Compeyson was a'most as hard a time as everI
had; that said, all's said. Did I tell you as I
was tried, alone, for misdemeanour, while with
Compeyson?"

I answered, No.

" Well!" he said, " I was, and got convicted.
As to took up on suspicion, that was twice or
three times in the four or five year that it
lasted; but evidence was wanting. At last, me
and Compeyson was both committed for felony—
on a charge of putting stolen notes in
circulation—and there was other charges behind.
Compeyson says to me, ' Separate defences, no
communiication,' and that was all. And I was so
miserabIe poor, that I sold all the clothes I had,
except what hung on my back, afore I could get
Jaggers.

"When we was put in the dock, I noticed
first of all what a gentleman Compeyson looked,
wi' his curly hair and his black clothes and his
white pocket-handkercher, and what a common
sort of wretch I looked. When the prosecution
opened and the evidence was put short, aforehand,
I noticed how heavy it all bore on me,
and how light on him. When the evidence was
giv in the box, I noticed how it was always me
that had come for'ard, and could be swore to,
how it was always me that the money had been
paid to, how it was always me that had seemed
to work the thing and get, the profit. But, when
the defence come on, then I see the plan plainer;
for, says the counsellor for Compeyson, 'My
lord and gentlemen, here you has afore you,
side by side, two persons as your eyes can
separate wide; one, the younger, well brought
up, who will be spoke to as such; one, the
elder, ill brought up, who will be spoke to
as such; one, the younger, seldom if ever
seen in these here transactions, and only
suspected; t'other, the elder, always seen in
'em and always wi' his guilt brought home.
Can you doubt, if there is but one in it, which
is the one, and, if there is two in it, which is
much the worst one?' And such-like. And when
it come to character, warn't it Compeyson as had
been to the school, and warn't it his school-
fellows as was in this position and in that, and
warn't it him as had been know'd by witnesses
in such clubs and societies, and nowt to his
disadvantage ': And warn't it me as had been
tried afore, and as had been know'd up hill and
down dale in Bridewells and Lock-Ups? And
when it come to speech-making, warn't it
Compeyson as could speak to 'em wi' his face
dropping every now and then into his white pocket-
handkercher—ah! and wi' verses in his speech,
too—and warn't it me as could ondy say, 'Gentlemen,
this man at my side is a most precious
rascal?' And when the verdict come, warn't it
Compeyson as was recommended to mercy on
account of good character and bad company, and
giving up all the information he could agen me,
and warn't it me as got never a word but Guiltv?
And when I says to Compeyson, 'Once out of this
court, I'll smash that face ofyourn?' ain't it
Compeyson as prays the Judge to be protected, and
gets two turnkeys stood betwixt us? And when
we're sentenced, ain't it him as gets seven year
and me fourteen, and ain't it him as the Judge is
sorry for, because he might a done so well
and ain't it me as the Judge perceives to be a
old offender of wiolent passion, likely to come
to worse?"

He had worked himself into a state of great
excitement, but he checked it, took two or three
short breaths, swallowed as often, and stretching
out his hand towards me said, in a reassuring
manner, " I ain't a going to be low,
dear boy!"

He had so heated himself that he took out
his handkerchief and wiped his face and head
and neck and hands, before he could go on.

"I had said to Compeyson that I'd smash that
face of his, and I swore Lord smash mine! to do
it. We was in the same prison-ship, but I
couldn't get at him for long, though I tried.
At last I come behind him and hit him on the
cheek to turn him round and get a smashing
one at him, when I was seen and seized. The
black-hole of that ship warn't a strong one, to
a judge of black-holes that could swim and
dive. I escaped to the shore, and I was a
hiding among the graves there, envying them
as was in 'em and all over, when first I see my
boy!"

lie regarded me with a look of affection that
made him almost abhorrent to me again, though
I had felt great pity for him.

"By my boy, I was giv to understand as
Compeyson was out on them marshes too. Upon my
soul, I half believe he escaped in his terror, to
get quit of me, not knowing it was me as had
got ashore. I hunted him down. I smashed
his face. ' And now,' says I, ' as the worst
thing I can do, caring nothing for myself, I'll
drag you back.' And I'd have swum off, towing
him by the hair, if it had come to that, and
I'd a got him aboard without the soldiers.

"Of course he'd much the best of it to the
last his character was so good. He had escaped
when he was made half wild by me and my
murderous intentions; and his punishment was
light. I was put in irons, brought to trial again,
and sent for life. I didn't stop for life, dear boy
and Pip's comrade, being here."

He wiped himself again, as he had done be-
fore, and then slowly took his tangle of tobacco
from his pocket, and plucked his pipe from his
button-hole, and slowly filled it, and began to
smoke.

"Is he dead?" I asked, after a silence.

"Is who dead, dear boy?"

"Compeyson."

"He hopes I am, if he's alive, you may be
sure," with a fierce look. "I never heerd no
more of him."

Herbert had been writing with his pencil in
the cover of a book. He softly pushed the book
over to me, as Provis stood smoking with his
eyes on the fire, and I read in it:

"Young Havisham's name was Arthur. Compeyson
is the man who professed to be Miss Havisham's
lover."

I shut the book and nodded slightly to