英语小说网

I slept a little, but woke early. I felt I needed some fresh air, and went downstairs and out of the building. On the way down I fell over a man hiding in a dark corner, who ran away immediately. This worried me. I suspected he had followed my convict to the house. Would he now inform the police?

My guest and I had breakfast together. He ate noisily and greedily, like an animal. I tried hard not to be disgusted by his manners. He told me his name was Abel Magwitch, and after breakfast he lit his pipe and held out his hands for mine again.

"All I want is to stand and look at you, dear boy!" he said. "A real gentleman, made by me! You're going to have everything a London gentleman should have, a carriage, and horses, and everything!" He threw a great thick wallet on to the table. "All that is yours. I've come back to England to watch you spend it."

"How long?" he repeated, surprised. "I'm not going back."

"But where will yon be safe?"

"Stop!" I cried desperately. "We must discuss your plans. How long are you going to stay here?"

"Dear boy, who knows I'm here? You, Jaggers and Wemmick, that's all. Anyway, I know I can live with the fear of death. I've done that all my life."

All I knew was that I must keep him out of sight until Herbert returned Then we could produce a better plan for the future. I decided to rent a room for him in a house near ours, where I thought he would be safe for the moment. I bought him different clothes, and had his hair cut, but to me he looked just the same, and I lived in constant fear that he would he recognized by someone who had known him in the past.

My unwanted guest and I spent five long days and evenings together, with the wind and rain beating on the windows. Those few days seemed more like a year to me. He slept, or ate, or played cards. Sometimes he listened to me reading, with a proud smile on his face. I could not sleep or eat. I used to watch him sleep, wondering what bloody crimes lay in his past, and knowing that I alone protected him from a horrible death.

I cannot describe my joy when Herbert finally returned. At last I could share my terrible news with my friend. He, too, was shocked to hear that my great expectations came from the prisoner I had helped so long ago, and when I introduced him to our guest, Herbert could hardly hide his dislike.

"My dear Handel," he said, "if you want to pay back what you owe him, you could always join my company, Clarrikers. I'm going to be a partner there soon, you know. "Poor Herbert! He did not suspect whose money was helping him become a partner.

"How can I? You know he's a criminal! How do I know where his money comes from? And think what I owe him already! I have no way of paying him back. Oh Herbert, if I didn't have you as a friend, I'd be desperate!" I could only just control my tears. Herbert kindly pretended not to notice.

When we were alone, he said to me, "You look so pale, Handel. This has been a painful time for you."

"Herbert, something must be done. He wants to spend even more on me! He must be stopped!"

"But there's another thing," added Herbert. "This man has a fierce and violent character. He's come here with a fixed idea, which he's been looking forward to for half his life. If you destroy his idea, his life will be worthless."

"You mean you can't accept any more of his money?"

"And he will allow himself to be arrested and hanged," I continued, nodding. "Yes, I've thought that ever since he arrived. If that happened, I'd feel guilty for ever."

Next morning after breakfast we asked Magwitch to tell us more about his past life, so that we could protect him better.

"So you cannot destroy his dream now. First we must get him out of England, where he risks death every moment. Then you will explain that you can't accept his money. I'll help you all the way, trust me." I shook Herbert's hand gratefully.

"You promise to keep it a secret, Pip's friend?" he said to Herbert. "Well I'll put it in a few words. In prison and out of prison. That's been my life, more or less. Don't remember my parents. No idea where I was born. I slept in fields, I stole food, sometimes I worked. And I grew to be a man. It was about twenty years ago I met Compeyson. I'd kill him now, at once, if I met him! He's the man I was fighting when the soldiers found me on the marshes, Pip. He was handsome and educated, so people thought he was a gentleman and trusted him. I was a partner in his business, and a dirty business it was, too. We persuaded rich people to invest their money with us, we used stolen banknotes, we wrote false cheques. Compeyson was clever, but what a wicked, cold hear the had! He always got the profits but never the blame."

His former partner, Arthur, lived in Compeyson's house and was very ill. In fact he was dying. He and Compeyson had got a lot of money out of a rich lady some years before, and Arthur kept dreaming of this lady. Late one night he appeared at the sitting-room door, pale and shaking, crying, "Compeyson, she's there! In my room! All dressed in white, ready for the wedding! She's angry, she says she wants revenge! You broke her heart, you know you did! And now she say I'm going to die!"

"I should have realized it was a mistake getting involved with Compeyson. In the end we were both arrested for several crimes. And what happened? At the trial he lied and lied. I was the criminal, in and out of prison all my life, and I got fourteen years on the prison-ship. He was the gentleman, of good character and with important friends, and only got seven years.

"Compeyson and his wife put Arthur back to bed, but at five o'clock in the morning we heard screams coming from his room, and he died soon after."

Magwitch had become very excited, and had to breathe deeply to calm himself. "I promised myself I'd smash his handsome face when I saw him on the prison-ship. I was just going to, when a guard caught hold of me. I managed to escape by diving into the river. That's how I reached the marshes, and the churchyard. And then Pip, my boy, you told me Compeyson was on the marshes too. He must have escaped, like me. So I hunted him and smashed his face, and I was going to take him back to the prison-ship, so that he wouldn't have the pleasure of being free, when the soldiers caught us. Again he was clever. His punishment for escaping was light. But I was brought to trial again, and sent to Australia for life."

"Is Compeyson dead?" I asked after a silence.

"Heard no more of him," he said, shaking his head. "But if he's alive, he hopes I'm dead, that's certain!"

Herbert passed me a note he had been writing. It said:

"The name of Miss Havisham's half-brother was Arthur. Compeyson is the man who pretended to be in love with her."