Chapter 40
IT was fortunate for me that I had to take precautions to ensure (so far as I could) the safety of my dreaded visitor; for, this thought pressing on me when I awoke, held other thoughts in a confused concourse at a distance.
The impossibility of keeping him concealed in the chambers was self-evident. It could not be done, and the attempt to do it would inevitably engender suspicion. True, I had no Avenger in my service now, but I was looked after by an inflammatory old female, assisted by an animated rag-bag whom she called her niece, and to keep a room secret from them would be to invite curiosity and exaggeration. They both had weak eyes, which I had long attributed to their chronically looking in at keyholes, and they were always at hand when not wanted; indeed that was their only reliable quality besides larceny. Not to get up a mystery with these people, I resolved to announce in the morning that my uncle had unexpectedly come from the country.
This course I decided on while I was yet groping about in the darkness for the means of getting a light. Not stumbling on the means after all, I was fain to go out to the adjacent Lodge and get the watchman there to come with his lantern. Now, in groping my way down the black staircase I fell over something, and that something was a man crouching in a corner.
As the man made no answer when I asked him what he did there, but eluded my touch in silence, I ran to the Lodge and urged the watchman to come quickly: telling him of the incident on the way back. The wind being as fierce as ever, we did not care to endanger the light in the lantern by rekindling the extinguished lamps on the staircase, but we examined the staircase from the bottom to the top and found no one there. It then occurred to me as possible that the man might have slipped into my rooms; so, lighting my candle at the watchman's, and leaving him standing at the door, I examined them carefully, including the room in which my dreaded guest lay asleep. All was quiet, and assuredly no other man was in those chambers.
It troubled me that there should have been a lurker on the stairs, on that night of all nights in the year, and I asked the watchman, on the chance of eliciting some hopeful explanation as I handed him a dram at the door, whether he had admitted at his gate any gentleman who had perceptibly been dining out? Yes, he said; at different times of the night, three. One lived in Fountain Court, and the other two lived in the Lane, and he had seen them all go home. Again, the only other man who dwelt in the house of which my chambers formed a part, had been in the country for some weeks; and he certainly had not returned in the night, because we had seen his door with his seal on it as we came up-stairs.
`The night being so bad, sir,' said the watchman, as he gave me back my glass, `uncommon few have come in at my gate. Besides them three gentlemen that I have named, I don't call to mind another since about eleven o'clock, when a stranger asked for you.'
`My uncle,' I muttered. `Yes.'
`You saw him, sir?'
`Yes. Oh yes.'
`Likewise the person with him?'
`Person with him!' I repeated.
`I judged the person to be with him,' returned the watchman. `The person stopped, when he stopped to make inquiry of me, and the person took this way when he took this way.'
`What sort of person?'
The watchman had not particularly noticed; he should say a working person; to the best of his belief, he had a dust-coloured kind of clothes on, under a dark coat. The watchman made more light of the matter than I did, and naturally; not having my reason for attaching weight to it.
When I had got rid of him, which I thought it well to do without prolonging explanations, my mind was much troubled by these two circumstances taken together. Whereas they were easy of innocent solution apart - as, for instance, some diner-out or diner-at-home, who had not gone near this watchman's gate, might have strayed to my staircase and dropped asleep there - and my nameless visitor might have brought some one with him to show him the way - still, joined, they had an ugly look to one as prone to distrust and fear as the changes of a few hours had made me.
I lighted my fire, which burnt with a raw pale flare at that time of the morning, and fell into a doze before it. I seemed to have been dozing a whole night when the clocks struck six. As there was full an hour and a half between me and daylight, I dozed again; now, waking up uneasily, with prolix conversations about nothing, in my ears; now, making thunder of the wind in the chimney; at length, falling off into a profound sleep from which the daylight woke me with a start.
All this time I had never been able to consider my own situation, nor could I do so yet. I had not the power to attend to it. I was greatly dejected and distressed, but in an incoherent wholesale sort of way. As to forming any plan for the future, I could as soon have formed an elephant. When I opened the shutters and looked out at the wet wild morning, all of a leaden hue; when I walked from room to room; when I sat down again shivering, before the fire, waiting for my laundress to appear; I thought how miserable I was, but hardly knew why, or how long I had been so, or on what day of the week I made the reflection, or even who I was that made it.
At last, the old woman and the niece came in - the latter with a head not easily distinguishable from her dusty broom - and testified surprise at sight of me and the fire. To whom I imparted how my uncle had come in the night and was then asleep, and how the breakfast preparations were to be modified accordingly. Then, I washed and dressed while they knocked the furniture about and made a dust; and so, in a sort of dream or sleep-waking, I found myself sitting by the fire again, waiting for - Him - to come to breakfast.
By-and-by, his door opened and he came out. I could not bring myself to bear the sight of him, and I thought he had a worse look by daylight.
`I do not even know,' said I, speaking low as he took his seat at the table, `by what name to call you. I have given out that you are my uncle.'
`That's it, dear boy! Call me uncle.'
`You assumed some name, I suppose, on board ship?'
`Yes, dear boy. I took the name of Provis.'
`Do you mean to keep that name?'
`Why, yes, dear boy, it's as good as another - unless you'd like another.'
`What is your real name?'I asked him in a whisper.
`Magwitch,' he answered, in the same tone; `chrisen'd Abel.'
`What were you brought up to be?'
`A warmint, dear boy.'
He answered quite seriously, and used the word as if it denoted some profession.
`When you came into the Temple last night--' said I, pausing to wonder whether that could really have been last night, which seemed so long ago.
`Yes, dear boy?'
`When you came in at the gate and asked the watchman the way here, had you any one with you?'
`With me? No, dear boy.'
`But there was some one there?'
`I didn't take particular notice,' he said, dubiously, `not knowing the ways of the place. But I think there was a person, too, come in alonger me.'
`Are you known in London?'
`I hope not!' said he, giving his neck a jerk with his forefinger that made me turn hot and sick.
`Were you known in London, once?'
`Not over and above, dear boy. I was in the provinces mostly.'
`Were you - tried - in London?'
`Which time?' said he, with a sharp look.
`The last time.'
He nodded. `First knowed Mr Jaggers that way. Jaggers was for me.'
It was on my lips to ask him what he was tried for, but he took up a knife, gave it a flourish, and with the words, `And what I done is worked out and paid for!' fell to at his breakfast.
He ate in a ravenous way that was very disagreeable, and all his actions were uncouth, noisy, and greedy. Some of his teeth had failed him since I saw him eat on the marshes, and as he turned his food in his mouth, and turned his head sideways to bring his strongest fangs to bear upon, he looked terribly like a hungry old dog. If I had begun with any appetite, he would have taken it away, and I should have sat much as I did - repelled from him by an insurmountable aversion, and gloomily looking at the cloth.
`I'm a heavy grubber, dear boy,' he said, as a polite kind of apology when he made an end of his meal, `but I always was. If it had been in my constitution to be a lighter grubber, I might ha' got into lighter trouble. Similarly, I must have my smoke. When I was first hired out as shepherd t'other side the world, it's my belief I should ha' turned into a molloncolly-mad sheep myself, if I hadn't a had my smoke.'
As he said so, he got up from table, and putting his hand into the breast of the pea-coat he wore, brought out a short black pipe, and a handful of loose tobacco of the kind that is called Negro-head. Having filled his pipe, he put the surplus tobacco back again, as if his pocket were a drawer. Then, he took a live coal from the fire with the tongs, and lighted his pipe at it, and then turned round on the hearth-rug with his back to the fire, and went through his favourite action of holding out both his hands for mine.
`And this,' said he, dandling my hands up and down in his, as he puffed at his pipe; `and this is the gentleman what I made! The real genuine One! It does me good fur to look at you, Pip. All I stip'late, is, to stand by and look at you, dear boy!'
I released my hands as soon as I could, and found that I was beginning slowly to settle down to the contemplation of my condition. What I was chained to, and how heavily, became intelligible to me, as I heard his hoarse voice, and sat looking up at his furrowed bald head with its iron grey hair at the sides.
`I mustn't see my gentleman a footing it in the mire of the streets; there mustn't be no mud on his boots. My gentleman must have horses, Pip! Horses to ride, and horses to drive, and horses for his servant to ride and drive as well. Shall colonists have their horses (and blood 'uns, if you please, good Lord!) and not my London gentleman? No, no. We'll show 'em another pair of shoes than that, Pip; won't us?'
He took out of his pocket a great thick pocket-book, bursting with papers, and tossed it on the table.
`There's something worth spending in that there book, dear boy. It's yourn. All I've got ain't mine; it's yourn. Don't you be afeerd on it. There's more where that come from. I've come to the old country fur to see my gentleman spend his money like a gentleman. That'll be my pleasure. My pleasure 'ull be fur to see him do it. And blast you all!' he wound up, looking round the room and snapping his fingers once with a loud snap, `blast you every one, from the judge in his wig, to the colonist a stirring up the dust, I'll show a better gentleman than the whole kit on you put together!'
`Stop!' said I, almost in a frenzy of fear and dislike, `I want to speak to you. I want to know what is to be done. I want to know how you are to be kept out of danger, how long you are going to stay, what projects you have.'
`Look'ee here, Pip,' said he, laying his hand on my arm in a suddenly altered and subdued manner; `first of all, look'ee here. I forgot myself half a minute ago. What I said was low; that's what it was; low. Look'ee here, Pip. Look over it. I ain't a going to be low.'
`First, ' I resumed, half-groaning, `what precautions can be taken against your being recognized and seized?'
`No, dear boy,' he said, in the same tone as before, `that don't go first. Lowness goes first. I ain't took so many year to make a gentleman, not without knowing what's due to him. Look'ee here, Pip. I was low; that's what I was; low. Look over it, dear boy.'
Some sense of the grimly-ludicrous moved me to a fretful laugh, as I replied, `I have looked over it. In Heaven's name, don't harp upon it!'
`Yes, but look'ee here,' he persisted. `Dear boy, I ain't come so fur, not fur to be low. Now, go on, dear boy. You was a saying--'
`How are you to be guarded from the danger you have incurred?'
`Well, dear boy, the danger ain't so great. Without I was informed agen, the danger ain't so much to signify. There's Jaggers, and there's Wemmick, and there's you. Who else is there to inform?'
`Is there no chance person who might identify you in the street?' said I.
`Well,' he returned, `there ain't many. Nor yet I don't intend to advertise myself in the newspapers by the name of A. M. come back from Botany Bay; and years have rolled away, and who's to gain by it? Still, look'ee here, Pip. If the danger had been fifty times as great, I should ha' come to see you, mind you, just the same.'
`And how long do you remain?'
`How long?' said he, taking his black pipe from his mouth, and dropping his jaw as he stared at me. `I'm not a going back. I've come for good.'
`Where are you to live?' said I. `What is to be done with you? Where will you be safe?'
`Dear boy,' he returned, `there's disguising wigs can be bought for money, and there's hair powder, and spectacles, and black clothes - shorts and what not. Others has done it safe afore, and what others has done afore, others can do agen. As to the where and how of living, dear boy, give me your own opinions on it.'
`You take it smoothly now,' said I, `but you were very serious last night, when you swore it was Death.'
`And so I swear it is Death,' said he, putting his pipe back in his mouth, `and Death by the rope, in the open street not fur from this, and it's serious that you should fully understand it to be so. What then, when that's once done? Here I am. To go back now, 'ud be as bad as to stand ground - worse. Besides, Pip, I'm here, because I've meant it by you, years and years. As to what I dare, I'm a old bird now, as has dared all manner of traps since first he was fledged, and I'm not afeerd to perch upon a scarecrow. If there's Death hid inside of it, there is, and let him come out, and I'll face him, and then I'll believe in him and not afore. And now let me have a look at my gentleman agen.'
Once more, he took me by both hands and surveyed me with an air of admiring proprietorship: smoking with great complacency all the while.
It appeared to me that I could do no better than secure him some quiet lodging hard by, of which he might take possession when Herbert returned: whom I expected in two or three days. That the secret must be confided to Herbert as a matter of unavoidable necessity, even if I could have put the immense relief I should derive from sharing it with him out of the question, was plain to me. But it was by no means so plain to Mr Provis (I resolved to call him by that name), who reserved his consent to Herbert's participation until he should have seen him and formed a favourable judgment of his physiognomy. `And even then, dear boy,' said he, pulling a greasy little clasped black Testament out of his pocket, `we'll have him on his oath.'
To state that my terrible patron carried this little black book about the world solely to swear people on in cases of emergency, would be to state what I never quite established - but this I can say, that I never knew him put it to any other use. The book itself had the appearance of having been stolen from some court of justice, and perhaps his knowledge of its antecedents, combined with his own experience in that wise, gave him a reliance on its powers as a sort of legal spell or charm. On this first occasion of his producing it, I recalled how he had made me swear fidelity in the churchyard long ago, and how he had described himself last night as always swearing to his resolutions in his solitude.
As he was at present dressed in a seafaring slop suit, in which he looked as if he had some parrots and cigars to dispose of, I next discussed with him what dress he should wear. He cherished an extraordinary belief in the virtues of `shorts' as a disguise, and had in his own mind sketched a dress for himself that would have made him something between a dean and a dentist. It was with considerable difficulty that I won him over to the assumption of a dress more like a prosperous farmer's; and we arranged that he should cut his hair close, and wear a little powder. Lastly, as he had not yet been seen by the laundress or her niece, he was to keep himself out of their view until his change of dress was made.
It would seem a simple matter to decide on these precautions; but in my dazed, not to say distracted, state, it took so long, that I did not get out to further them, until two or three in the afternoon. He was to remain shut up in the chambers while I was gone, and was on no account to open the door.
There being to my knowledge a respectable lodging-house in Essex-street, the back of which looked into the Temple, and was almost within hail of my windows, I first of all repaired to that house, and was so fortunate as to secure the second floor for my uncle, Mr Provis. I then went from shop to shop, making such purchases as were necessary to the change in his appearance. This business transacted, I turned my face, on my own account, to Little Britain. Mr Jaggers was at his desk, but, seeing me enter, got up immediately and stood before his fire.
`Now, Pip,' said he, `be careful.'
`I will, sir,' I returned. For, coming along I had thought well of what I was going to say.
`Don't commit yourself,' said Mr Jaggers, `and don't commit any one. You understand - any one. Don't tell me anything: I don't want to know anything; I am not curious.'
Of course I saw that he knew the man was come.
`I merely want, Mr Jaggers,' said I, `to assure myself that what I have been told, is true. I have no hope of its being untrue, but at least I may verify it.'
Mr Jaggers nodded. `But did you say "told" or "informed"?' he asked me, with his head on one side, and not looking at me, but looking in a listening way at the floor. `Told would seem to imply verbal communication. You can't have verbal communication with a man in New South Wales, you know.'
`I will say, informed, Mr Jaggers.'
`Good.'
`I have been informed by a person named Abel Magwitch, that he is the benefactor so long unknown to me.'
`That is the man,' said Mr Jaggers, ` - in New South Wales.'
`And only he?' said I.
`And only he,' said Mr Jaggers.
`I am not so unreasonable, sir, as to think you at all responsible for my mistakes and wrong conclusions; but I always supposed it was Miss Havisham.'
`As you say, Pip,' returned Mr Jaggers, turning his eyes upon me coolly, and taking a bite at his forefinger, `I am not at all responsible for that.'
`And yet it looked so like it, sir,' I pleaded with a downcast heart.
`Not a particle of evidence, Pip,' said Mr Jaggers, shaking his head and gathering up his skirts. `Take nothing on its looks; take everything on evidence. There's no better rule.'
`I have no more to say,' said I, with a sigh, after standing silent for a little while. `I have verified my information, and there's an end.'
`And Magwitch - in New South Wales - having at last disclosed himself,' said Mr Jaggers, `you will comprehend, Pip, how rigidly throughout my communication with you, I have always adhered to the strict line of fact. There has never been the least departure from the strict line of fact. You are quite aware of that?'
`Quite, sir.'
`I communicated to Magwitch - in New South Wales - when he first wrote to me - from New South Wales - the caution that he must not expect me ever to deviate from the strict line of fact. I also communicated to him another caution. He appeared to me to have obscurely hinted in his letter at some distant idea he had of seeing you in England here. I cautioned him that I must hear no more of that; that he was not at all likely to obtain a pardon; that he was expatriated for the term of his natural life; and that his presenting himself in this country would be an act of felony, rendering him liable to the extreme penalty of the law. I gave Magwitch that caution,' said Mr Jaggers, looking hard at me; `I wrote it to New South Wales. He guided himself by it, no doubt.'
`No doubt,' said I.
`I have been informed by Wemmick,' pursued Mr Jaggers, still looking hard at me, `that he has received a letter, under date Portsmouth, from a colonist of the name of Purvis, or--'
`Or Provis,' I suggested.
`Or Provis - thank you, Pip. Perhaps it is Provis? Perhaps you know it's Provis?'
`Yes,' said I.
`You know it's Provis. A letter, under date Portsmouth, from a colonist of the name of Provis, asking for the particulars of your address, on behalf of Magwitch. Wemmick sent him the particulars, I understand, by return of post. Probably it is through Provis that you have received the explanation of Magwitch - in New South Wales?'
`It came through Provis,' I replied.
`Good day, Pip,' said Mr Jaggers, offering his hand; `glad to have seen you. In writing by post to Magwitch - in New South Wales - or in communicating with him through Provis, have the goodness to mention that the particulars and vouchers of our long account shall be sent to you, together with the balance; for there is still a balance remaining. Good day, Pip!'
We shook hands, and he looked hard at me as long as he could see me. I turned at the door, and he was still looking hard at me, while the two vile casts on the shelf seemed to be trying to get their eyelids open, and to force out of their swollen throats, `O, what a man he is!'
Wemmick was out, and though he had been at his desk he could have done nothing for me. I went straight back to the Temple, where I found the terrible Provis drinking rum-and-water and smoking negro-head, in safety.
Next day the clothes I had ordered, all came home, and he put them on. Whatever he put on, became him less (it dismally seemed to me) than what he had worn before. To my thinking, there was something in him that made it hopeless to attempt to disguise him. The more I dressed him and the better I dressed him, the more he looked like the slouching fugitive on the marshes. This effect on my anxious fancy was partly referable, no doubt, to his old face and manner growing more familiar to me; but I believe too that he dragged one of his legs as if there were still a weight of iron on it, and that from head to foot there was Convict in the very grain of the man.
The influences of his solitary hut-life were upon him besides, and gave him a savage air that no dress could tame; added to these, were the influences of his subsequent branded life among men, and, crowing all, his consciousness that he was dodging and hiding now. In all his ways of sitting and standing, and eating and drinking - of brooding about, in a high-shouldered reluctant style - of taking out his great horn-handled jack-knife and wiping it on his legs and cutting his food - of lifting light glasses and cups to his lips, as if they were clumsy pannikins - of chopping a wedge off his bread, and soaking up with it the last fragments of gravy round and round his plate, as if to make the most of an allowance, and then drying his finger-ends on it, and then swallowing it - in these ways and a thousand other small nameless instances arising every minute in the day, there was Prisoner, Felon, Bondsman, plain as plain could be.
It had been his own idea to wear that touch of powder, and I had conceded the powder after overcoming the shorts. But I can compare the effect of it, when on, to nothing but the probable effect of rouge upon the dead; so awful was the manner in which everything in him that it was most desirable to repress, started through that thin layer of pretence, and seemed to come blazing out at the crown of his head. It was abandoned as soon as tried, and he wore his grizzled hair cut short.
Words cannot tell what a sense I had, at the same time, of the dreadful mystery that he was to me. When he fell asleep of an evening, with his knotted hands clenching the sides of the easy-chair, and his bald head tattooed with deep wrinkles falling forward on his breast, I would sit and look at him, wondering what he had done, and loading him with all the crimes in the Calendar, until the impulse was powerful on me to start up and fly from him. Every hour so increased my abhorrence of him, that I even think I might have yielded to this impulse in the first agonies of being so haunted, notwithstanding all he had done for me, and the risk he ran, but for the knowledge that Herbert must soon come back. Once, I actually did start out of bed in the night, and begin to dress myself in my worst clothes, hurriedly intending to leave him there with everything else I possessed, and enlist for India as a private soldier.
I doubt if a ghost could have been more terrible to me, up in those lonely rooms in the long evenings and long nights, with the wind and the rain always rushing by. A ghost could not have been taken and hanged on my account, and the consideration that he could be, and the dread that he would be, were no small addition to my horrors. When he was not asleep, or playing a complicated kind of patience with a ragged pack of cards of his own - a game that I never saw before or since, and in which he recorded his winnings by sticking his jack-knife into the table - when he was not engaged in either of these pursuits, he would ask me to read to him - `Foreign language, dear boy!' While I complied, he, not comprehending a single word, would stand before the fire surveying me with the air of an Exhibitor, and I would see him, between the fingers of the hand with which I shaded my face, appealing in dumb show to the furniture to take notice of my proficiency. The imaginary student pursued by the misshapen creature he had impiously made, was not more wretched than I, pursued by the creature who had made me, and recoiling from him with a stronger repulsion, the more he admired me and the fonder he was of me.
This is written of, I am sensible, as if it had lasted a year. It lasted about five days. Expecting Herbert all the time, I dared not go out, except when I took Provis for an airing after dark. At length, one evening when dinner was over and I had dropped into a slumber quite worn out - for my nights had been agitated and my rest broken by fearful dreams - I was roused by the welcome footstep on the staircase. Provis, who had been asleep too, staggered up at the noise I made, and in an instant I saw his jack-knife shining in his hand.
`Quiet! It's Herbert!' I said; and Herbert came bursting in, with the airy freshness of six hundred miles of France upon him.
`Handel, my dear fellow, how are you, and again how are you, and again how are you? I seem to have been gone a twelvemonth!Why, so I must have been, for you have grown quite thin and pale!Handel, my - Halloa! I beg your pardon.'
He was stopped in his running on and in his shaking hands with me, by seeing Provis. Provis, regarding him with a fixed attention, was slowly putting up his jack-knife, and groping in another pocket for something else.
`Herbert, my dear friend,' said I, shutting the double doors, while Herbert stood staring and wondering, `something very strange has happened. This is - a visitor of mine.'
`It's all right, dear boy!' said Provis coming forward, with his little clasped black book, and then addressing himself to Herbert. `Take it in your right hand. Lord strike you dead on the spot, if ever you split in any way sumever! Kiss it!'
`Do so, as he wishes it,' I said to Herbert. So, Herbert, looking at me with a friendly uneasiness and amazement, complied, and Provis immediately shaking hands with him, said, `Now you're on your oath, you know. And never believe me on mine, if Pip shan't make a gentleman on you!'
从睡梦中醒来，我便想到对这位可怕的不速之客得采取防护措施，要尽全力保证他的安全。幸运的是，这样一来，我心中一切其他扰乱心灵的思想都统统消失了。
如果把他藏在这些房间中，那显然是不可能的。不仅不可能这样做，而且这样做将会不可避免地引起人们的猜疑。虽说我已解雇了那个讨债鬼，不过现在又找了个红眼睛的老妈子来帮忙，她还带来一个活泼机灵的脏女孩，做她的助手，据她说是她的侄女儿。要是关上一间房间瞒着她们，只有更引起她们的好奇，让她们风风火火、加油添酱地传播出去。她们两人眼睛都不好，我一直认为是她们长期以来喜欢从钥匙孔中偷看并探听秘密造成的；需要她们时找不见人，不需要她们时却偏偏在你面前转。可以说，除了小偷小摸外，这就是她们唯一可确定的品质。为了不引起这些人的疑心，我决定于早晨向她们宣布，我的伯父突然从乡下来到这里。
既已下定决心这么办，我便在黑暗中摸索着，想先弄个火把灯点亮。踉踉跄跄地摸来摸去都没有，我便想摸出去到邻近的门房中，找那个守夜人拿灯笼来照一下。我正在黑暗中向楼梯下面摸索时，绊在了一个东西上，其实这不是什么东西，而是蹲在角落里的一个人。
我问他蹲在这儿干什么，可是他没有回答，却悄悄地一溜烟逃了。我连忙跑到门房，一再请守夜人快些出来，我在回来的路上把刚才发生的事告诉了他。这时风像刚才一样依然很猛烈，我们生怕风吹灭灯笼，所以也没有来得及把楼梯上早已吹灭的路灯重新燃起，但检查了楼梯的上上下下，一个人影儿也没有发现。我忽然想到，这个人说不定已经溜进了我的房间，于是用守夜人的灯笼先点亮了蜡烛，把他留在门口看着，我自己仔细检查了每一个房间，包括我那位可怕的客人睡觉的房间。一切都那么安静，可以肯定，这些房间里不会有外人。
我心头可真有些着急，一定有密探来过，为什么偏巧在一年三百六十五天的这个夜里来呢？我便询问这位守夜人，乘他站在门口时递给他一杯酒，想从他那里得到一点有希望的线索。我问他昨天夜里是不是放进了一些出外饮酒回来很迟的人。他说是的，夜里曾分别有三个人进来。一个住在泉水坊，另外两人住在巷子里，而且他亲眼看到他们都回了自己的家。在我住的这幢房子里，除我们外，另外住的唯一的房客已经回到乡下去几个星期了，这个夜里他确实没有回来，因为我们在上楼时看到他门上还贴着封条。
“先生，这个夜里风雨交加，糟透了，”守夜人饮完酒把杯子还给我说道，“所以经过我的门进出的人不多。除掉我刚才指出的三个人外，在十一点钟左右的时候还有个不认识的人找你，再有没有别人来过我就记不起来了。”
“哦，那是我的伯父。”我喃喃地说着。
“先生，你见到他了吗？”
“见到了，唔！见到了。”
“还有一个和他一道的呢？”
“和他一道的？”我重复着他说的话。
“我想这个人和他是一道的，”守夜人说道，“在找你的人停下来问我的时候，那个人也停了下来；找你的人向这里走时，他也跟着向这里走。”
“这是个什么样的人？”
守夜人没有仔细地看清这个人。他说，看上去像是个工人；他想，穿的是灰色衣眼，外罩一件黑大衣。这位守夜人不像我那样很重视这个人。他觉得没有什么关系，这是很自然的事；而我重视这个人也有我重视的理由。
我想最好不要再向他打探情况，于是便打发他先走。然后，我便把这两方面的情况连在一起考虑，心中感到有些蹊跷而十分不安。本来这两件事都不难解决，而且互无关联——比如说，有某个人在别人家或自己家里喝得醉醺醺的，本来就没有从守夜人的门口经过，便跌跌冲冲地走到我的楼梯这里，倒下睡着了；而我这位尚不知名姓的客人确带了一个人来，是专门给他引路的。但这两件事连在一起，对于我这么一个在几小时之内经历很大变化的人来说，就不得不感到情况险恶，产生怀疑和恐惧。
我生起了炉火，炉火在如此的清晨发出阴冷苍白的光，我坐在炉前悠悠地打起瞌睡来。钟敲六下时，我感觉好像已经睡了整整一夜。时间尚早，离天明还需一个半小时，于是我又闭眼入眠。这次我却不时地惊醒，一会儿耳中听到有人绵绵絮语些无关紧要之事，一会儿又听到壁炉管道中响起雷鸣般的风声。最后总算进入沉沉酣睡，直到天空大亮，我才从熟睡中惊醒。
整个这一段时间我都没有安下心来考虑一下自己的处境，目前也不可能考虑。我无法把注意力集中到这方面来。我感到意志非常沮丧，万分苦恼，而且感到心都被撕裂得支离破碎。至于我的未来会是什么样，则好像瞎子摸象一样，毫无头绪。我把百叶窗打开，向外望去，只见早晨一片潮湿，仍然是狂风暴雨，整个天空呈现出铅灰色。我从这个房间走到另一个房间，然后又坐在火炉的前面，全身冷得抖抖的，等待着洗衣妇来取衣服。我想着自己是多么地不幸，可是却说不出为什么不幸，也说不出这不幸究竟有多久了，更说不出究竟在这星期的哪一天我才有这个想法的，甚至连我究竟是谁也说不出。
终于，老太婆和她的侄女儿进来了（侄女儿的一头蓬发和她手中拿的脏扫帚简直叫人难以分辨），看到我以及我旁边生起的炉火大为惊诧。我告诉她们我的伯父于昨天夜里来此，现在正在睡觉，因此早餐要准备得好一些，如此等等。然后，我去洗漱换衣，而留下她们在房里敲敲打打，弄得满屋子灰尘。我一切完毕后感到昏头昏脑，像个梦游病人一样，便又坐到火炉边，等待着那位出来共进早餐。
过了一会儿，他的房门开了，他从里面走了出来。我简直不能忍受他那样子，觉得他的面目在白天看上去更难看。
他坐到桌旁后，我低低地对他说道：“我不知道该怎么称呼你才好。我已经放风出去，说你是我的伯父。”
“这就对了，亲爱的孩子！你就叫我伯父好了。”
“我想你一路飘洋过海，肯定也有个名字吧？”
“有，亲爱的孩子。我用的名字是普鲁威斯。”
“你是说以后一直用这个名字吗？”
“喔，是的，亲爱的孩子，用什么名字事实上都一样，除非你认为该用一个更好的。”
“你的真实姓名是什么呢？”我用低低的声音问他。
“马格韦契，”他也用低低的声音对我说，“教名是艾伯尔。”
“你原来是做什么的？”
“只不过是个小毛虫而已，亲爱的孩子。”
他的回答是十分严肃认真的，所用的字眼好像也是指某种职业。
“昨天晚上你来到寺区的时候——”我说道，不过说着又停下来心想，这难道真的是昨天晚上吗？这似乎是很久以前的事了。
“怎么了，亲爱的孩子？”
“昨天晚上你来到这里的大门口，问守夜人怎么走时，有没有人和你在一起？”
“有谁和我在一起？没有，亲爱的孩子。”
“你没有注意到有人在门口吗？”
“我没有特别注意，”他有些疑惑地说，“我对这里的路很不熟悉，不过，我想当时是有一个人和我一起走进来。”
“伦敦有人认识你吗？”
“我希望没有人认识我。”他说着，用食指在自己的脖子上一抹，使我看了既恼火又恶心。
“以前伦敦有认识你的人吗？”
“亲爱的孩子，那不会很多，我大部分时间都在乡下。”
“你是在伦敦受——审——的吗？”
“你说的是哪一次？”他说道，脸上露出机警的神色。
“最近一次。”
他点点头。“就是那一次我和贾格斯先生相识了。贾格斯是我的辩护人。”
我想问他为了什么受审，话刚到嘴边，他便拿起餐刀在空中一挥，并且说道：“我过去所做的都已得到惩罚，一切都已偿还！”然后继续吃他的早饭。
他狼吞虎咽地吃着，吃相实在不敢恭维，整个行为表现得都很粗鲁，吃东西的响声很大，而且一副贪婪的样子。自从在沼泽地上见到他吃东西以来，他已掉了几颗牙齿，因而总是用嘴巴磨动着食物，把头斜在一边，尽量用他的几颗犬牙在啃食物，样子极为可怕，就像一条饥饿的老狗。
如果说我本来很想吃些东西，这下子胃口全被他倒光了。我只是坐在那里，对他产生了一种难以克制的厌恶，忧郁而又失望地打量着桌布。
“亲爱的孩子，我算得上是一个厉害的吃客，”他吃完了早餐后，很有礼貌地向我道歉道，“不过我一向如此。如果我的身体不这么好，吃得不这么香，说不定就会少惹些麻烦了。同样，我还得抽烟。我第一次在世界的那个天涯海角被雇去放羊时，如果没有烟抽，我一定会忧郁得发疯，自己也变成一条羊了。”
他说着便从桌旁站起来，把一只手伸进他穿的厚呢上衣的胸袋中，摸出一只短短的黑色烟斗，又摸出一把散装的烟草，就是被称为黑人头牌的烟草。他装满了一烟斗后，把多余的烟草又放回口袋，好像他的口袋就是一只抽屉。然后，他拿起火钳从炉火中夹起一块炭火，点燃了烟斗，并且在炉前地毯上转过身子，接着又做出他最喜欢的动作，把他的两只手伸给我。
他的双手抓住我的双手上下荡着，嘴里叨着的烟斗喷出一股烟气。他说道：“瞧，这才是我培养出来的绅士！这是货真价实的上等人！皮普，只要看着你，便使我心花怒放。我一心所想的只是站在你旁边，细细地看着你，亲爱的孩子！”
我尽快地把两手挣脱出来，然后才感到慢慢地定下心来，思考着当时我所处的境况。一听到他那嘶哑的话语，一坐在那里看着他皱纹满布的秃脑门，以及两鬓的铁灰色发须，我心中便十分明白，我身上已加了一条相当沉重的镣铐。
“我绝对不能看到我的绅士踩在街头的泥泞之中，我绝对不让他的皮靴上沾上尘土。皮普，我培养的上等人一定要有自己的马车！要有自己的马骑，有自己的马车乘，而且连他的仆人也要有自己的马骑，有自己的马车乘。难道只看着那些移民们骑在高头大马上，骑在纯种马上，天啦！难道我的伦敦绅士却没有马骑？不，不。皮普，我们要让他们看看，事情不是他们所想象的那样，是不是，皮普？”
他从口袋里掏出一只又大又厚的皮夹子，里面装着满满的钞票，向桌上一丢。
“这皮夹子中的钱是够你花的了，亲爱的孩子。这钱就是你的。我挣的钱都不是我的，都是你的。你大可不必担心花钱，我还有更多的钱呢。我这次回到我的故国，就是要看一看我培养造就的绅士花起钱来像一个绅士，这就是我的乐趣。我的乐趣就是要看你花钱。他妈的，其他的人全都该死！”说完后，他看着四周，用手指叭的一声打出个清脆的榧子，“他妈的一个一个的都该死，从戴着假发的法官，到骑着高头大马踏起满天灰尘的移民全都该死，我要让他们瞧瞧我的这位绅士比他们全加在一起还要更绅士！”
我心里充满了恐惧的厌恶，几乎达到了疯狂的程度。我说道：“不要再说下去了！我有话对你说。我要知道以后该怎么办，我要知道你怎么样才可以避开危险，你将在这儿住多久，有什么计划等等。”
“皮普，你听我说，”他把一只手放在我的胳膊上，突然改变了态度，温和地低低说着，“你听我说。第一，刚才我确实一说话就忘了形，说的全是粗野不文明的话；唉，全是这些粗野不文明的话。皮普，听我说，你就放过这一次，我以后再也不粗野了。”
“最重要的是，”带着心中说不出来的痛苦，我说道，“我们该采取什么样的防范措施，你才不至于被人家发现，或者被逮住？”
“亲爱的孩子，这不是最重要的，”他用像刚才一样的语气说道，“最重要的是我的粗野不文明。我以多年的心血培养一个绅士，并不是不懂得如何和绅士打交道。皮普，你听我说。我是粗野不文明的，亲爱的孩子，你得放过这点。”
他严肃的语气中表现出的荒唐可笑，使我又焦急又好笑，于是答道：“我已经放过你了，以老天的名义，不要再唠叨了。”
他还是坚持他的理由说：“是啊。不过你听我说，亲爱的孩子，我从那么远的地方回来看你，当然不是为了我的粗野不文明。那么，亲爱的孩子，现在你说吧。你刚才正在说——”
“我要你想一下，该怎么样逃避会遭遇到的危险。”
“唔，亲爱的孩子，说来危险也并不见得很大。只要没有人去告密，也就没有什么危险。只有贾格斯、温米克和你知道。除你们三个人外，又有谁会去告密呢？”
“你走在街上会不会碰巧遇到什么人认识你呢？”我说道。
他答道：“唔，我看还不至于吧。当然我也不想在报纸上登个广告，说有个叫A·M的人（艾伯尔·马格韦契的缩写）从伯特尼港湾回来了。其实事情已经过去那么多年，谁能从中捞到什么呢？皮普，你还得听我说，即使有五十倍的危险，我还是要回来看你的，事情就是这样，这是我要让你知道的。”
“你在这里逗留多长时间呢？”
“多长时间？”他从嘴里取下了黑烟斗，嘴巴也没有合起来，只是瞪着我，说道，“我不回去了。我永远回来了。”
“你将住在哪里？”我说道，“该怎么样安排？在什么地方你才安全？”
他答道：“亲爱的孩子，假头发可以用钱买来，头发香粉、眼镜、黑衣服，还有短裤这类东西，都可以用钱买。别的人们靠了这方法过得很安全，还有别的人们也靠这方法过得挺安全，其他人可以仿照他们。至于住到哪里去，怎么样过日子，亲爱的孩子，我倒想听听你的高见。”
“你现在讲得如此轻松，”我说道，“可是昨天夜里你又那么严肃认真，还发誓说一旦被发现就是死路一条。”
“我现在还是发誓说，一旦被捉住就是死路一条，”他把烟斗重新放进嘴巴，说，“而且用绳子绞死，在离这里不远的大街上被公开绞死。这还是严肃认真的，你应当充分地了解这一点。木已成舟，那该怎么办？现在我来了，要回去吧，回去和在这里都是半斤八两，甚至于更糟。再说，皮普，我来到这里，因为我多少年来一直盼望着见到你，现在才为了你而来。说我大胆吧，是的，我已是一只久经风霜的老鸟，自从生下后就天不怕地不怕地历经了多少次罗网的捕捉，今日飞到稻草人上又何足为俱呢？如果稻草人里面隐藏杀机，那就让死神现出来，让我面对着他，我相信我对他也服了。不过现在我还得再看一下我一手培养出来的绅士。”
他又抓起我的两只手，仔细地打量着我，态度俨然是一副财主审视产业的样子，同时在恰然自得地抽着烟。
我想，最好在附近的某个地方给他找一处僻静的住所，这对他的安全有好处。就在最近两三天赫伯特要回来，他一回来就让我的这位不速之客搬过去。我一定要向赫伯特吐露真情，而且这是非常有必要的。因为这样一来很明显，我们可以共商对策，他可以提供建议，减轻我心理上的沉重负担。不过我的这一想法，对于普鲁威斯先生来讲就不那么显而易见了（我坚持用这个名字来称呼他），他认为他先得看一下赫伯特，看看他的面相，算一下他的命，再决定是不是让他参与此事。他从口袋里掏出一本袖珍《圣经》，油腻腻的，而且边上有扣子扣着，对我说：“即使这样，亲爱的孩子，我们也得要他对《圣经》起誓。”
我要是说，我的这位恩主拿着这本袖珍的黑皮《圣经》走遍世界，就是为了在紧急的关头要人们对《圣经》起誓，那不是很合理的说法，但是我可以说，我确实不知道他这本书派过任何其他的用处。就是这本书本身，看上去也是他从哪个法庭上稍带地偷来的，也许他了解和这本书有关的故事，再和他本人以往的体验联系起来，便相信这本书有无限的魔力和魅力，任何法律也奈何不得。我看到他从口袋中掏出这本书时，便回忆起童年时代在乡村墓地他是如何叫我对他发誓效忠的，而且昨天晚上，他自己也谈到他在孤寂的异国是如何发誓要实现心愿的。
他现在穿的衣服是一套水手的服装，穿这种衣服看上去好像他有一些鹦鹉及雪茄等待出售似的。我和他讨论的另一个问题就是他应穿什么衣眼。他有一个特殊的信念，强调短裤的功效，认为其具有伪装方面的意义，并且在他自己心中，已经设计了他自己穿的服装式样，穿上这种衣服他就能成为介乎乡村牧师和牙科医生之间的人物。而我花了好大的耐心才说服他打扮成一个富裕农场主的样子。我们做了安排，要他把头发剪短，再扑上些粉。另外，既然我的那位洗衣妇和她的侄女尚未看见过他，那么，干脆等他换装改扮之后再和她们见面。
看起来，决定这些预防的措施是一件很简单的事情，其实不然，即使不说我的心中是心烦意乱，至少也给弄得头昏眼花，讨论来讨论去，一直到下午两三点钟我才出去置办。我出外时关照他留在家中，锁好房门，有人敲门，无论如何也不能开。
我知道在艾塞克斯街上有一处很不错的出租房，它的后门正通向寺院，我只要在我的窗口一叫，他准能听见。我先去看这所房子，说来十分幸运，我为我的这位伯父普鲁威斯先生租到了三楼的房间。然后，我从这个店到那个店地进进出出，购买为他改装打扮的有关用品。这些事情办妥之后，我便转身奔向小不列颠街，为我自己办事。贾格斯先生正坐在他的桌边，一看到我进来，立刻便站起来，站在他那壁炉的前面。
“嗳，皮普，”他说道，“你要小心些。”
“我会注意的。”我答道。我走在路上时，早就把该要说的话都想好了。
“不要连累你自己，”贾格斯先生说道，“也不要连累任何别人。你该懂得——任何别人。不要告诉我任何事。我也不需要知道任何事：我不好奇。”
自然，我看出他已经知道那人到了我那里。
“贾格斯先生，”我说道，“我只想证实一下有人告诉我的话是否是事实。我并不希求那是假话，而只想能够证实一下。”
贾格斯先生点点头。“你所说的究竟是‘有人告诉你’呢，还是‘有人通知你’呢？”他问我时把头歪向一边，并没有瞧着我，而是一副凝神的样子望着地板。“有人告诉你就是说你和此人当面交谈过。你要知道你不可能和一个住在新南威尔士的人当面交谈，你说对吗？”
“贾格斯先生，我得说，是有人通知我的。”
“很好。”
“有一个叫做艾伯尔·马格韦契的人通知我，长期以来对我隐瞒姓名的那位恩主就是他。”
“正是此人，”贾格斯先生说，“他住在新南威尔士。”
“我的恩主就他一个人吗？”我问道。
“仅他一个人。”贾格斯先生答道。
“先生，我不是不讲道理的人，我不能把自己的误解和错误的结论都推到你身上由你负责；不过，我总以为我的恩主是郝维仙小姐。”
“皮普，”贾格斯先生用他冷酷的目光盯住我，咬了一下他的食指，“正如你说的那样，我不能负任何责任。”
“先生，可表面上却是那么像，”我唉声叹气地申明自己的理由。
“皮普，你说的一点儿证据也没有，”贾格斯先生摇着头说道，同时撩起衣服的后摆，“什么事都不能凭表面；所有的事都要凭证据。这是最重要的人生之道。”
我沉默无语地站了一会儿，然后叹了一口气，说道：“我没有更多的话要说，通知我的事得到了证实，就到此为止了。”
“马格韦契，住在新南威尔士的马格韦契终于本人出面了，”贾格斯先生说道，“皮普，你总该明白了，我和你来往自始至终一丝不苟，我总是严格地遵守事实的方针路线，一点儿也没有违背这事实的方针路线。你现在总该完全了解是怎么一回事了吧？”
“确实如此，先生。”
“马格韦契第一次从新南威尔士写信给我的时候，我就写回信寄到新南威尔土给他，向他提出警告，叫他不要对我寄托希望，以为我会离开事实的严格方针。同时，我还对他提出另一项警告。因为在一封信中他暗示他会有一天回到英国来看你，所以我警告他，不许再向我提到这件事，他是不可能得到宽大处理的；既然他被判为终身流放，就不可能再想回国，回国就构成重罪，根据法律要处以极刑。这一点我早警告过他，”贾格斯先生说着，紧紧地盯着我，“我早写信到新南威尔士，毫无疑问，他遵守了这一点。”
“那是毫无疑问的。”我答道。
“温米克曾经告诉过我，”贾格斯先生仍然紧紧地盯着我，继续说道，“说他接到一封信，是从朴茨茅斯寄来的，写信的人是海外移民普尔威斯，或是——”
“或是普鲁威斯。”我提示说。
“谢谢，是普鲁威斯，谢谢你皮普。也许就是这个普鲁威斯？也许你知道他就是普鲁威斯吧？”
“是的。”我说道。
“你知道这人叫普鲁威斯。在这封发自朴茨茅斯的信上，那位海外移民普鲁威斯询问了你的详细地址，他是代马格韦契问的。温米克回信告诉了他你的地址，这我是知道的。或许你正是通过普鲁威斯的转达，你才知道住在新南威尔士的马格韦契的心意的吧？”
“是通过普鲁威斯转达的。”我答道。
“皮普，再见了，”贾格斯先生伸过手来给我，说道，“这次见到你很高兴。你写信给马格韦契，即写信到新南威尔士去，或者通过普鲁威斯转告他时，务必请你提一下，我们长期以来的账目往来及收据详情，连同余款即将寄到你那里；因为尚有些余款。再见，皮普！”
我们握手告别，他在目送我时紧紧地盯住我。我在门口回头看时，他仍然在紧紧地盯住我，他书架上放着的两个丑陋的头像也在挣扎着睁大眼睛，尽力地从他们肿胀的喉头中挤出一句话：“看，这是个多精明的人！”
温米克不在事务所里，即使他在这里办公，对我也没有什么用处。我一直走回寺区。走进住所，我看到那位吓人的普鲁威斯正在畅饮兑水朗姆酒，抽着黑人头牌烟丝，平安无事地待在那里。
第二天，我为他订做的衣眼全都送来了，他马上换上身。无论他穿哪一件衣服都比不上他原来的衣眼合身，这使我真有点儿狼狈。我想，在他身上肯定有一种什么东西，使他没有办法把自己乔装打扮起来。我愈是让他换新衣眼，愈是把他装扮起来，而他就愈像沼泽地上的那位懒散的逃犯。在我焦急忧愁的幻觉之中产生了如此强烈的效果，其中的一个原因无疑是他在我童年印象中的样子和态度那么逼真地在我脑中再现出来；他现在拖着双腿那种懒散的样子仿佛仍然锁着铁镣一样，而且从头到脚，全身上下，每一个地方都表现出他是一个十足的犯人。
他在长期流放中，生活在寂寞的小棚中，久而久之对他产生了影响，使他形成了野蛮的习气，这种野性是什么衣服也无法驯服的。再说，离开了小棚后，在异地移民当中的生活是具有罪犯烙印的生活，更对他产生了影响，特别在他的意识方面，总是那么躲躲闪闪，好像有什么东西见不得人一样。从他的一举一动中，无论是站着、坐着，无论是吃、是喝，无论是高高耸起双肩在苦思默想，或是取出他那把牛角柄的水兵小刀光在他的双腿上擦一下，然后切开食物，或是举起轻巧的玻璃酒杯，放到唇边，好像举的是粗笨的铁锅一样，或者他切下一片面包，用来在还有一点肉汁残羹的盆子里一次又一次地揩着，仿佛那是他难得的美餐，又把手指上的油也揩在面包片上，最后才一口吞下，所有这些举动以及一天当中随时随刻都会发现的说不出名称的成千成万的各种举动，都清清楚楚、明明白白地向人们显示出他是个罪犯，是个重犯，是个戴过手铐脚镣的犯人。
在头发上搽粉是他本人的意见，因为在裤子方面他作出了让步我才同意的。效果可不令人乐观，因为在头发上搽粉，除掉和死人脸上搽胭脂一样，没有其他可比的；这样一来，原来在他身上想掩饰的东西，反而透过一层薄薄的虚饰更强烈地暴露出来，似乎全部在他的头顶上闪耀出来，令人感到十分难看。几经试着装扮以后，不得不都放弃，只把他的灰白头发剪短了一些。
语言的确难以道出我对这位可怕的神秘人物的感觉。晚上，他坐在安乐椅上，用那骨节突出的双手抓着椅子的扶手，沉沉地睡去；他那皱纹满布的秃头耷拉在胸前一颠一颠的。我坐在那儿打量着他，真想知道他究竟犯过什么罪，我把在法庭上听来的一切罪名都一条一条地加在他的身上，每加一条，我心头就受一分刺激，最后刺得我不得不跳起来，从他身边远远地逃走。我对他的厌恶是与时俱增的，如果不是因为知道赫伯特马上就要回来，无论他对我有过什么恩惠，或者为我冒过什么危险，我也只有下定决心一走了之，因为忍受不了内心的痛苦，忍受不了幽灵般的烦扰。有一次我在晚上确实惊得从床上跳起来，并且穿上了我最坏的衣服，匆匆忙忙地想丢开他，也丢下我的所有东西去参军，作为一名普通士兵到印度去。
在这漫长夜晚和漫长黑夜的孤寂房间中，窗外风凄雨厉，我想，即使这时有鬼魂出现，我的心情也不见得比现在更可怕。一个鬼魂不会因我而有被捕和上绞架的危险，而他却有被捕和上绞架的危险，我正是担心他的这种可能性，所以更感到毛骨悚然。当他不能成眠的时候，就独自玩开一种叫做“耐心”的复杂扑克游戏。他的那副扑克牌破烂得不像样，如他玩的牌成功了，他就用他的水兵刀在桌子上刻上一个记号。他玩的这种牌我过去从未见过，后来也没有再见别人玩过。每逢他既不能睡觉，又不想玩牌时，就会对我说： “亲爱的孩子，读点外文给我听听吧。”其实他一个外国文字也听不懂，却总是站在火炉前面，用一副展览会主持人的神态打量着我，而我在读书时用一只手遮住面孔，从手指之间会看到他对着家具打着哑剧般的手势，要它们注意倾听我完美熟练的朗读。我知道有过一位善于幻思奇想的学者，亵读神灵，创造了一个怪人，自己反被怪人所缠；而我也被一个怪物缠住，但这个怪物是把我创造成绅士的人，可是那个创造怪物的人所处的环境和我这个被创造的人所处的环境，其悲惨程度不分上下。他对我愈是喜欢，对我愈是宠爱，我却愈是想逃脱他，愈是厌恶他。
我如此写着，好像在我的感觉上已有了一年之久，而实际只不过五天左右。我时刻盼望着赫伯特回来，不敢外出，只在天黑以后才带着普鲁威斯出去透透空气。终于在一天晚上，我们吃罢晚餐，由于十分疲惫，我便睡着了。因为在晚上我总是心情紧张难以安宁，睡眠时也时常被噩梦惊醒，时断时续。这天也是在睡眠中，我忽然被楼梯上亲切的脚步声吵醒。普鲁威斯本已睡觉，由于我的响声，他也蹒跚地爬起，立时我便看到他手上的那把水手刀。
“赫伯特回来了，不要惊慌！”我说道。这时赫伯特冲了进来，他经历了六百英里的法国之旅，带回来一股新鲜空气。
“汉德尔，我亲爱的朋友，你好吗，我再说两遍，你好吗，你好吗？我们这一别好像整整十二个月了！大概真该有一年了，看你长得这么瘦，这么苍白！汉德尔，啊！对不起，请问这一位是谁？”
他正向我走过来要和我握手，一眼却看到了普鲁威斯，便停了下来。普鲁威斯紧紧地盯住他，慢慢地收起了他的水兵刀，一只手在另一只口袋中不知摸索着什么东西。
“赫伯特，我亲爱的朋友，”我一面说着，一面关上了双扇门，而赫伯特却站在那儿呆呆地望着我，“我要告诉你发生的一些奇怪事情，这位是我的客人。”
“亲爱的孩子，不必在意！”普鲁威斯走上前来，拿着他那本带扣子的小黑书，然后对着赫伯特说道，“用你的右手拿着这本书，你发誓：只要你走漏风声，主会立刻用雷电劈死你。吻一下这本书！”
“照他说的办。”我对赫伯特说道。赫伯特无限友好地望着我，友好中还夹着不安和惊慌的心情。他照办了，于是普鲁威斯便和他握手，说道：“现在你已经发了誓，以后如果皮普不把你造就成一个上流社会的绅士，你就不要相信我好了！”