Great Expectations

He came back to where I stood, and again held out both his hands.

Not knowing what to do,--for, in my astonishment I had lost my

self-possession,--I reluctantly gave him my hands. He grasped them

heartily, raised them to his lips, kissed them, and still held them.

"You acted noble, my boy," said he. "Noble, Pip! And I have never forgot

it!"

At a change in his manner as if he were even going to embrace me, I laid

a hand upon his breast and put him away.

"Stay!" said I. "Keep off! If you are grateful to me for what I did when

I was a little child, I hope you have shown your gratitude by mending

your way of life. If you have come here to thank me, it was not

necessary. Still, however you have found me out, there must be something

good in the feeling that has brought you here, and I will not repulse

you; but surely you must understand that--I--"

My attention was so attracted by the singularity of his fixed look at

me, that the words died away on my tongue.

"You was a saying," he observed, when we had confronted one another

in silence, "that surely I must understand. What, surely must I

understand?"

"That I cannot wish to renew that chance intercourse with you of long

ago, under these different circumstances. I am glad to believe you have

repented and recovered yourself. I am glad to tell you so. I am glad

that, thinking I deserve to be thanked, you have come to thank me. But

our ways are different ways, none the less. You are wet, and you look

weary. Will you drink something before you go?"

He had replaced his neckerchief loosely, and had stood, keenly observant

of me, biting a long end of it. "I think," he answered, still with the

end at his mouth and still observant of me, "that I will drink (I thank

you) afore I go."

There was a tray ready on a side-table. I brought it to the table

near the fire, and asked him what he would have? He touched one of the

bottles without looking at it or speaking, and I made him some hot rum

and water. I tried to keep my hand steady while I did so, but his look

at me as he leaned back in his chair with the long draggled end of his

neckerchief between his teeth--evidently forgotten--made my hand very

difficult to master. When at last I put the glass to him, I saw with

amazement that his eyes were full of tears.