Speaker 1: Great expectations by Charles Dickens, chapter fifty five. He was
Speaker 1: taken to the police court next day and would have
Speaker 1: been immediately committed for trial, but that it was necessary
Speaker 1: to send down for an old officer of the prison
Speaker 1: ship from which he had once escaped to speak to
Speaker 1: his identity. Nobody doubted it, but Copyson, who had meant
Speaker 1: to depose to it, was tumbling on the tides dead.
Speaker 1: And it happened that there was not at that time
Speaker 1: any prison officer in London who could give the required evidence.
Speaker 1: I had gone direct to mister Jaggers at his private
Speaker 1: house on my arrival over night to retain his assistance,
Speaker 1: and mister Jaggers, on the prisoner's behalf, would admit nothing.
Speaker 1: It was the sole resource for He told me that
Speaker 1: the case must be over in five minutes when the
Speaker 1: witness was there, and that no power on earth could
Speaker 1: prevent its going against us. I imparted to mister Jaggers
Speaker 1: my desire of keeping him in ignorance of the fate
Speaker 1: of his wealth. Mister Jaggers was querulous and angry with
Speaker 1: me for having let it slip through my fingers, and
Speaker 1: said we must memorialize by and by and try at
Speaker 1: all events for some of it. But he did not
Speaker 1: conceal from me that although there might be many cases
Speaker 1: in which the forfeiture could not be exacted, there were
Speaker 1: no circumstances in this case to make it one of them.
Speaker 1: I understood that very well I was not related to
Speaker 1: the outlaw, or connected with him by any recognizable tie.
Speaker 1: He had put his hand to no writing or settlement
Speaker 1: in my favor before his apprehension, and to do so
Speaker 1: now would be idle. I had no claim, And I
Speaker 1: finally resolved, and ever afterwards abided by the resolution that
Speaker 1: my heart should never be sickened with the hopeless task
Speaker 1: of attempting to establish one. There appeared to be reason
Speaker 1: for supposing that the drowned informer had hoped for a
Speaker 1: reward out of this forfeiture, and had obtained some accurate
Speaker 1: knowledge of Magwitch's affairs. When his body was found many
Speaker 1: miles from the scene of his death, and so horribly
Speaker 1: disfigured that he was only recognizable by the contents of
Speaker 1: his pockets. Notes were still legible folded in a case
Speaker 1: he carried. Among these were the name of a banking
Speaker 1: house in New South Wales, where a sum of money
Speaker 1: was and the designation of certain lands of considerable value.
Speaker 1: Both these heads of information were in a list that Magwitch,
Speaker 1: while in prison, gave to mister Jaggers of the possessions
Speaker 1: he supposed I should inherit his ignorance. Poor fellow at
Speaker 1: last served him. He never mistrusted, but that my inheritance
Speaker 1: was quite safe with mister Jagger's aid. After three days delay,
Speaker 1: during which the Crown prosecution stood over for the production
Speaker 1: of the witness from the prison ship, the witness came
Speaker 1: and completed the easy case, committed to take his trial
Speaker 1: at the next sessions, which would come on in a month.
Speaker 1: It was at this dark time of my life that
Speaker 1: Herbert returned home one evening a good deal, cast down,
Speaker 1: and said, my dear Handel, I fear I shall soon
Speaker 1: have to leave you, his partner having prepared me for that,
Speaker 1: I was less surprised than he thought. We shall lose
Speaker 1: a fine opportunity if I put off going to Cairo,
Speaker 1: and I am very much afraid I must go Handel
Speaker 1: when you most need me. Herbert, I shall always need you,
Speaker 1: because I shall always love you. But my need is
Speaker 1: no greater now than at another time. You will be
Speaker 1: so lonely. I have not leisure to think of that,
Speaker 1: said I. You know that I am always with him
Speaker 1: to the full extent of the time allowed, and that
Speaker 1: I should be with him all day long if I could.
Speaker 1: And when I come away from him, you know that
Speaker 1: my thoughts are with him. The dreadful condition to which
Speaker 1: he was brought was so appalling to both of us
Speaker 1: that we could not refer to it in plainer words,
Speaker 1: My dear fellow, said Herbert. Let the near prospect of
Speaker 1: our separation, for it is very near, be my justification
Speaker 1: for troubling you about yourself. Have you thought of your future? No,
Speaker 1: for I have been afraid to think of any future.
Speaker 1: But yours cannot be dismissed. Indeed, my dear dear Handel,
Speaker 1: it must not be dismissed. I wish you would enter
Speaker 1: on it now, as far as a few friendly words
Speaker 1: go with me, I will, said I. In this branch
Speaker 1: house of ours, Handel, we must have a I saw
Speaker 1: that his delicacy was avoiding the right words, So I said,
Speaker 1: a clerk, a clerk, And I hope it is not
Speaker 1: unlikely that he may expand as a clerk of your
Speaker 1: acquaintance has expanded into a partner. Now Handel, in short,
Speaker 1: my dear boy, will you come to me? There was
Speaker 1: something charmingly cordial and engaging in the manner in which,
Speaker 1: after saying now Handel, as if it were the grave
Speaker 1: beginning of a portentous business exordium, he had suddenly given
Speaker 1: up that tone, stretched out his honest hand, and spoken
Speaker 1: like a schoolboy. Clara and I have talked about it
Speaker 1: again and again, Herbert pursued, and the dear little thing
Speaker 1: begged me only this evening, with tears in her eyes,
Speaker 1: to say to you that if you will live with us,
Speaker 1: when we come together, she will do her best to
Speaker 1: make you happy, and to convince her husband's friend that
Speaker 1: he is her friend too. We should get on so
Speaker 1: well Handel. I thanked her heartily, and I thanked him heartily.
Speaker 1: But Siena could not yet make sure of joining him
Speaker 1: as he so kindly offered. Firstly, my mind was too
Speaker 1: preoccupied to be able to take in the subject clearly. Secondly, yes, Secondly,
Speaker 1: there was a vague something lingering in my thoughts that
Speaker 1: will come out very near the end of this slight narrative.
Speaker 1: But if you thought, Herbert that you could without doing
Speaker 1: any injury to your business. Leave the question open for
Speaker 1: a little while. For any while, cried Herbert. Six months
Speaker 1: a year, not so long as that, said I, two
Speaker 1: or three months at most. Herbert was highly delighted when
Speaker 1: we shook hands on this arrangement, and said he could
Speaker 1: now take courage to tell me that he believed he
Speaker 1: must go away at the end of the week. And
Speaker 1: Clara said, I the dear little thing returned. Herbert holds
Speaker 1: dutifully to her father as long as he lasts. But
Speaker 1: he won't last long. Missus Wimple confides to me that
Speaker 1: he is certainly going, not to say an unfeeling thing,
Speaker 1: said I. He cannot do better than go. I am
Speaker 1: afraid that must be admitted, said Herbert. And then I
Speaker 1: shall come back for the dear little thing, and the
Speaker 1: dear little thing, and I will walk quietly into the
Speaker 1: nearest church. Remember the blessed darling comes of no family,
Speaker 1: my dear handel and never looked into the red book
Speaker 1: and hastened a notion about her grandpapa. What a fortune
Speaker 1: for the son of my mother. On the Saturday in
Speaker 1: that same week, I took my leave of Herbert, full
Speaker 1: of bright hope, but sad and sorry to leave me
Speaker 1: as he sat on one of the seaport mail coaches.
Speaker 1: I went into a coffee house to write a little
Speaker 1: note to Clara, telling her he had gone off, sending
Speaker 1: his love to her over and over again, and then
Speaker 1: went to my lonely home, if it deserves the name,
Speaker 1: for it was now no home to me, and I
Speaker 1: had no home anywhere. On the stairs I encountered Wemmick,
Speaker 1: who was coming down after an unsuccessful application of his
Speaker 1: knuckles to my door. I had not seen him alone
Speaker 1: since the disastrous issue of the attempted flight, and he
Speaker 1: had come in his private and personal capacity to say
Speaker 1: a few words of explanation in reference to that failure.
Speaker 1: The late Compison said Wemmick had, by little and little,
Speaker 1: got at the bottom of half of the regular business
Speaker 1: now transacted. And it was from the talk of some
Speaker 1: of his people in trouble, some of his people being
Speaker 1: always in trouble, that I heard what I did. I
Speaker 1: kept my ears open, seeming to have them shut, until
Speaker 1: I heard that he was absent, and I thought that
Speaker 1: would be the best time for making the attempt. I
Speaker 1: can only suppose now that it was a part of
Speaker 1: his policy, as a very clever man had been itchly
Speaker 1: to deceive his own instruments. You don't blame me, I hope,
Speaker 1: mister Pip. I am sure I tried to serve you
Speaker 1: with all my heart. I am as sure of that,
Speaker 1: Wemmick as you can be. And I thank you most
Speaker 1: earnestly for all your interest and friendship. Thank you, thank
Speaker 1: you very much. It's a bad job, said Wemmick, scratching
Speaker 1: his head. And I assure you I haven't been so
Speaker 1: cut up for a long time. What I look at
Speaker 1: is the sacrifice of so much portable property. Dear me,
Speaker 1: what I think of Wemmick as the poor owner of
Speaker 1: the property. Yes, to be sure, said Wemmick. Of course
Speaker 1: there can be no objection to your being sorry for him,
Speaker 1: and I'd put down a five pound note myself to
Speaker 1: get him out of it. But what I look at
Speaker 1: is this the late Copysin having been beforehand with him,
Speaker 1: in intelligence of his return, and being so determined to
Speaker 1: bring him to book. I do not think he could
Speaker 1: have been saved, whereas the portable property certainly could have
Speaker 1: been saved. That's the difference between the property and the owner,
Speaker 1: don't you see? I invited Wemmick to come upstairs and
Speaker 1: refresh himself with a glass of grog before walking to Walworth.
Speaker 1: He accepted the invitation while he was drinking his moderate allowance.
Speaker 1: He said, with nothing to lead up to it, and
Speaker 1: after having appeared rather fidgety, what do you think of
Speaker 1: my meaning to take a holiday on Monday, mister Pipp?
Speaker 1: Why I suppose you have not done such a thing
Speaker 1: these twelve months, these twelve years more likely? Said Wemmick. Yes,
Speaker 1: I'm going to take a holiday. More than that, I'm
Speaker 1: going to take a walk. More than that, I'm going
Speaker 1: to ask you to take a walk with me. I
Speaker 1: was about to excuse myself as being but a bad
Speaker 1: companion just then when Wemmick anticipated me. I know your engagements,
Speaker 1: said he, and I know you were out of sorts,
Speaker 1: mister Pip, but if you could oblige me, I should
Speaker 1: take it as a kindness. It ain't a long walk,
Speaker 1: and it's an early one. Say it might occupy you,
Speaker 1: including breakfast on the walk from eight to twelve. Couldn't
Speaker 1: you stretch a point and manage it? He had done
Speaker 1: so much for me at various times that this was
Speaker 1: very little to do for him. I said I could
Speaker 1: manage it, would manage it. And he was so very
Speaker 1: much pleased by my acquiescence that I was pleased to
Speaker 1: at his particular request. I appointed to call for him
Speaker 1: at the castle at half past eight on Monday morning,
Speaker 1: and so we parted for the time punctual to my appointment.
Speaker 1: I rang at the castle gate on the Monday morning
Speaker 1: and was received by Wemmick himself, who struck me as
Speaker 1: looking tighter than usual and having a sleeker hat on.
Speaker 1: Within there were two glasses of rum and milk prepared,
Speaker 1: and two biscuits. The aged must have been stirring with
Speaker 1: the lark. For glancing into the perspective of his bedroom,
Speaker 1: I observed that his bed was empty. When we had
Speaker 1: fortified ourselves with the rum and milk and biscuits and
Speaker 1: were going out for the walk, with that training preparation
Speaker 1: on us, I was considerably surprised to see Wemmick take
Speaker 1: up a fishing rod and put it over his shoulder.
Speaker 1: Why we are not going fishing, said I, No, replied Wemmick,
Speaker 1: but I like to walk with one. I thought this odd, However,
Speaker 1: I said nothing and we set off. We went towards
Speaker 1: Caberwell Green, and when we were thereabouts, Wemmick said suddenly, Hello,
Speaker 1: here's a church. There was nothing very surprising in that,
Speaker 1: but again I was rather surprised when he said, as
Speaker 1: if he were animated by a brilliant idea, let's go in.
Speaker 1: We went in, Wemmick leaving his fishing rod on the porch,
Speaker 1: and looked all round. In the meantime, Wemmick was diving
Speaker 1: into his coat pockets and getting something out of paper. There,
Speaker 1: Hello said he, here's a couple a pair of gloves.
Speaker 1: Let's put him on. As the gloves were white kid gloves.
Speaker 1: And as the post office was widened to its utmost extent,
Speaker 1: I now began to have my strong suspicions. They were
Speaker 1: strengthened into certainty when I beheld the aged enter at
Speaker 1: a side door escorting a lady. Hello, said Wemmick, here's
Speaker 1: miss s Givens, let's have a wedding. That discreet damsel
Speaker 1: was attired as usual, except that she was now engaged
Speaker 1: in substituting for her green kid gloves a pair of white.
Speaker 1: The aged was likewise die occupied in preparing a similar
Speaker 1: sacrifice for the altar of Hymen. The old gentleman, however,
Speaker 1: experienced so much difficulty in getting his gloves on that
Speaker 1: Wemmick found it necessary to put him with his back
Speaker 1: against a pillar, and then to get behind the pillar
Speaker 1: himself and pull away at them, while I, for my part,
Speaker 1: held the old gentleman round the waist that he might
Speaker 1: present equal and safe resistance. By dint of this ingenious scheme,
Speaker 1: his gloves were got on to perfection. The clerk and clergyman,
Speaker 1: then appearing, we were ranged in order at those fatal rails,
Speaker 1: true to his notion of seeming to do it all
Speaker 1: without preparation, I heard Wemmick say to himself, as he
Speaker 1: took something out of his waistcoat pocket before the service began, Hello,
Speaker 1: here's a ring. I acted in the capacity of backer
Speaker 1: or best man to the bridegroom, while a little limp
Speaker 1: pew opener in a soft bonnet like a baby's made
Speaker 1: a feint of being the bosom friend of miss Skiffin's.
Speaker 1: The responsibility of giving the lady away devolved upon the aged,
Speaker 1: which led to the clergyman's being unintentionally scandalized. And it
Speaker 1: happened thus When he said, who giveth this woman to
Speaker 1: be married to this man? The old gentleman, not in
Speaker 1: the least knowing what point of the ceremony we had
Speaker 1: arrived at, stood most amiably beaming at the Ten Commandments,
Speaker 1: upon which the clergyman said again, who giveth this woman
Speaker 1: to be married to this man? The old gentleman, being
Speaker 1: still in a state of most estimable unconsciousness. The bridegroom
Speaker 1: cried out in his accustomed voice, now, aged, p you
Speaker 1: know who giveth, to which the aged replied with great briskness,
Speaker 1: before saying that he gave all right, Joan, all right,
Speaker 1: my boy, And the clergyman came to so gloomy a
Speaker 1: pause upon it, that I had doubts for the moment
Speaker 1: whether we should get completely married that day. It was
Speaker 1: completely done, however, and when we were going out of church,
Speaker 1: Wemmick took the cover off the font and put his
Speaker 1: white gloves in it, and put the cover on again.
Speaker 1: Missus Wemmick, more heedful of the future, put her white
Speaker 1: gloves in her pocket and assumed her green. Now, mister Pip,
Speaker 1: said Wemmick, triumphantly shouldering the fishing rod as we came
Speaker 1: out let me ask you whether anybody would suppose this
Speaker 1: to be a wedding party. Breakfast had been ordered at
Speaker 1: a pleasant little tavern a mile or so away, upon
Speaker 1: the rising ground beyond the green, and there was a
Speaker 1: bagatelle board in the room in case we should desire
Speaker 1: to unbend our minds after the solemnity. It was pleasant
Speaker 1: to observe that missus Wemmick no longer unwound Wemmick's arm
Speaker 1: when it adapted itself to her figure, but sat in
Speaker 1: a high backed chair against the wall, like a violincello
Speaker 1: in its case, and submitted to be embraced as that
Speaker 1: melodious instrument might have done. We had an excellent breakfast,
Speaker 1: and when any one declined anything on table, Wemmick said,
Speaker 1: provided by contract, you know, don't be afraid of it.
Speaker 1: I drank to the new couple, drank to the aged,
Speaker 1: drank to the castle, saluted the bride at parting, and
Speaker 1: made myself as agreeable as I could. Wemmick came down
Speaker 1: to the door with me, and I again shook hands
Speaker 1: with him and wished him joy. Think'ee, said Wemmick, rubbing
Speaker 1: his hands. She's sech a manager of fowls. You have
Speaker 1: no idea. You shall have some eggs and judge for yourself,
Speaker 1: I say, mister Pip, calling me back and speaking low.
Speaker 1: This is altogether a woeworth sentiment. Please, I understand not
Speaker 1: to be mentioned in Little Britain, said I. Wemmick nodded.
Speaker 1: After what you let out the other day, mister Jaggers
Speaker 1: may as well not know of it. He might think
Speaker 1: my brain was softening, or something of the kind. End
Speaker 1: of chapter