“And now, Mr. Pip,” said he, with his hands still in the sleeves, “I have probably done the most I can do; but if I can ever do more — from a Walworth point of view, and in a strictly private and personal capacity — I shall be glad to do it.  Here’s the address.  There can be no harm in your going here to-night and seeing for yourself that all is well with Tom, Jack, or Richard, before you go home — which is another reason for your not going home last night.  But after you have gone home, don’t go back here.  You are very welcome, I am sure, Mr. Pip;” his hands were now out of his sleeves, and I was shaking them; “and let me finally impress one important point upon you.”  He laid his hands upon my shoulders, and added in a solemn whisper:  “Avail yourself of this evening to lay hold of his portable property.  You don’t know what may happen to him.  Don’t let anything happen to the portable property.”

Quite despairing of making my mind clear to Wemmick on this point, I forbore to try.

“Time’s up,” said Wemmick, “and I must be off.  If you had nothing more pressing to do than to keep here till dark, that’s what I should advise.  You look very much worried, and it would do you good to have a perfectly quiet day with the Aged — he’ll be up presently - and a little bit of — you remember the pig?”

“Of course,” said I.

“Well; and a little bit of him.  That sausage you toasted was his, and he was in all respects a first-rater.  Do try him, if it is only for old acquaintance sake.  Good-bye, Aged Parent!” in a cheery shout.

“All right, John; all right, my boy!” piped the old man from within.

I soon fell asleep before Wemmick’s fire, and the Aged and I enjoyed one another’s society by falling asleep before it more or less all day.  We had loin of pork for dinner, and greens grown on the estate, and I nodded at the Aged with a good intention whenever I failed to do it drowsily.  When it was quite dark, I left the Aged preparing the fire for toast; and I inferred from the number of teacups, as well as from his glances at the two little doors in the wall, that Miss Skiffins was expected.

Chapter 46

Eight o’clock had struck before I got into the air that was scented, not disagreeably, by the chips and shavings of the long-shore boatbuilders, and mast oar and block makers.  All that water-side region of the upper and lower Pool below Bridge, was unknown ground to me, and when I struck down by the river, I found that the spot I wanted was not where I had supposed it to be, and was anything but easy to find.  It was called Mill Pond Bank, Chinks’s Basin; and I had no other guide to Chinks’s Basin than the Old Green Copper Rope-Walk.