and dropped the match 109 00:06:33.839 --> 00:06:36.839 and trotted out. Then he put the candle away from 110 00:06:36.920 --> 00:06:38.879 him on the table so that he could see me, 111 00:06:39.600 --> 00:06:42.160 and sat with his arms folded on the table and 112 00:06:42.240 --> 00:06:45.800 looked at me. I made out that I was fastened 113 00:06:45.839 --> 00:06:48.879 to a stout perpendicular ladder a few inches from the wall, 114 00:06:49.360 --> 00:06:54.560 a fixture there the means of ascent to the loft above. Now, 115 00:06:54.759 --> 00:06:57.800 said he, when we had surveyed one another for some time, 116 00:06:58.399 --> 00:07:05.079 I've got you unbind me. Let me go, ah, he returned. 117 00:07:05.600 --> 00:07:08.480 I'll let you go. I'll let you go to the moon. 118 00:07:08.959 --> 00:07:12.639 I'll let you go to the stars, all in good time. 119 00:07:14.120 --> 00:07:19.199 Why have you lured me here, don't you know? Said he, 120 00:07:19.319 --> 00:07:22.560 with a deadly look. Why have you set upon me 121 00:07:22.639 --> 00:07:27.160 in the dark? Because I mean to do it all myself. 122 00:07:27.680 --> 00:07:31.439 One keeps a secret better than two. Oh, you enemy, 123 00:07:32.040 --> 00:07:36.839 you enemy. His enjoyment of the spectacle I furnished as 124 00:07:36.839 --> 00:07:39.920 he sat with his arms folded on the table, shaking 125 00:07:39.959 --> 00:07:43.040 his head at me and hugging himself, had a malignity 126 00:07:43.120 --> 00:07:46.439 in it that made me tremble as I watched him 127 00:07:46.439 --> 00:07:48.800 in silence. He put his hand into the corner at 128 00:07:48.800 --> 00:07:51.519 his side and took up a gun with a brass 129 00:07:51.560 --> 00:07:56.800 bound stock. Do you know this, said he, making as 130 00:07:56.800 --> 00:07:59.120 if he would take aim at me. Do you know 131 00:07:59.199 --> 00:08:05.759 where you saw it? A four speak wolf? Yes, I answered, 132 00:08:06.959 --> 00:08:12.240 You cost me that place you did speak? What else 133 00:08:12.279 --> 00:08:15.839 could I do? You did that, and that would be 134 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:19.519 enough without more? How dared you to come betwixt me 135 00:08:19.560 --> 00:08:24.399 and a young woman I liked? When? Did I? When 136 00:08:24.639 --> 00:08:27.879 didn't you? It was you, as always give old orlick 137 00:08:27.920 --> 00:08:31.680 a bad name to her. You gave it to yourself. 138 00:08:32.120 --> 00:08:34.840 You gained it for yourself. I could have done you 139 00:08:34.879 --> 00:08:38.879 no harm if you had done yourself none. You're a liar, 140 00:08:39.320 --> 00:08:42.039 and you'll take any pains and spend any money to 141 00:08:42.159 --> 00:08:45.240 drive me out of this country, will you? Said he, 142 00:08:45.480 --> 00:08:48.080 repeating my words to Biddy in the last interview I 143 00:08:48.159 --> 00:08:51.600 had with her. Now I'll tell you a piece of information. 144 00:08:52.320 --> 00:08:54.840 It was never so well worth your while to get 145 00:08:54.840 --> 00:08:58.320 me out of this country as it is tonight. Ah, 146 00:08:58.600 --> 00:09:01.559 if it was all your money twenty times told to 147 00:09:01.639 --> 00:09:05.039 the last brass farthing. As he shook his heavy hand 148 00:09:05.080 --> 00:09:08.039 at me, with his mouth snarling like a tiger's, I 149 00:09:08.120 --> 00:09:11.360 felt that it was true. What are you going to 150 00:09:11.399 --> 00:09:16.120 do to me? I'm a goin, said he, bringing his 151 00:09:16.200 --> 00:09:19.080 fist down upon the table with a heavy blow, and 152 00:09:19.240 --> 00:09:21.919 rising as the blow fell to give it greater force. 153 00:09:22.440 --> 00:09:27.080 I'm a going to have your life. He leaned forward, 154 00:09:27.200 --> 00:09:30.480 staring at me, slowly, unclenched his hand and drew it 155 00:09:30.519 --> 00:09:33.200 across his mouth, as if his mouth watered for me, 156 00:09:33.919 --> 00:09:38.639 and sat down again. You was always in old orlex ways, 157 00:09:38.720 --> 00:09:41.720 ever since you was a child. You goes out of 158 00:09:41.759 --> 00:09:46.360 his way. This present night, he'll have no more on you. 159 00:09:46.360 --> 00:09:49.879 You're dead. I felt that I had come to the 160 00:09:49.919 --> 00:09:53.000 brink of my grave. For a moment I looked wildly 161 00:09:53.080 --> 00:09:55.679 round my trap for any chance of escape, but there 162 00:09:55.799 --> 00:10:00.759 was none more than that, said he, holding his arms 163 00:10:00.759 --> 00:10:03.759 on the table again. I won't have a rag of you. 164 00:10:04.159 --> 00:10:06.440 I won't have a bone of you left on earth. 165 00:10:07.039 --> 00:10:10.399 I'll put your body in the kiln. I'd carry two 166 00:10:10.519 --> 00:10:14.159 such to it on my shoulders, and let people suppose 167 00:10:14.200 --> 00:10:16.720 what they may of you. They shall never know nothing. 168 00:10:18.360 --> 00:10:23.120 My mind, with inconceivable rapidity, followed out all the consequences 169 00:10:23.159 --> 00:10:26.519 of such a death. Estella's father would believe I had 170 00:10:26.559 --> 00:10:30.879 deserted him, would be taken, would die accusing me. Even 171 00:10:30.919 --> 00:10:33.360 Herbert would doubt me when he compared the letter I 172 00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:35.320 had left for him with the fact that I'd called 173 00:10:35.360 --> 00:10:38.840 at Miss Havisham's gate for only a moment. Joe and 174 00:10:38.879 --> 00:10:41.639 Biddy would never know how sorry I had been that night. 175 00:10:42.200 --> 00:10:45.360 None would ever know what I had suffered, how true 176 00:10:45.399 --> 00:10:48.320 I had meant to be, what an agony I had 177 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:52.519 passed through. The death close before me was terrible. But 178 00:10:52.679 --> 00:10:55.200 far more terrible than death was the dread of being 179 00:10:55.440 --> 00:10:59.240 misremembered after death. And so quick were my thoughts that 180 00:10:59.320 --> 00:11:04.399 I saw myself despised by unborn generations as Stella's children 181 00:11:04.519 --> 00:11:07.600 and their children. While the wretch's words were yet on 182 00:11:07.679 --> 00:11:13.480 his lips, now Wolf said he afore, I kill you 183 00:11:13.720 --> 00:11:16.919 like any other beast, which is what I mean to do, 184 00:11:17.000 --> 00:11:19.720 and what I have tied you up for. I'll have 185 00:11:19.840 --> 00:11:22.200 a good look at you, and have a good goad 186 00:11:22.320 --> 00:11:26.360 at you, oh, you enemy. It had passed through my 187 00:11:26.440 --> 00:11:29.200 thoughts to cry out for help again, though few could 188 00:11:29.240 --> 00:11:32.399 know better than I the solitary nature of the spot 189 00:11:32.720 --> 00:11:36.080 and the hopelessness of aid. But as he sat gloating 190 00:11:36.159 --> 00:11:39.519 over me, I was supported by a scornful detestation of 191 00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:43.320 him that sealed my lips. Above all things. I resolved 192 00:11:43.320 --> 00:11:46.000 that I would not entreat him, and that I would die, 193 00:11:46.080 --> 00:11:51.399 making some last poor resistance to him. Softened as my 194 00:11:51.600 --> 00:11:54.399 thoughts of all the rest of men were in that 195 00:11:54.559 --> 00:11:59.080 dire extremity, humbly beseeching pardon as I did of Heaven, 196 00:11:59.720 --> 00:12:02.200 melt it at heart as I was by the thought 197 00:12:02.240 --> 00:12:05.399 that I had taken no farewell, and never now could 198 00:12:05.480 --> 00:12:08.200 take farewell of those who were dear to me, or 199 00:12:08.200 --> 00:12:12.080 could explain myself to them, or ask for their compassion 200 00:12:12.120 --> 00:12:16.399 on my miserable errors. Still, if I could have killed him, 201 00:12:16.759 --> 00:12:20.919 even in dying, I would have done it. He had 202 00:12:20.960 --> 00:12:25.200 been drinking, and his eyes were red and bloodshot. Around 203 00:12:25.240 --> 00:12:27.960 his neck was slung a tinged bottle, as I had 204 00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:30.559 often seen his meat and drink slung about him in 205 00:12:30.600 --> 00:12:33.720 other days. He brought the bottle to his lips and 206 00:12:33.759 --> 00:12:36.600 took a fiery drink from it. And I smelt the 207 00:12:36.639 --> 00:12:42.200 strong spirits that I saw flash into his face, wolf said, 208 00:12:42.240 --> 00:12:45.679 he folding his arms again, Old or Alexa, going to 209 00:12:45.759 --> 00:12:48.720 tell you something. It was you, as did for your 210 00:12:48.759 --> 00:12:54.679 shrewd sister. Again, my mind, with its former inconceivable rapidity, 211 00:12:55.120 --> 00:12:58.360 had exhausted the whole subject of the attack upon my sister, 212 00:12:58.960 --> 00:13:02.759 her illness and her before his slow and hesitating speech 213 00:13:02.799 --> 00:13:09.039 had formed these words. It was you, villain, said I 214 00:13:09.039 --> 00:13:12.080 I tell you it was your doing. I tell you 215 00:13:12.200 --> 00:13:15.919 it was done through you. He retorted, catching up the 216 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:18.200 gun and making a blow with the stock at the 217 00:13:18.279 --> 00:13:22.039 vacant air between us. I come upon her from behind, 218 00:13:22.519 --> 00:13:25.480 as they come upon you to night. I give it her. 219 00:13:26.159 --> 00:13:28.600 I had left her for dead, And if there had 220 00:13:28.639 --> 00:13:30.960 been a lime kiln as nigh her as there is 221 00:13:31.039 --> 00:13:34.360 now nigh you, she shouldn't have come to life again. 222 00:13:35.279 --> 00:13:39.279 But it warn't Old orlick As did it. It was you. 223 00:13:39.279 --> 00:13:43.080 You was favored, and he was bullied and beat Old 224 00:13:43.159 --> 00:13:46.879 or like bullied and beat eh. Now you pays for it. 225 00:13:47.480 --> 00:13:51.919 You done it. Now you pays for it. He drank 226 00:13:51.960 --> 00:13:56.120 again and became more ferocious. I saw by his tilting 227 00:13:56.159 --> 00:13:58.600 of the bottle that there was no great quantity left 228 00:13:58.600 --> 00:14:02.200 in it. I distinctly understood that he was working himself 229 00:14:02.279 --> 00:14:04.360 up with its contents to make an end of me. 230 00:14:05.120 --> 00:14:07.360 I knew that every drop it held was a drop 231 00:14:07.399 --> 00:14:10.600 of my life. I knew that when I was changed 232 00:14:10.639 --> 00:14:13.159 into a part of the vapor that crept towards me 233 00:14:13.600 --> 00:14:16.879 but a little while before, like my own warning ghost, 234 00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:19.919 he would do as he had done in my sister's case, 235 00:14:20.519 --> 00:14:23.600 make all haste to the town and be seen slouching 236 00:14:23.639 --> 00:14:27.519 about there, drinking at the ale houses. My rapid mind 237 00:14:27.559 --> 00:14:30.120 pursued him to the town, made a picture of the 238 00:14:30.159 --> 00:14:33.399 street with him in it, and contrasted its lights and 239 00:14:33.519 --> 00:14:36.679 life with the lonely marsh and the white vapor creeping 240 00:14:36.720 --> 00:14:41.320 over it into which I should have dissolved. It was 241 00:14:41.360 --> 00:14:43.519 not only that I could have summed up years and 242 00:14:43.639 --> 00:14:47.320 years and years while he said a dozen words, but 243 00:14:47.399 --> 00:14:50.360 that what he did say presented pictures to me, and 244 00:14:50.480 --> 00:14:54.440 not mere words. In the excited and exalted state of 245 00:14:54.480 --> 00:14:57.080 my brain, I could not think of a place without 246 00:14:57.120 --> 00:15:01.600 seeing it, or of persons without seeing the them. It 247 00:15:01.679 --> 00:15:05.279 is impossible to overstate the vividness of these images. And 248 00:15:05.360 --> 00:15:09.320 yet I was so intent all the time upon him himself, 249 00:15:09.879 --> 00:15:12.840 who would not be intent on the tiger crouching to spring? 250 00:15:13.720 --> 00:15:16.159 That I knew of the slightest action of his fingers. 251 00:15:17.519 --> 00:15:20.320 When he had drunk the second time, he rose from 252 00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:23.600 the bench on which he sat, and pushed the table aside. 253 00:15:24.320 --> 00:15:27.240 Then he took up the candle, and shading it with 254 00:15:27.320 --> 00:15:29.919 his murderous hand so as to throw its light on me, 255 00:15:30.639 --> 00:15:36.120 stood before me, looking at me and enjoying the sight. Wulf, 256 00:15:36.480 --> 00:15:39.919 I'll tell you something more. It was old or like. 257 00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:44.240 As you tumbled over on your stairs that night, I 258 00:15:44.279 --> 00:15:48.120 saw the staircase with its extinguished lamps. I saw the 259 00:15:48.159 --> 00:15:51.320 shadows of the heavy stair rails thrown by the watchman's 260 00:15:51.399 --> 00:15:54.279 lantern on the wall. I saw the rooms that I 261 00:15:54.360 --> 00:15:58.000 was never to see again. Here a door half open, 262 00:15:58.600 --> 00:16:03.039 there a door closed, all the articles of furniture around, 263 00:16:04.440 --> 00:16:08.879 And why was old orlick there? I'll tell you something more, Wolf, 264 00:16:09.759 --> 00:16:12.279 You and her have pretty well hunted me out of 265 00:16:12.320 --> 00:16:15.600 this country, so far as getting an easy living in 266 00:16:15.639 --> 00:16:19.120 it goes. And I've took up with new companions and 267 00:16:19.240 --> 00:16:22.759 new masters, some of them, writes my letters. When I 268 00:16:22.799 --> 00:16:27.120 once some wrote, do you mind? Writes my letters wolf, 269 00:16:27.960 --> 00:16:32.360 They writes fifty hands. They're not like sneaking you, as 270 00:16:32.480 --> 00:16:36.279 writes but one. I've a firm mind and a firm 271 00:16:36.320 --> 00:16:39.440 will to have your life. Since she was down here 272 00:16:39.480 --> 00:16:42.679 at your sister's burying, I hadn't seen a way to 273 00:16:42.720 --> 00:16:45.200 get you safe, And I've looked out of you to 274 00:16:45.519 --> 00:16:49.279 know your ins and outs. Four says old Orlick to 275 00:16:49.399 --> 00:16:54.840 himself somehow or another. I'll have him what when it 276 00:16:54.919 --> 00:16:59.519 looks for you? I find your uncle, proves say mill 277 00:16:59.639 --> 00:17:03.399 pond bank, and Chink's basin, and the old green copper 278 00:17:03.480 --> 00:17:07.640 rope walk, all so clear and plain, provis in his rooms, 279 00:17:07.880 --> 00:17:11.920 the signal whose use was over, Pretty Clara, the good 280 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:15.720 motherly woman, Old Bill Barley on his back, all drifting 281 00:17:15.920 --> 00:17:19.079 by as on the swift stream of my life, fast 282 00:17:19.160 --> 00:17:23.880 running out to see you with an uncle too. Why 283 00:17:23.960 --> 00:17:26.400 I knowed you at Gargrey's when you was so small 284 00:17:26.440 --> 00:17:29.559 a wolf, that I could have took your weason betwixt 285 00:17:29.559 --> 00:17:33.119 this finger and thumb and chucked you away dead, as 286 00:17:33.160 --> 00:17:36.000 I'd thoughts of doin odd times. When I see you 287 00:17:36.079 --> 00:17:40.279 loitering amongst the pollards on a Sunday, and you hadn't 288 00:17:40.279 --> 00:17:44.519 found no uncles, then, no, not you. But when Old 289 00:17:44.599 --> 00:17:47.359 Orleck come for to hear that your uncle Provis had 290 00:17:47.440 --> 00:17:50.400 most like wore the leg iron, what Old Orleck had 291 00:17:50.440 --> 00:17:54.920 picked up filed asunder on these marshes ever so many 292 00:17:55.000 --> 00:17:57.880 year ago, and what he kept by him till he 293 00:17:57.960 --> 00:18:00.839 dropped your sister with it like a bullet, as he 294 00:18:00.920 --> 00:18:04.440 means to drop you. Hey, when he come for to 295 00:18:04.480 --> 00:18:08.880 hear that, Hey, in his savage taunting, he flared the 296 00:18:08.960 --> 00:18:11.319 candle so close at me that I turned my face 297 00:18:11.359 --> 00:18:16.200 aside to save it from the flame. Ah, he cried, 298 00:18:16.319 --> 00:18:20.400 laughing after doing it again, the burnt child dreads the fire. 299 00:18:21.240 --> 00:18:24.799 Old Orleck knowed you was burnt. Old Orleck knowed you 300 00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:28.920 was smuggling your uncle Provis away. Old Orleck's a match 301 00:18:28.960 --> 00:18:32.480 for you, and knowed you'd come tonight. Now I'll tell 302 00:18:32.519 --> 00:18:36.640 you something more, wolf, and this ends it. There's them 303 00:18:36.759 --> 00:18:39.160 that's as good a match for your uncle Provis as 304 00:18:39.240 --> 00:18:42.880 Old Orleck has been for you. Let him wear them 305 00:18:43.160 --> 00:18:46.640 when he's lost his nevy. Let him wear them when 306 00:18:46.720 --> 00:18:50.200 no man can't find a rag of his dear relations clothes, 307 00:18:50.759 --> 00:18:53.680 nor yet a bone of his body. There's them that 308 00:18:53.880 --> 00:18:57.920 can't and that won't have Magwitch. Yes, I know the 309 00:18:58.079 --> 00:19:01.759 name alive and the same land with them, and that's 310 00:19:01.799 --> 00:19:04.799 had such sure information of him when he was alive 311 00:19:04.839 --> 00:19:08.119 in another land, as that he couldn't and shouldn't leave 312 00:19:08.119 --> 00:19:12.000 it unbeknown and put them in danger. Perhaps it's them 313 00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:15.640 that writes fifty hands, and that's not like sneaking you 314 00:19:15.839 --> 00:19:21.000 as rights, but one where compysin Magwitch and the gallows. 315 00:19:22.640 --> 00:19:25.880 He flared the candle at me again, smoking my face 316 00:19:25.920 --> 00:19:29.400 and hair, and for an instant blinding me, and turned 317 00:19:29.400 --> 00:19:32.119 his powerful back as he replaced the light on the table. 318 00:19:33.119 --> 00:19:35.480 I had thought a prayer, and had been with Joe 319 00:19:35.559 --> 00:19:38.599 and Biddy and Herbert before he turned towards me again. 320 00:19:40.279 --> 00:19:42.759 There was a clear space of a few feet between 321 00:19:42.759 --> 00:19:46.440 the table and the opposite wall. Within this space he 322 00:19:46.559 --> 00:19:50.400 now slouched backwards and forwards. His great strength seemed to 323 00:19:50.400 --> 00:19:53.960 sit stronger upon him than ever before. As he did this, 324 00:19:54.119 --> 00:19:57.119 with his hands hanging loose and heavy at his sides, 325 00:19:57.559 --> 00:20:01.039 and with his eyes scowling at me, I had no 326 00:20:01.240 --> 00:20:05.279 grain of hope left wild as my inward hurry was, 327 00:20:05.759 --> 00:20:08.519 and wonderful the force of the pictures that rushed by 328 00:20:08.559 --> 00:20:12.440 me instead of thoughts. I could yet clearly understand that 329 00:20:13.000 --> 00:20:15.559 unless he had resolved that I was within a few 330 00:20:15.559 --> 00:20:19.160 moments of surely perishing out of all human knowledge, he 331 00:20:19.160 --> 00:20:23.160 would never have told me what he had told of. 332 00:20:23.240 --> 00:20:26.839 A sudden he stopped, took the cork out of his bottle, 333 00:20:26.960 --> 00:20:30.359 and tossed it away. Light as it was, I heard 334 00:20:30.359 --> 00:20:34.240 it fall like a plummet. He swallowed, slowly, tilting up 335 00:20:34.240 --> 00:20:37.519 the bottle by little and little, and now he looked 336 00:20:37.519 --> 00:20:40.880 at me no more. The last few drops of liquor 337 00:20:40.920 --> 00:20:45.240 he poured into the palm of his hand and licked up. Then, 338 00:20:45.359 --> 00:20:48.960 with a sudden hurry of violence, and swearing horribly, he 339 00:20:49.039 --> 00:20:53.000 threw the bottle from him and stooped, and I saw 340 00:20:53.039 --> 00:20:56.039 in his hand a stone hammer with a long, heavy handle. 341 00:20:57.720 --> 00:21:00.559 The resolution I had made did not desert me, for 342 00:21:00.799 --> 00:21:03.960 without uttering one vain word of appeal to him, I 343 00:21:04.039 --> 00:21:07.079 shouted out with all my might, and struggled with all 344 00:21:07.119 --> 00:21:09.839 my might. It was only my head and my legs 345 00:21:09.839 --> 00:21:12.400 that I could move, But to that extent I struggled 346 00:21:12.440 --> 00:21:16.640 with all the force until then unknown that was within me. 347 00:21:17.559 --> 00:21:21.319 In the same instant, I heard responsive shouts, saw figures 348 00:21:21.359 --> 00:21:24.160 and a gleam of light dashing at the door, heard 349 00:21:24.240 --> 00:21:27.759 voices and tumult, and saw orlick emerge from a struggle 350 00:21:27.799 --> 00:21:31.200 of men, as if it were tumbling water, clear the 351 00:21:31.240 --> 00:21:33.880 table at a leap, and fly out into the night. 352 00:21:36.119 --> 00:21:39.359 After a blank, I found that I was lying unbound 353 00:21:39.519 --> 00:21:42.359 on the floor in the same place, with my head 354 00:21:42.440 --> 00:21:45.680 on some one's knee. My eyes were fixed on the 355 00:21:45.799 --> 00:21:49.359 ladder against the wall. When I came to myself had 356 00:21:49.400 --> 00:21:52.400 opened on it before my mind saw it, And thus, 357 00:21:52.440 --> 00:21:55.359 as I recovered consciousness, I knew that I was in 358 00:21:55.440 --> 00:21:59.519 the place where I had lost it two. Indifferent at 359 00:21:59.519 --> 00:22:02.640 first even to look round and ascertain who supported me. 360 00:22:03.240 --> 00:22:05.960 I was lying looking at the ladder when there came 361 00:22:06.039 --> 00:22:10.559 between me and it a face, the face of Trab's boy. 362 00:22:12.240 --> 00:22:15.680 I think he's all right, said TRAbs Boy in a 363 00:22:15.720 --> 00:22:21.519 sober voice. But ain't he just pale? Though at these words, 364 00:22:21.559 --> 00:22:24.680 the face of him who supported me looked over into mine, 365 00:22:25.319 --> 00:22:31.839 and I saw my supporter to be Herbert Great Heaven softly, 366 00:22:32.200 --> 00:22:37.160 said Herbert gently, handle don't be too eager, and our 367 00:22:37.160 --> 00:22:40.799 old comrade star Top I cried, as he too bent 368 00:22:40.839 --> 00:22:44.440 over me. Remember what he is going to assist us in, 369 00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:50.200 said Herbert, and be calm. The illusion made me spring up, 370 00:22:50.279 --> 00:22:52.480 though I dropped again from the pain in my arm. 371 00:22:53.480 --> 00:22:56.200 The time has not gone by, Herbert, has it? What 372 00:22:56.359 --> 00:23:00.240 night is to night? How long have I been here? 373 00:23:00.279 --> 00:23:03.000 I had a strange and strong misgiving that I had 374 00:23:03.000 --> 00:23:06.079 been lying there a long time, a day and a night, 375 00:23:06.640 --> 00:23:11.920 two days and nights more. The time has not gone by. 376 00:23:12.240 --> 00:23:17.319 It is still Monday night, thank God. And you have 377 00:23:17.440 --> 00:23:21.480 all tomorrow Tuesday to rest in, said Herbert. But you 378 00:23:21.559 --> 00:23:24.839 can't help groaning, my dear handel. What hurt have you got? 379 00:23:25.160 --> 00:23:31.119 Can you stand? Yes? Yes, said I. I can walk. 380 00:23:31.559 --> 00:23:35.319 I have no hurt. But in this throbbing arm. They 381 00:23:35.400 --> 00:23:37.960 laid it bare and did what they could. It was 382 00:23:38.119 --> 00:23:41.960 violently swollen and inflamed, and I could scarcely endure to 383 00:23:42.000 --> 00:23:45.279 have it touched. But they tore up their handkerchiefs to 384 00:23:45.279 --> 00:23:48.799 make fresh bandages, and carefully replaced it in the sling 385 00:23:49.240 --> 00:23:51.960 until we could get to the town and obtain some 386 00:23:52.039 --> 00:23:55.279 cooling lotion to put upon it. In a little while, 387 00:23:55.319 --> 00:23:57.279 we had shut the door of the dark and empty 388 00:23:57.319 --> 00:24:00.279 sluice house and were passing through the quarry on our 389 00:24:00.319 --> 00:24:05.920 way back TRAbs. Boy Trab's overgrown young man now went 390 00:24:05.960 --> 00:24:08.680 before us with a lantern, which was the light I 391 00:24:08.720 --> 00:24:11.640 had seen come in at the door. But the moon 392 00:24:11.799 --> 00:24:13.839 was a good two hours higher than when I had 393 00:24:13.920 --> 00:24:17.200 last seen the sky, and the night, though rainy, was 394 00:24:17.279 --> 00:24:21.000 much lighter. The white vapor of the kiln was passing 395 00:24:21.039 --> 00:24:23.799 from us as we went by, and as I had 396 00:24:23.920 --> 00:24:29.920 thought a prayer before, I thought a thanksgiving. Now entreating 397 00:24:29.960 --> 00:24:32.480 Herbert to tell me how he had come to my rescue, 398 00:24:32.920 --> 00:24:36.160 which at first he had flatly refused to do, but 399 00:24:36.279 --> 00:24:40.160 had insisted on my remaining quiet, I learned that I had, 400 00:24:40.160 --> 00:24:43.279 in my hurry dropped the letter open in our chambers, 401 00:24:43.680 --> 00:24:46.480