# ■ 11 Pip attends a burial

One evening a black－edged envelope was delivered to me at Herbert's rooms． The letter inside informed me that Mrs J．Gargery had died the previous Monday，and that the burial would be next Monday， at 3 p．m．This news came as a shock to me．It was the first time that someone close to me had died， and I could not imagine life without my sister，even if I had never loved her， or even thought about her recently．

I arrived at the forge early on Monday afternoon． Joe was sitting in the front room， wrapped in a black cloak．

‘Dear Joe，how are you？’I asked．

‘Pip，dear old boy， you knew her when she was a fine woman…’and he could say no more．

Biddy， in her neat little black dress， was busy serving food．Old friends from the village were talking quietly among them-selves， and I noticed the awful Pumblechook trying to catch my eye， as he drank brandy and swallowed large pieces of cake．

‘May I，my dear sir？ May I？’he asked， his mouth full，and shook my hand enthusiastically．

My sister's dead body was carried slowly out of the house and through the village， followed by all of us．We could see the marshes， and the sails of ships on the river．And there，in the churchyard，next to my unknown parents，my poor sister was laid quietly in the earth，while the birds sang and the clouds danced in the sky．

Biddy，Joe and I felt better when all the guests had gone，and we had a quiet supper together．I decided to spend the night at the forge，which pleased Joe very much．I was pleased with myself for offering to do so．

I waited until I found Biddy alone．Then I said，‘I suppose you won't be able to stay here now，will you，Biddy？’

‘No，Mr Pip．I'll stay in the village，but I'll still look after Mr Gargery as much as I can．’

‘How are you going to live，Biddy？If you want any money— ’

‘I'm going to be the village schoolteacher，'she said quickly，her cheeks pink．‘I can earn my own money．’

‘Tell me，Biddy，how did my sister die？’ ‘She had been worse than usual，when one evening she said，very clearly，“Joe．” And so I ran to the forge to fetch him．And she put her arms round his neck and laid her head on his shoulder，quite happy．Once she said“sorry”，and once “Pip”．She never lifted her head up again，and an hour later she died．’

Biddy cried，and I cried too． ‘What happened to Orlick，Biddy？’ ‘He's still in the village．He doesn't work for Miss Havisham any more．You know，he－he follows me sometimes．’

‘You must tell me if he bothers you，Biddy．I'll be here more often now．I'm not going to leave poor Joe alone．’

Biddy said nothing． ‘Come，Biddy，what do you mean by this silence？’

‘Are you quite sure，then，that you will come to see him？’ ‘Oh Biddy！’I said sadly．‘This really is a bad side to your character！ Don't say any more！’And that evening I thought how unkind，how unjust，Biddy was to me．

Next morning I looked in at the forge before leaving，and said goodbye to Joe，who was already hard at work． ‘I shall be back to see you soon，Joe！’

‘Never too soon，sir，'said Joe，‘and never too often，Pip！’

As I walked away，I think I knew that I would not go back．Biddy was right．

In London，I did some serious thinking．I could see that my character had not improved since I had heard about my expectations．I was spending far too much money．What was worse，I was a bad influence on Herbert，who was also spend－ing too much．I would have offered to pay his bills，but he was too proud to listen to such a suggestion．I had hoped that on my twenty－first birthday I would discover more about my future，but Mr Jaggers explained that he could not give me any more information，except that from now on I would have five hundred pounds a year to spend as I liked．I suddenly thought of a way I could help Herbert．

When l asked Wemmick if he could advise me on how to help a friend start up in business，his post-box mouth opened wide．

‘Choose one of the six London bridges，’he said，‘and throw your money over it．That's better than investing money for a friend．That's my official opinion，of course．’

‘Ah，so you would give me a different opinion at Walworth？’

‘You'll be welcome there，Mr Pip，on private business．’

Next Sunday I visited Wemmick and his aged parent at the Castle．This time there was a lady called Miss Skiffins，clearly a regular visitor，who made the tea，and sat next to Wemmick on the sofa．When he and I were alone，Wemmick listened carefully to my request，and after thinking hard，found an answer．

With his help I arranged to invest some money in a shipping company called Clarrikers．Finally I signed an agreement with them，in which they promised to offer Herbert a job，and later to make him a partner．At last I felt that my expectations had done some good to someone．

■ 11 匹普出席一個葬禮

一天晚上，在赫伯特的屋裡，一封貼著黑邊的信件遞給了我。這封信給我帶來了喬·葛吉瑞夫人上星期一去世的消息，訂於在下星期一下午3點鐘安葬。這個消息來得突然，讓我十分震驚。對我來講，這是第一次親近的人死了，我不能想像生活裡沒有了我姐姐，即使我從來也沒愛過她，甚至最近也沒想起她。

星期一下午，我早早地到達了鐵匠鋪，喬卷著黑色的斗篷，正在屋子前面坐著。

“親愛的喬，你好嗎？”我問道。

“匹普，親愛的老夥計，你知道她，當她是一個很好的女人時……”他不能再說下去了。

畢蒂，穿著她那整潔的小黑衣服，正忙著準備飯菜。村裡來的老朋友，他們之間正在心平氣和地交談著。我注意到當可怕的潘波趣喝著白蘭地、吞食著大塊的蛋糕時，他企圖捕捉我的眼神。

“可以嗎？我親愛的先生？可以嗎？”他不停地問，熱切地搖著我的手。

我姐姐的屍體被緩慢地抬出屋子，通過村莊，我們緊隨其後。我們能看到沼澤地和河裡航行的船隻。在教堂墓地，緊挨著我一無所知的父母，我那可憐的姐姐安靜地躺在泥土裡，這時天空上烏雲翻滾，烏鴉尖叫。

當客人們都走了，我和喬、畢蒂心情稍好一些，我們一起吃了頓安靜的晚餐。我決定在鐵匠鋪過夜，這使喬十分高興，我對自己提出這樣做也感到高興。

我一直等到畢蒂一個人在的時候，這時我說：“我猜你不會再在這裡住下去了，不是嗎？畢蒂。”

“不，匹普先生，我會住在這個村莊的，而且繼續盡全力照顧葛吉瑞先生。”

“你打算怎樣生活，畢蒂？如果你需要錢的話——”

“我打算做一名村辦教師，”她的臉頰紅潤起來，很快地說，“我能自己掙錢。”

“告訴我，畢蒂，我姐姐是怎麼死的？”

“她的情況比平時反常，一天晚上，她特別清楚地說，‘喬’。因此，我跑到鐵匠鋪叫他。她摟著他的脖子，頭紮在他懷裡，看上去很快樂。一次，她說‘對不起’，一次說‘匹普’，她再也沒有抬起頭，半小時後她離開了人間。”

畢蒂哭泣我也哭泣著。

“奧立克怎麼樣，畢蒂？”

“他仍然在村裡，他再沒有為郝薇香小姐幹活。你知道，他——他有時還尾隨著我。”

“你一定告訴他，如果他再騷擾你，畢蒂，我會隨時在這裡的，我不打算離開可憐孤獨的喬。”

畢蒂沒有言語。

“嘿，畢蒂，你沉默不語，什麼意思？”

“那麼，你能保證常來看他嗎？”

“噢，畢蒂！”我傷心地說，“這正是你性格不好的一面，不要再說了！”那天晚上，我想畢蒂對我是多麼不友好，多麼不公道。

第二天早晨，走之前，我向鐵匠鋪裡張望，向已經在拚命幹活的喬告別。

“我會很快回來看你，喬！”

“用不著很快的，先生，”喬說，“用不著經常的，匹普！”

當我離開時，我想我知道我不會回來的，畢蒂的看法完全正確。

在倫敦，我做了認真的考慮。自從我聽到有關我的前程，知道我的品行沒有改善，我在大把大把地花鈔票，這種做法是很壞的，我對赫伯特產生了不好的影響，他也是大把地花錢。我會為他支付賬單的，但是，他聽到這個建議很得意。我希望在我21歲生日能夠發現更多的財富，可是賈格斯先生解釋說從現在除了我一年會有500英鎊的花消外，他不能給我更多的信息。我突然想出一個能幫助赫伯特的辦法。

當我問文米克在如何幫助一位朋友生意開張問題上他能否為我提出建議時，他的郵箱嘴張得很大。

“在六座倫敦橋中選其中的一個，”他說，“把你的錢扔在橋上，這樣比為朋友投資更好，當然那是我正式的意見。”

“噢，那麼說在沃爾鄂斯你還會給我其它的建議？”

“在那兒你會受到歡迎的，匹普先生，私人買賣。”

第二個星期天，我在那座城堡拜訪了文米克和他年邁的父親。這一次，有位女士叫斯基芬小姐，很顯然是一位常客，斯基芬小姐泡好茶，挨著文米克坐在沙發上。當只有我和他時，文米克仔細地聽著我的請求，苦心焦思後，找到了一個答案。

出於他的幫助，我安排在一家船業公司叫克拉雷克斯投一部分資。最終，我和他們簽訂了合同，在合同上，他們承諾提供給赫伯特一份工作，以後讓他成為股東。最後，我感到用我的前程為他人做了一些有益的事情。