Great Expectations

Long after these constitutional powers had dispersed, my sister lay very

ill in bed. Her sight was disturbed, so that she saw objects multiplied,

and grasped at visionary teacups and wineglasses instead of the

realities; her hearing was greatly impaired; her memory also; and her

speech was unintelligible. When, at last, she came round so far as to

be helped down stairs, it was still necessary to keep my slate always by

her, that she might indicate in writing what she could not indicate in

speech. As she was (very bad handwriting apart) a more than indifferent

speller, and as Joe was a more than indifferent reader, extraordinary

complications arose between them which I was always called in to solve.

The administration of mutton instead of medicine, the substitution of

Tea for Joe, and the baker for bacon, were among the mildest of my own

mistakes.

However, her temper was greatly improved, and she was patient. A

tremulous uncertainty of the action of all her limbs soon became a

part of her regular state, and afterwards, at intervals of two or three

months, she would often put her hands to her head, and would then remain

for about a week at a time in some gloomy aberration of mind. We were

at a loss to find a suitable attendant for her, until a circumstance

happened conveniently to relieve us. Mr. Wopsle's great-aunt conquered a

confirmed habit of living into which she had fallen, and Biddy became a

part of our establishment.

It may have been about a month after my sister's reappearance in the

kitchen, when Biddy came to us with a small speckled box containing the

whole of her worldly effects, and became a blessing to the household.

Above all, she was a blessing to Joe, for the dear old fellow was sadly

cut up by the constant contemplation of the wreck of his wife, and had

been accustomed, while attending on her of an evening, to turn to me

every now and then and say, with his blue eyes moistened, "Such a fine

figure of a woman as she once were, Pip!" Biddy instantly taking the

cleverest charge of her as though she had studied her from infancy; Joe

became able in some sort to appreciate the greater quiet of his life,

and to get down to the Jolly Bargemen now and then for a change that did

him good. It was characteristic of the police people that they had all

more or less suspected poor Joe (though he never knew it), and that they

had to a man concurred in regarding him as one of the deepest spirits

they had ever encountered.