Great Expectations

It appeared to me that I could do no better than secure him some

quiet lodging hard by, of which he might take possession when Herbert

returned: whom I expected in two or three days. That the secret must

be confided to Herbert as a matter of unavoidable necessity, even if I

could have put the immense relief I should derive from sharing it with

him out of the question, was plain to me. But it was by no means so

plain to Mr. Provis (I resolved to call him by that name), who reserved

his consent to Herbert's participation until he should have seen him

and formed a favorable judgment of his physiognomy. "And even then, dear

boy," said he, pulling a greasy little clasped black Testament out of

his pocket, "we'll have him on his oath."

To state that my terrible patron carried this little black book about

the world solely to swear people on in cases of emergency, would be to

state what I never quite established; but this I can say, that I never

knew him put it to any other use. The book itself had the appearance of

having been stolen from some court of justice, and perhaps his knowledge

of its antecedents, combined with his own experience in that wise, gave

him a reliance on its powers as a sort of legal spell or charm. On this

first occasion of his producing it, I recalled how he had made me swear

fidelity in the churchyard long ago, and how he had described himself

last night as always swearing to his resolutions in his solitude.

As he was at present dressed in a seafaring slop suit, in which he

looked as if he had some parrots and cigars to dispose of, I next

discussed with him what dress he should wear. He cherished an

extraordinary belief in the virtues of "shorts" as a disguise, and had

in his own mind sketched a dress for himself that would have made

him something between a dean and a dentist. It was with considerable

difficulty that I won him over to the assumption of a dress more like a

prosperous farmer's; and we arranged that he should cut his hair close,

and wear a little powder. Lastly, as he had not yet been seen by the

laundress or her niece, he was to keep himself out of their view until

his change of dress was made.

It would seem a simple matter to decide on these precautions; but in my

dazed, not to say distracted, state, it took so long, that I did not

get out to further them until two or three in the afternoon. He was to

remain shut up in the chambers while I was gone, and was on no account

to open the door.