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After that , Biddy came to live with us and take care of my sister . She was very good at it , and the house became neat and clean . Biddy had grown into a pleasant young woman . Her hair was tidy , her hands were clean , and she had kind , honest eyes . She seemed to understand everything I said , even what I did not say aloud . One Sunday afternoon Biddy and I walked out on the marshes . The river was shining , and the ships were sailing out to sea . I decided to tell Biddy my secret . “ Biddy , ” I said , “ I want to be a gentleman . ” “ Oh , I wouldn’t , if I was you ! ” she answered . “ I don’t think it would answer . ” “ Biddy , ” I said firmly , “ I have particular reasons for wanting to be a gentleman . The beautiful young lady at Miss Havisham’s said I was coarse and common . I want to be a gentleman on her account . ” Biddy looked at the ships for a while . “ Do you want to be a gentleman to annoy her , ” she said quietly , “ or to win her ? ” “ I don’t know , ” I answered . “ Because , if it is to annoy her , ” Biddy said , “ I should think you could do that better by caring nothing for her words . And if it is to win her , I should think , but you know best , she was not worth winning . ” That was exactly what I had thought many times . But how could I , a poor dazed village boy , avoid the strange behaviour into which the best and wisest of men fall every day ? “ It may be all quite true , ” I said to Biddy , “ but I admire her dreadfully . ” I wished that I could love Biddy instead . She was so good and so sensible , and she would never make me feel ashamed . “ If I could only get myself to fall in love with you , Biddy , ” I said . “ You don’t mind my speaking so openly to such an old friend ? ” “ Oh dear , not at all ! ” said Biddy . “ Don’t mind me . ” On the way home we met Orlick , who walked behind us and tried to come close to Biddy . Biddy told me that she was afraid of him , because he liked her and kept following her . That made me hate Orlick even more . But in my heart I still thought only of Estella . I went on working at the forge , I went on being unhappy , and I went on dreaming that Miss Havisham would make my fortune one day . VI . Great Expectations It was in the fourth year of my apprenticeship , on a Saturday night . A group of us were sitting by the fire at the Three Jolly Bargemen , listening to Mr Wopsle as he read aloud from the newspaper about a famous murder . Then I noticed a strange gentleman who was leaning over the back of a seat and watching us . He was a large man with a very dark face , deep - set eyes and bushy black eyebrows , and he was biting the side of a great forefinger . I had seen him once before , on the stairs at Miss Havisham’s , though I did not think he remembered me .
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