the man Compeyson had led him into crime and then
deserted him. How he had hated the other so fiercely that after they
both had escaped from the prison-hulks he had dragged Compeyson back to
imprisonment even at the loss of his own liberty. How for that attempt
to escape he had been sentenced to transportation for life, and had been
sent to Botany Bay in Australia, where in time he became in a measure
free, though forbidden under penalty of death to return to England. How
he had never forgotten the little Pip who had tried to aid him, and how
he had sworn that he would repay him many times over. How he had taken
to sheep-raising and prospered, and became a rich man. How he had
written to Mr. Jaggers, the lawyer who had defended him, and paid him to
find Pip and educate him. And how at last he had dared even the death
penalty to come to England to see how he fared.

His voice shook as he told how he had slaved through all the years,
looking forward only to this moment when he should come back to see the
little Pip whom he had made into a gentleman.

Poor Pip! It was an end to all his dreams of Miss Havisham and of
Estella. He shrank from Magwitch, horrified at the bare thought of what
he owed to him. He forced himself to utter some trembling words and set
food before the convict, watching him as he ate like a ravenous old dog.
His heart was like lead, all his plans knocked askew. Even while he
pitied the old man, he shrank from him as if from a wild beast, with all
his childish dread increased a hundredfold.

At length Pip put Magwitch in Herbert's room to sleep, but all that
night he himself lay tossing and sleepless, staring into the darkness
and listening to the rain outside.

IV

PIP COMES TO HIMSELF

The days that followed were one long agony to Pip. When Herbert returned
he told him the whole story. Herbert was shocked and surprised, but he
was true to his friendship and together they planned what to do.

It was clear to Pip that he could not spend any more of Magwitch's
money; indeed, recoiling from him as he did, he would gladly have repaid
every penny if it had been possible. To make the matter worse, it seemed
that Magwitch had brought a great deal of money with him and was
determined that Pip should move into a fashionable house, buy fast
horses, keep servants and live most expensively.

Pip hesitated to tell Magwitch his decision, however, for what the
convict now planned showed how much he had tho