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en before．One of his eyes was half closed；and he wore a big hat which covered most of his head．He suddenly looked interested when I arrived，and rubbed his leg in a rather strange way．He had just ordered hot rum for the three of them．
‘It' s lonely country round here，gentlemen，’he said．‘Yes，’said Joe，‘just marshes down to the river．’
Do people ever spend the night on the marshes？’
‘No，’‘replied Joe，‘except an escaped prisoner sometimes．Difficult to find，they are．Went out to look for one once，me，and Mr Wopsle，and young Pip here．Didn't we，Pip？’
‘Yes，Joe。’
The stranger looked at me with his good eye．
‘What's his name？Pip？Your son，is he？’
‘The boy is the blacksmith's wife's brother，’explained Mr Wopsle in his official church clerk's voice．
When the drinks arrived，the stranger did something that he wanted nobody to see except me。 He mixed his hot rum and water，not with a spoon，but with a file，which he put back in his pocket when he had finished．As soon as I saw the file，I knew it was the one I had stolen from Joe，and I knew that this man knew my convict。 I stared at him in horror。
The men continued their conversation in a friendly way until Joe stood up to leave，and took my hand．
‘Wait a moment，'I said the stranger．‘I'd like to give the boy something，'and wrapping a coin in some old paper from his pocket，handed it to me。 ‘That' s yours！he told me，giving me a look full of meaning 。
‘Thank you，sir，'I said，still staring at him．Together Joe and I walked home，Joe with his mouth open all the way so that my sister would not notice the smell of rum on his breath 。
But when we arrived home，we found the stranger had giv…en me two Pound notes as well as the coin．My sister thought it must have been a mistake，and kept the pound notes in case he came back for them．But I knew they came from my con－vict，and I felt that having criminal friends made me more common than ever。
The next time I went to Miss Havisham's，I was shown in－to a different room to wait。 Several ladies and gentlemen，relations of hers，were there。 They all turned and looked at me in disgust when I was the first to be called by Estella．
As Estella was leading me along the dark passages，she stopped suddenly and put her face close to mine．
‘Look at me，boy！Am I pretty？'
‘Yes，I think you're very pretty．'
‘Am I rude to you？'
‘Not as much as last time．'
She hit my face as hard as she could。
‘Now，you coarse little boy，what do you think of me？’
‘I won't tell you．’
‘Why don't you cry again，you fool？'
‘Because I'll never cry for you again，'I said，which was a very false promise，because I was crying inside at the time，and only I know how much I cried for her later．
On our way upstairs we met a gentleman coming down in the dark．He was a large，heavy man，with a very dark skin，sharp eyes，and a huge head，almost bald on the top．His hands smelt strongly of perfumed soap．I didn't know then how important he would ha later on in my life。 ‘Who's this？’he asked Estella，stopping to look at me。 ‘A local boy。 Miss Havisham sent for him，'she replied． ‘Well，in my experience most boys are bad，'he said to me。‘Behave yourself！'He bit the side of his large finger as he frowned at me，and then continued downstairs。
This time Miss Havisham was in another room，which I had not seen before．All the furniture was covered in dust．In the candle－light I could see a long table，in the middle of which was a large yellow shape，with hundreds of insects feeding off it．
‘This，’said Miss Havisham，pointing to the table，‘is where they will put me when I'm dead． I'll lie on the table，and my relations can come and look at me．' She put a bony hand on my shoulder，but I didn't want her to touch me．I was afraid she would die there and then．‘And that，’she added，pointing to the yellow shape，‘that was my wedding cake．Mine！’She looked all round the room angrily．‘Come！’she said suddenly．‘Help me walk round the room．And call Estella！’
I held her arm to support her as she walked．We were still going slowly and painfully round the room when Estella brought in the relations who had been waiting downstairs．They stood watching us at the door．I thought they blamed me for Miss Havisham's cold manner towards them．
‘Dear Miss Havisham！’said one of the ladies lovingly．‘How well you look！’
‘I do not，’replied Miss Havisham sharply．‘I am yellow skin and bone．'
‘How could Miss Havisham look well，after all her suffer－ing？’said a second lady quickly．‘ Impossible！What a silly idea！’
‘ And how are you？’Miss Havisham asked this lady．As we were close to her then，I would have stopped，but Miss Havisham insisted on walking past 。It seemed rather rude．
‘Not well at all，'said this lady sadly。‘I don't want to talk too much about my feelings，but－well－I often lie awake at night thinking of you，dear Miss Havisham！'
‘Well，don't！’said Miss Havisham crossly as we hurried past the little group again。
‘I'm afraid I can't stop myself．I often wish I were less sensitive and loving 。 But that's my character and I have to live with it！'And she started crying softly．‘Look at Matthew now！’she added，through her tears。‘Matthew never comes to see dear Miss Havisham 。But I…’
When she heard Matthew's name，Miss Havisham stopped walking and stood looking at the speaker，who suddenly became silent。 ‘Matthew will come in the end，'said Miss Havisham firmly，‘when I die and am laid on that table。 You will stand around and look at me，you here，you there，you next to her，you two there Now you know where to stand．And now go！'
The ladies and gentlemen went slowly out of the room，some protesting quietly that they had not seen enough of their dear relation。 When they had all gone，Miss Havisham said to me，
‘This is my birthday，Pip．I don't allow anyone to speak of it．My relations always come on this day once a year．This day，long before you were born，was my wedding day 。Pehaps I shall die on this day too．And when they lay me in my wedding dress on that tabl