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Great Expectations

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11 Pip attends a burial

One evening a black－edged envelope was delivered to me at Herbert's rooms． The letter inside informed me that Mrs J．Gargery had died the previous Monday，and that the burial would be next Monday， at 3 p．m．This news came as a shock to me．It was the first time that someone close to me had died， and I could not imagine life without my sister，even if I had never loved her， or even thought about her recently．

I arrived at the forge early on Monday afternoon． Joe was sitting in the front room， wrapped in a black cloak．

‘Dear Joe，how are you？’I asked．

‘Pip，dear old boy， you knew her when she was a fine woman…’and he could say no more．

Biddy， in her neat little black dress， was busy serving food．Old friends from the village were talking quietly among them-selves， and I noticed the awful Pumblechook trying to catch my eye， as he drank brandy and swallowed large pieces of cake．

‘May I，my dear sir？ May I？’he asked， his mouth full，and shook my hand enthusiastically．

My sister's dead body was carried slowly out of the house and through the village， followed by all of us．We could see the marshes， and the sails of ships on the river．And there，in the churchyard，next to my unknown parents，my poor sister was laid quietly in the earth，while the birds sang and the clouds danced in the sky．

Biddy，Joe and I felt better when all the guests had gone，and we had a quiet supper together．I decided to spend the night at the forge，which pleased Joe very much．I was pleased with myself for offering to do so．

I waited until I found Biddy alone．Then I said，‘I suppose you won't be able to stay here now，will you，Biddy？’

‘No，Mr Pip．I'll stay in the village，but I'll still look after Mr Gargery as much as I can．’

‘How are you going to live，Biddy？If you want any money— ’

‘I'm going to be the village schoolteacher，’she said quickly，her cheeks pink．‘I can earn my own money．’

‘Tell me，Biddy，how did my sister die？’ ‘She had been worse than usual，when one evening she said，very clearly，“Joe．” And so I ran to the forge to fetch him．And she put her arms round his neck and laid her head on his shoulder，quite happy．Once she said“sorry”，and once “Pip”．She never lifted her head up again，and an hour later she died．’

Biddy cried，and I cried too． ‘What happened to Orlick，Biddy？’ ‘He's still in the village．He doesn't work for Miss Havisham any more．You know，he－he follows me sometimes．’

‘You must tell me if he bothers you，Biddy．I'll be here more often now．I'm not going to leave poor Joe alone．’

Biddy said nothing． ‘Come，Biddy，what do you mean by this silence？’

‘Are you quite sure，then，that you will come to see him？’ ‘Oh Biddy！’I said sadly．‘This really is a bad side to your character！ Don't say any more！’And that evening I thought how unkind，how unjust，Biddy was to me．

Next morning I looked in at the forge before leaving，and said goodbye to Joe，who was already hard at work． ‘I shall be back to see you soon，Joe！’

‘Never too soon，sir，’said Joe，‘and never too often，Pip！’

As I walked away，I think I knew that I would not go back．Biddy was right．

In London，I did some serious thinking．I could see that my character had not improved since I had heard about my expectations．I was spending far too much money．What was worse，I was a bad influence on Herbert，who was also spend－ing too much．I would have offered to pay his bills，but he was too proud to listen to such a suggestion．I had hoped that on my twenty－first birthday I would discover more about my future，but Mr Jaggers explained that he could not give me any more information，except that from now on I would have five hundred pounds a year to spend as I liked．I suddenly thought of a way I could help Herbert．

When l asked Wemmick if he could advise me on how to help a friend start up in business，his post-box mouth opened wide．

‘Choose one of the six London bridges，’he said，‘and throw your money over it．That's better than investing money for a friend．That's my official opinion，of course．’

‘Ah，so you would give me a different opinion at Walworth？’

‘You'll be welcome there，Mr Pip，on private business．’

Next Sunday I visited Wemmick and his aged parent at the Castle．This time there was a lady called Miss Skiffins，clearly a regular visitor，who made the tea，and sat next to Wemmick on the sofa．When he and I were alone，Wemmick listened carefully to my request，and after thinking hard，found an answer．

With his help I arranged to invest some money in a shipping company called Clarrikers．Finally I signed an agreement with them，in which they promised to offer Herbert a job，and later to make him a partner．At last I felt that my expectations had done some good to someone．