Great Expectations Chapter 44: I Speak to Miss Havisham...

Pip finds Estella and Miss Havisham in their same old repose at Manor House, though he himself is no longer in the mood to visit the place and all of its weirdness without some protest. He's mad at Miss Havisham for deliberately leading him on for so many years, for cultivating the lie that she was his patron. He says,

"It would have been cruel in Miss Havisham, horribly cruel, to practice on the susceptibility of a poor boy, and to torture me through all these years with a vain hope and an idle pursuit, if she had reflected on the gravity of what she did. But I think she did not." Chapter 44, pg. 421

The old woman denies nothing, though she doesn't show any regret, either. Determined to air all, Pip continues, saying that Miss Havisham needs to know that Herbert and Matthew Pocket are good men, and not the same money-grubbing sort as her other relatives. He also wants the old woman to take over the payments he's been making to help Herbert get started in the business world.

Next, Pip turns to Estella and says that in case she hasn't noticed, he loves her and he has loved her for a long time. Pip doesn't seem to expect much from this confession and he doesn't get much from the hard-hearted Estella. Estella is still convinced she is incapable of love, and for a change of pace, since she really seems to care very little about her life, she'll marry Bentley Drummle. This news sets Pip into a new fit; he calls Drummle a brute and tells Estella that she will never leave his mind, for she is all and everything he sees in the world.

Topic Tracking: Love 10

The two ladies, unimpressed by anything emotional, look at Pip like he's got a second head. Brokenhearted, he leaves Satis and walks all the way back to London. This takes all night, and when he finally arrives at the Temple, the night watchman slips him a note from Wemmick that says, cryptically: "Don't Go Home."