Chapter 4 A Stranger Comes to the Three Jolly Bargemen.
After school the next evening my sister sent me to fetch Joe with the three jolly bargemen.
The restaurant was just down the road from our house.
I found Joe inside by the fire with a stranger and Mr. Wopsle.
The stranger said, So, you're the blacksmith?
He rubbed his leg in a very strange manner when he spoke.
Yes.
Joe answered, and this is Mr. Wapsle, our church clerk.
Right, Pip?
Yes, Joe.
I answered, looking at the man's strange hat.
Underneath it, he wore a handkerchief that covered his hair.
The stranger said, Pip, that's his given name?
Joe said, he gave it to himself as a baby, and it stuck.
Your son?
Joe smiled.
He's my nephew.
Drinks for my friends, please, the stranger said as he stared at me.
When the drinks arrived, the stranger pulled something odd out of his pocket to stir his drink.
It was the file I'd stolen last Christmas.
Was this stranger my convict?
How could that be?
Spellbound, I couldn't take my eyes away.
After he was sure I had noticed the file, he returned it to his pocket.
Then the stranger changed the conversation to turnips.
Later, when Joe stood up to go, he said, Stop a minute, Mr. Gargery.
I've got something in my pocket for the boy.
He pulled out some coins, wrapped them in paper, and handed them to me.
Remember, these are just for you, he told me.
Wednesday came and I was back at Miss Havisham's.
Estella opened the door and said coldly, You're to come this way.
We wound along a series of passageways chased by shadows from her single candle.
Finally, we came to a door that opened up into the back courtyard.
Three ladies and two gentlemen stood by.
The clock on the outside wall also stopped at twenty minutes to nine.
Everyone turned to look at us.
Estella pointed to an ugly corner.
You-
Stand over there while I go talk to Sarah Pocket and her brother, Matthew.
She left.
When a bell rang in the distance sometime later, Estella said, Let's go, boy.
Sarah and Matthew Pocket and the rest of the party watched as we left.
The others were merrily clinking their teacups and enjoying tiny pieces of cake.
When we rounded the corner, I could no longer hear them.
Suddenly, Estella stopped and asked, Are you still upset from last week?
No, I replied.
I'll make you cry again.
We were silent the rest of the way to Miss Havisham's room.
In you go, boy, Estella said.
She walked away, her candle bobbing up and down the dark hallway.
It's that time again, is it, Pip?
The old woman asked.
She stopped me before I said anything.
What will you play today?
Anything you like, Miss Havisham.
Fine, she said.
Let's go into that other room across the hall.
I crossed the staircase and went into a dark room lit only by a fire.
Smoke hung in the air like fog on the marshes.
Big room, it must have been grand once.
Now the furniture was dusty and falling apart.
Great cobwebs hung from a large table and mice rattled around in the walls.
A great bride's cake was displayed on the table.
Cobwebs draped over that, too.
Walk me into the ballroom, Miss Havisham demanded.
After a few laps, she said, Call Estella.
I did, and Estella came in with the company from the courtyard.
Each asked Miss Havisham how she was and told her how well she looked, all while we toured around the room.
Miss Havisham never said a word.
We didn't even stop walking once they were gone.
Their goodbyes were left unanswered.
Today is my birthday, Miss Havisham said.
I was about to give my good wishes when she continued.
I don't like to talk about it.
I know why they were here.
They come every year.
When Estella came back from showing the group out, Miss Havisham said I'd like to watch the two of you play cards.
Estella didn't talk to me through a single one of our six games.
See you in a week, Pip, Miss Havisham said.
Show him out, Estella.
Outside, Estella set down food as she had done before, leaving me alone to wander in the garden.
Who let you in? said a pale young gentleman.
I replied, Miss Estella?
He shouted, You can't just wander around.
Follow me.
The boy was so strange that I did as he said.
We walked a few paces before he turned around, raised his fists, and said, Put him up!
Hopping on one foot, then the next, he poked me, pulled my hair, and then raced off.
Now we have a reason to fight!
We ended up boxing in a far corner of the garden.
Every time I knocked the young man down, he got back up.
Once in a while, he'd pour water over himself with a sponge from a bucket nearby.
After many punches, he finally threw the sponge up in the air.
You've won, he declared.
May I help you up, I said.
No thanks, he said.
Um, good afternoon then, I said.
Same to you.
I made my way back to the other courtyard where Estella was waiting.
Goodbye, she said impatiently as she opened the gate.
I walked out slowly, thinking to myself, what a strange day.
An unhappy birthday party.
A fight.
And Estella still doesn't like me.
I was sure the next time I went to Miss Havisham's I would get in trouble for fighting.
Village boys like me just couldn't go around punching young gentlemen.
What if Miss Havisham didn't let me come back?
How common would Estella think I was if she knew I beat up that young man?
A week later, as I stood in front of Miss Havisham's house, I wondered if I would see the strange boy.
The afternoon passed by as it always did.
Estella and I played cause.
Miss Havisham had me walk her about the ballroom.
No one mentioned that a boy other than me had ever been there.
Over the next few months I spent much of my time at Miss Havisham's.
Most afternoons we walked.
Sometimes if she was tired I pushed her around in an old garden chair with wheels.
She asked me a lot of questions and I always answered her honestly, but Estella treated me as poorly as ever.
Even so, I longed for us to be friends, so I tried to act differently, more like a young gentleman should, in an effort to win her affection'.
One day, Miss Havisham said, What is the name of your blacksmith?
Joe Goggeryman.
Bring him with you next time.
I'd like to meet him.
Two days later, the pair of us arrived at the gate.
Joe was as nervous and uncomfortable as ever in his good clothes.
Stella silently opened the gate and led us upstairs.
Joe held tight to his hat as if it weighed far more than it did.
I wondered why Miss Havisham had called for Joe.
This is your uncle, Pip, Miss Havisham said.
Pip, I'm married to your sister, Joe said to me.
Joe, I said, you can just talk to Miss Havisham.
Pip, he said, you was always meant to come work for me.
I was embarrassed.
Joe kept muddling his words and shuffling his feet.
He kept directing his answers to me instead of Miss Havisham.
Joe said, you'll become a blacksmith and all will be right in this world.
Miss Havisham said, Pip's a very good boy.
I've got something for him, Mr. Gargery.
She held out a bag full of silver coins.
Goodbye, Pip.
You be good for Joe.
I asked.
Am I not to come back?
No, she said.
You'll start working with Joe now.
I took the bag she held out as Joe refused to move.
Stella will show you both out.
How Joe managed to move his feet out of the room, I'll never know.
My sister was waiting for us at Uncle Pumblechook's store.
When we got there, Joe said, that Miss Havisham was pretty happy with Pip.
She's given us a present.
What do you mean? my sister asked.
It's twenty-five pounds.
Uncle! my sister shouted.
All of this is thanks to you.
Pumblechook smiled and said it was his pleasure.
We walked to the courthouse that afternoon and signed the papers that made me an apprentice to Joe.
It was official.
I was on my way to becoming a blacksmith.
My life would have more rules than ever now.
It was serious business to be an apprentice.
It meant that I would have to learn a real trade.
My sister and Uncle Pumblechook said we needed to celebrate, so we went to the Three Jolly Bargemen for dinner.
They were pleased, but I knew I'd never enjoy being a blacksmith.
I had liked the idea of it once, before I knew Miss Havisham and Stella.
Before I felt ashamed of who I was and where I came from.
Before I knew a boy could grow up to be a young gentleman.
