Great Expectations (6 page)
Read Great Expectations Online
Authors: Charles Dickens
“Dear Biddy,” I said, “you have the best husband in the whole world. You should have seen how he took care of me.
“And, dear Joe, you have the best wife in the whole world. She will make you as happy as you deserve to be. You good, noble Joe!
“I am leaving England today. Thank you for all you have done for me! I owe you my life. I will not rest until I have paid back the money you spent to pay my bills.
“I hope you have a child. May the little fellow sit by the fire in winter and remind you of me.
“Don’t tell him I was mean. Tell him that I loved you both because you were so good and true. I know your little fellow win grow up a much better man than I did.”
I sold all my belongings and joined Herbert’s company abroad. In two months, I was a clerk. In four months, I had my first raise.
The years went by, and I was made a partner. I was left in charge when Herbert
went back to England to marry. He returned with his wife, Clara, and the three of us lived happily together.
It was eleven years before I saw Joe and Biddy again.
A Happy Ending
One December evening I put my hand on the latch of the old kitchen door and looked in.
Biddy sat by the fire, knitting, as she did years ago. Joe sat smoking his pipe at the kitchen table. His hair was a little gray but he was as strong and healthy as ever. Sitting on my own chair was a small boy who looked just as I had.
Joe was delighted to see me.
“The boy’s name is Pip for your sake, dear old chap,” said Joe. “We hope he grows up a bit like you.”
I took young Pip for a walk the next day. We climbed the hill to the churchyard. I showed him my mother’s and father’s tombstones. I told him the story
of what had happened to me so many years ago.
At dinner Biddy asked me why I’d never married.
“I am so settled in Herbert and Clara’s home,” I told her. “I am so used to my own ways.”
“Dear Pip,” said Biddy, for she knew my heart. “Do you think of her often?”
“That poor dream is over, Biddy,” I said. But I knew I would visit Miss Havisham’s house again for Estella’s sake.
Estella’s marriage had ended in separation. She had been so unhappy with Drummle! Two years ago he had been killed by a horse he was beating.
After dinner I walked to the old spot. The house and the other buildings were all gone. Only the crumbled rock of the old garden wall was left. I pushed open the rusted iron gate and went in.
I walked in the twilight. Memories of the old days drifted through my mind.
Suddenly I saw someone coming toward me down the garden path!
“Estella!” I cried.
“I am greatly changed,” she said. “It’s a wonder that you know me.”
The freshness of her beauty was gone. But there was a new beauty. Her once-proud eyes were sadder, softer.
We sat down on a nearby bench.
“How strange to meet you on the very spot where we first met so many years ago,” I said.
“Poor, poor old place!” said Estella. “The ground belongs to me, but little by little I had to sell everything else. Do you still live abroad?”
“Yes,” I replied.
“And you do well, I am sure.”
“I work hard and, yes, I do well.”
“I often think of you,” said Estella.
“Do you?” I replied.
“I think about what I threw away,” she said. “I did not know true worth. Suffering was my teacher.
“My own heart has been bent and broken into a better shape, I hope. Tell me we are still friends.”
“We
are
friends,” I said, rising from the bench. “You have always had a place in my heart.”
“We will continue to be friends then,” said Estella, smiling.
The evening mists were rising. I took her hand in mine, and we went out of that ruined place. I knew we would never part again.
Charles Dickens was born in England in 1812. Dickens loved to write. When he was a teenager, he became a newspaper reporter. His experiences at the paper later helped him to develop realistic characters, conversations, and settings in his books. One of his early works,
The Pickwick Papers
, brought him worldwide fame when he was only twenty-four years old.
Dickens is one of the most highly regarded writers in English literature. He wrote nineteen novels and many nonfiction books. Some of his best-known works are
A Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist
, and A
Tale of Two Cities
. Dickens died in 1870.
Monica Kulling was born in British Columbia, Canada. Ms. Kulling is the author of the Stepping Stones adaptations of
Little Women, Les Misérables
, and
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Her credits also include three picture books, many poems published in
Cricket
magazine, and several poetry anthologies. She lives in Toronto, Canada, with her partner and their two dogs, Sophie and Alice.
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