Finally, he went away

with Mr. and Mrs. Hubble - to make an evening of it, I felt sure, and

to tell the Jolly Bargemen that he was the founder of my fortunes

and my earliest benefactor.

When they were all gone, and when Trabb and his men - but not his

boy: I looked for him - had crammed their mummery into bags, and

were gone too, the house felt wholesomer. Soon afterwards, Biddy,

Joe, and I, had a cold dinner together; but we dined in the best

parlour, not in the old kitchen, and Joe was so exceedingly

particular what he did with his knife and fork and the saltcellar

and what not, that there was great restraint upon us. But after

dinner, when I made him take his pipe, and when I had loitered with

him about the forge, and when we sat down together on the great

block of stone outside it, we got on better. I noticed that after

the funeral Joe changed his clothes so far, as to make a compromise

between his Sunday dress and working dress: in which the dear

fellow looked natural, and like the Man he was.

He was very much pleased by my asking if I might sleep in my own

little room, and I was pleased too; for, I felt that I had done

rather a great thing in making the request. When the shadows of

evening were closing in, I took an opportunity of getting into the

garden with Biddy for a little talk.

"Biddy," said I, "I think you might have written to me about these

sad matters."

"Do you, Mr. Pip?" said Biddy. "I should have written if I had

thought that."

"Don't suppose that I mean to be unkind, Biddy, when I say I

consider that you ought to have thought that."

"Do you, Mr. Pip?"

She was so quiet, and had such an orderly, good, and pretty way

with her, that I did not like the thought of making her cry again.

After looking a little at her downcast eyes as she walked beside

me, I gave up that point.

"I suppose it will be difficult for you to remain here now, Biddy

dear?"

"Oh! I can't do so, Mr. Pip," said Biddy, in a tone of regret, but

still of quiet conviction. "I have been speaking to Mrs. Hubble, and

I am going to her to-morrow. I hope we shall be able to take some

care of Mr. Gargery, together, until he settles down."

"How are you going to live, Biddy? If you want any mo--"

"How am I going to live?" repeated Biddy, striking in, with a

momentary flush upon her face. "I'll tell you, Mr. Pip. I am going

to try to get the place of mistress in the new school nearly

finished here. I can be well recommended by all the neighbours, and

I hope I can be industrious and patient, and teach myself while I

teach others. You know, Mr. Pip," pursued Biddy, with a smile, as

she raised her eyes to my face, "the new schools are not like the

old, but I learnt a good deal from you after that time, and have

had time since then to improve."

"I think you would always improve, Biddy, under any circumstances."

"Ah! Except in my bad side of human nature," murmured Biddy.

It was not so much a reproach, as an irresistible thinking aloud.

Well! I thought I would give up that point too. So, I walked a

little further with Biddy, looking silently at her downcast eyes.

"I have not heard the particulars of my sister's death, Biddy."

"They are very slight, poor thing. She had been in one of her bad

states - though they had got better of late, rather than worse -

for four days, when she came out of it in the evening, just at

teatime, and said quite plainly, 'Joe.' As she had never said any

word for a long while, I ran and fetched in Mr. Gargery from the

forge. She made signs to me that she wanted him to sit down close

to her, and wanted me to put her arms round his neck. So I put them

round his neck, and she laid her head down on his shoulder quite

content and satisfied. And so she presently said 'Joe' again, and

once 'Pardon,' and once 'Pip.' And so she never lifted her head up

any more, and it was just an hour later when we laid it down on her

own bed, because we found she was gone."

Biddy cried; the darkening garden, and the lane, and the stars that

were coming out, were blurred in my own sight.