one day when i was busy with my books and mr pocket, i received a note by the post, the mere outside of which threw me into a great flutter; for, though i had never seen the handwriting in which it was addressed, i divined whose hand it was. it had no set beginning, as dear mr pip, or dear pip, or dear sir, or dear anything, but ran thus:
`i am to come to london the day after to-morrow by the mid-day coach. i believe it was settled you should meet me? at all events miss havisham has that impression, and i write in obedience to it. she sends you her regard.
yours, estella.'
if there had been time, i should probably have ordered several suits of clothes for this occasion; but as there was not, i was fain to be content with those i had. my appetite vanished instantly, and i knew no peace or rest until the day arrived. not that is arrival brought me either; for, then i was worse than ever, and began haunting the coach-office in wood-street, cheapside, before the coach had left the blue boar in our town. for all that i knew this perfectly well, i still felt as if it were not safe to let the coach-office be out of my sight longer than five minutes at a time; and in this condition of unreason i had performed the first half-hour of a watch of four or five hours, when wemmick ran against me.
`halloa, mr pip,' said he; `how do you do? i should hardly have thought this was your beat.'
i explained that i was waiting to meet somebody who was coming up by coach, and i inquired after the castle and the aged.
`both flourishing thankye,' said wemmick, `and particularly the aged. he's in wonderful feather. he'll be eighty-two next birthday. i have a notion of firing eighty-two times, if the neighbourhood shouldn't complain, and that cannon of mine should prove equal to the pressure. however, this is not london talk. where do you think i am going to?'
`to the office?' said i, for he was tending in that direction.
`next thing to it,' returned wemmick, `i am going to newgate. we are in a banker's-parcel case just at present, and i have been down the road taking as squint at the scene of action, and thereupon must have a word or two with our client.'
`did your client commit the robbery?' i asked
`bless your soul and body, no,' answered wemmick, very drily. `but he is accused of it. so might you or i be. either of us might be accused of it, you know.'
`only neither of us is,' i remarked.
`yah!' said wemmick, touching me on the breast with his forefinger; `you're a deep one, mr pip! would you like to have a look at newgate? have you time to spare?'
i had so much time to spare, that the proposal came as a relief, notwithstanding its irreconcilability with my latent desire to keep my eye on the coach-office. muttering that i would make the inquiry whether i had time to walk with him, i went into the office, and ascertained from the clerk with the nicest precision and much to the trying of his temper, the earliest moment at which the coach could be expected - which i knew beforehand, quite as well as he. i then rejoined mr wemmick, and affecting to consult my watch and to be surprised by the information i had received, accepted his offer.
we were at newgate in a few minutes, and we passed through the lodge where some fetters were hanging up on the bare walls among the prison rules, into the interior of the jail. at that time, jails were much neglected, and the period of exaggerated reaction consequent on all public wrong-doing - and which is always its heaviest and longest punishment - was still far off. so, felons were not lodged and fed better than soldiers (to say nothing of paupers), and seldom set fire to their prisons with the excusable object of improving the flavour of their soup. it was visiting time when wemmick took me in; and a potman was going his rounds with beer; and the prisoners, behind bars in yards, were buying beer, and talking to friends; and a frouzy, ugly, disorderly, depressing scene it was.
it struck me that wemmick walked among the prisoners, much as a gardener might walk among his plants. this was first put into my head by his seeing a shoot that had come up in the night, and saying, `what, captain tom? are you there? ah, indeed!' and also, `is that black bill behind the cistern? why i didn't look for you these two months; how do you find yourself?' equally in his stopping at the bars and attending to anxious whisperers - always singly - wemmick with his post-office in an immovable state, looked at them while in conference, as if he were taking particular notice of the advance they had made, since last observed, towards coming out in full blow at their trial.
he was highly popular, and i found that he took the familiar department of mr jaggers's business: though something of the state of mr. jaggers hung about him too, forbidding approach beyond certain limits. his personal recognition of each successive client was comprised in a nod, and in his settling his hat a little easier on his head with both hands, and then tightening the postoffice, and putting his hands in his pockets. in one or two instances, there was difficulty respecting the raising of fees, and then mr wemmick, backing as far as possible from the insufficient money produced, said, `it's no use, my boy. i'm only a subordinate. i can't take it. don't go on in that way with a subordinate. if you are unable to make up your quantum, my boy, you had better address yourself to a principal; there are plenty of principals in the profession, you know, and what is not worth the while of one, may be worth the while of another; that's my recommendation to you, speaking as a subordinate. don't try on useless measures. why should you? now, who's next?'
thus, we walked through wemmick's greenhouse, until he turned to me and said, `notice the man i shall shake hands with.' i should have done so, without the preparation, as he had shaken hands with no one yet.
almost as soon as he had spoken, a portly upright man(whom i can see now, as i write) in a well-worn olive-coloured frock-coat, with a peculiar pallor over-spreading the red in his complexion, and eyes that went wandering about when he tried to fix them, came up to a corner of the bars, and put his hand to his hat - which had a greasy and fatty surface like cold broth - with a half-serious and half-jocose military salute.
`colonel, to you!' said wemmick; `how are you, colonel?'
`all right, mr wemmick.'
`everything was done that could be done, but the evidence was too strong for us, colonel.'
`yes, it was too strong, sir - but i don't care.'
`no, no,' said wemmick, coolly, `you don't care.' then, turning to me, `served his majesty this man. was a soldier in the line and bought his discharge.'
i said, `indeed?' and the man's eyes looked at me, and then looked over my head, and then looked all round me, and then he drew his hand across his lips and laughed.
`i think i shall be out of this on monday, sir,' he said to wemmick.
`perhaps,' returned my friend, `but there's no knowing.'
`i am glad to have the chance of bidding you good-bye, mr wemmick,' said the man, stretching out his hand between two bars.
`thankye,' said wemmick, shaking hands with him. `same to you, colonel.'
`if what i had upon me when taken, had been real, mr wemmick,' said the man, unwilling to let his hand go, `i should have asked the favour of your wearing another ring - in acknowledgment of your attentions.'
`i'll accept the will for the deed,' said wemmick. `by-the-bye; you were quite a pigeon-fancier.' the man looked up at the sky. `i am told you had a remarkable breed of tumblers. could you commission any friend of yours to bring me a pair, of you've no further use for 'em?'
`it shall be done, sir?'
`all right,' said wemmick, `they shall be taken care of. good afternoon, colonel. good-bye!' they shook hands again, and as we walked away wemmick said to me, `a coiner, a very good workman. the recorder's report is made to-day, and he is sure to be executed on monday. still you see, as far as it goes, a pair of pigeons are portable property, all the same.' with that, he looked back, and nodded at this dead plant, and then cast his eyes about him in walking out of the yard, as if he were considering what other pot would go best in its place.
as we came out of the prison through the lodge, i found that the great importance of my guardian was appreciated by the turnkeys, no less than by those whom they held in charge. `well, mr wemmick,' said the turnkey, who kept us between the two studded and spiked lodge gates, and who carefully locked one before he unlocked the other, `what's mr jaggers going to do with that waterside murder? is he going to make it manslaughter, or what's he going to make of it?'
`why don't you ask him?' returned wemmick.
`oh yes, i dare say!' said the turnkey.
`now, that's the way with them here. mr pip,' remarked wemmick, turning to me with his post-office elongated. `they don't mind what they ask of me, the subordinate; but you'll never catch 'em asking any questions of my principal.'
`is this young gentleman one of the 'prentices or articled ones of your office?' asked the turnkey, with a grin at mr wemmick's humour.
`there he goes again, you see!' cried wemmick, `i told you so!asks another question of the subordinate before his first is dry!well, supposing mr pip is one of them?'
`why then,' said the turnkey, grinning again, `he knows what mr jaggers is.'
`yah!' cried wemmick, suddenly hitting out at the turnkey in a facetious way, `you're dumb as one of your own keys when you have to do with my principal, you know you are. let us out, you old fox, or i'll get him to bring an action against you for false imprisonment.'
the turnkey laughed, and gave us good day, and stood laughing at us over the spikes of the wicket when we descended the steps into the street.
`mind you, mr pip,' said wemmick, gravely in my ear, as he took my arm to be more confidential; `i don't know that mr jaggers does a better thing than the way in which he keeps himself so high. he's always so high. his constant height is of a piece with his immense abilities. that colonel durst no more take leave of him, than that turnkey durst ask him his intentions respecting a case. then, between his height and them, he slips in his subordinate - don't you see? - and so he has 'em, soul and body.'
i was very much impressed, and not for the first time, by my guardian's subtlety. to confess the truth, i very heartily wished, and not for the first time, that i had had some other guardian of minor abilities.
mr wemmick and i parted at the office in little britain, where suppliants for mr jaggers's notice were lingering about as usual, and i returned to my watch in the street of the coach-office, with some three hours on hand. i consumed the whole time in thinking how strange it was that i should be encompassed by all this taint of prison and crime; that, in my childhood out on our lonely marshes on a winter evening i should have first encountered it; that, it should have reappeared on two occasions, starting out like a stain that was faded but not gone; that, it should in this new way pervade my fortune and advancement. while my mind was thus engaged, i thought of the beautiful young estella, proud and refined, coming towards me, and i thought with absolute abhorrence of the contrast between the jail and her. i wished that wemmick had not met me, or that i had not yielded to him and gone with him, so that, of all days in the year on this day, i might not have had newgate in my breath and on my clothes. i beat the prison dust off my feet as i sauntered to and fro, and i shook it out of my dress, and i exhaled its air from my lungs. so contaminated did i feel, remembering who was coming, that the coach came quickly after all, and i was not yet free from the soiling consciousness of mr wemmick's conservatory, when i saw her face at the coach window and her hand waving to me.
what was the nameless shadow which again in that one instant had passed?
一天，我正忙于在鄱凯特先生的指导下读书时，收到了一封由邮局送来的信。只看一眼信封，就使我忐忑不安，身上冒出冷汗。因为，尽管信封上的笔迹我从来没有见过，但我已经预感到这封信是谁写来的。信纸上根本没有写“亲爱的皮普先生”、“亲爱的皮普”或者“亲爱的先生”等字样，甚至连“亲爱的”这类词都没有，一开始便写道：
“我将于后日搭乘中午马车赴伦敦。我想你曾答应会来接我，是吗？无论如何都维仙小姐对你的承诺有印象，所以我遵命写信通知你。她要我向你问好。埃斯苔娜”
我想如果时间允许，为了她来伦敦这一光辉时刻，我也该订做几套华美服装。当然这已经来不及了，只有用原有的旧衣服将就一下。这一突然事件使我的胃口顿减，直到她来的这天，我的心境一直紊乱一片，无法平静下来。而这天到了之后，我的情况只有更糟，马车还没有从我的故乡蓝野猪饭店开出，我就到了齐普塞德的伍德街驿站旁边溜达。我心中自然有数，可是总感到不放心，所以每隔五分钟就要看一下驿站马车是否已到。在这种方寸已乱的情况下，好容易挨了半个小时，倒好像等了四五个钟点一样。就这时，只见温米克朝着我走来。
“喂，皮普先生，”他说道，“你好！真没有想到这里也成了你的游猎地区了。”
我连忙向他解释，我正在等一位朋友，此人所乘马车即将抵达。我又问起他的城堡和那位老人家。
“哦谢谢你，都好都好，”温米克说道，“特别是我的老爸爸，他精神可好啦，今年生日一过就整整八十二岁了。我正在合计，准备放八十二炮祝贺他的生日，当然要看四边邻居有没有意见，还要看我的这门炮吃得消吃不消。无论如何，这可绝不是伦敦的话题。你猜我现在上哪儿去？”
“自然是去事务所了。”我看他是朝着那个方向走的，所以才这么说。
“差不多，”温米克说道，“我正要到新门监狱去。我们正接受一桩盗窃银行的案子，我刚才在来的路上对事发现场做了一次视察，现在赶去和案件当事人交换点意见。”
“你们的当事人就是犯案的强盗吗？”我问道。
“不不，这怎么会呢，”温米克用很冷淡的语气说道，“他只是被人控告而已，你和我也可能被人控告，我们谁都会被人家指控，这是人尽皆知的。”
“可是现在我们两人谁也没有受到控告。”我答道。
“哦唷！”温米克说道，用食指戳了一下我的胸口，“你真有心眼儿，皮普先生！你高兴到新门监狱去看一下吗？你有时间吗？”
确实，我有很多时间，所以他一提出这个建议，真使我喜出望外。虽然他的建议和我想待在驿站等候马车的愿望相反，但我还是想趁此机会去消磨一下时间。我嘴上装着不情愿地喃喃自语，说得到驿站办公室中去打听一下时间，看是否来得及去一次新门监狱。办公室里的办事员很不耐烦，说最早马车也得在几时几分到，说得那么精确具体，其实，他不说我也和他一样知道得很清楚。然后，我回到温米克那里，又假装说要看一下表，十分惊讶地说道还有时间去一下，这才接受了他的建议。
只几分钟我们就到了新门监狱。我们走进门房，只见几面光秃的墙上写着牢房规则，而规则中的字句都被挂在那里的镣铐遮挡住了。我们又从门房走进了监狱的内部。在那个时代，监狱管理实在马虎，后来才施行了过分严厉的管理，结果又造成错误，其实这正是对错误最严肃和最持久的惩罚。那时的重罪犯人在牢房中行动并不受约束，而且伙食比士兵们还好，更不用说比贫民好了。这样他们也就很少为了改进他们的饮食而放火烧监狱了。温米克和我进去的时候正是探监开始，啤酒店里来的侍者正在里面卖啤酒；犯人们都在院子里的酒吧前面购买啤酒，有的正和朋友们谈着心。这副景象混合着霉臭、恶心和混乱，使人感到沉闷、压抑。
温米克穿行于犯人之中好像在他的花园中漫步一样潇洒自如，这给我的印象很深。我有这种印象不是没有原因的，比如他看到花园里又在前夜出了一株新苗，便对他说道：“喂，汤姆船长吗？你怎么也来了？唉！真是。”然后又对另一株老苗说：“站在水池后面的不是布莱克·比尔吗？不见你已有两个月了，你怎么样呢？”同样，他一站在酒吧前，许多焦急的犯人便对他低声絮语，当然总是一个一个进行的，而温米克本人的那张邮筒口式长方大嘴却一动也不动。他总是看着他们倾听着谈话，仿佛他特别注意的是自从上次见面后他们有了哪些改进，在下一次提审时能不能繁花盛开。
温米克在犯人中人头很熟，我发现他是贾格斯先生在这里联络感情的人，虽然在他的身上也表现出贾格斯先生的神态，所以和他接近也是有一定限制的，不能越过界线。和他有关的那些当事人和他招呼时，他一律都以点头答谢，同时用他的双手在帽边上挪动一下，然后闭紧他那张邮筒口式的嘴巴，又把两手插进口袋。有一两次他的客户一时难以筹措付给律师的费用，这时温米克先生尽快地把手缩了回来，不收这笔不足的费用，说：“老兄弟，这可不行啊！我只不过是人家的雇员，你这笔不足的费用我不敢收下，不要和一个雇员找麻烦啦。要是你拿不出应交的费用，老兄弟，你最好拜托另一位大律师为你办事。干这行的大律师多得很，你心中有数，你付这个律师的钱不够，而付给另一位律师却够了。我只是以一个雇员的身份向你提建议而已。人总不该做徒劳无益的事吧，这么着又何苦呢？下一位是谁？”
监狱就是温米克的花房，当时我同他就在这花房中散步，他回过头来对我说：“马上我要和一个人握手，你注意一下。”即使他不特别关照我，我也会留心注意的，因为他到现在为止还没有和别人握过手呢。
他的话还没有说完，我就看见一位相貌堂堂、腰身挺直的人（现在我提笔写作的时候，他的形象仍然历历在目），身穿一件旧的橄榄绿军服，红通通的双颊蒙上了一种死灰色的苍白，两只眼睛一注意什么便滴溜溜地转动。他向着铁栅栏的一角走过来时，一眼望到温米克，便把手放在帽沿上，对温米克行了一个半严肃半开玩笑似的军礼。他的帽子上有一层像冰肉冻一样的油腻。
“上校，向你致敬！”温米克说道，“上校，你好吗？”
“很好，温米克先生。”
“上校，能办的事都已办完，但是证据确实太充分。”
“是的，先生，证据太充分了，不过对这个问题我并不在乎。”
“是的，你是不在乎的。”温米克冷冷地答道，然后扭过头来对我说：“这一位本来服役于皇家军队，是正式的军人，是花了钱才退役的。”
我道：“是真的？”于是此人用眼睛望望我，又望望我的后脑勺，再通身上下地打量了我一番，然后用手捂住嘴笑了起来。
“先生，我看这种案子在星期一可以了结了吧。”他对温米克说道。
“也许吧，”我的朋友答道，“不过，还不能确定。”
“温米克先生，”此人从铁栅栏中伸出一只手过来，说道，“我很高兴有此机会和你说一声再见。”
“谢谢你，”温米克边和他握手边说道，“上校，我也很高兴和你握手道别。”
“温米克先生，在我被捕的时候，要是我身上带的是真货，”此人一直握住温米克的手，不情愿放开，说道，“我早就请你赏脸，让你手指上多上一枚戒指了，并以此答谢你对我的关怀。”
“你的一番心意我领了，”温米克说道，“顺便问一声，我知道你是一位很不错的养鸽迷。”此人听后把头抬得高高的，眼睛仰望着天空。温米克接着说：“我听说你饲养着各种翻飞鸽。要是你以后不再需要这些鸽子了，能不能托你的朋友方便时带一对给我？”
“那一定可以，先生。”
“就这样，”温米克说道，“我会好好饲养这对鸽子的。祝下午好，上校，再见！”他们又一次握手，然后我们离开了他。温米克对我说道：“这是个造假币的人，手艺非常高明。这件案子今天已定了，星期一肯定执行死刑。不过你看，就当前情况来说，一对鸽子也算是笔动产了。”说毕，他又回头看了一下，并且对那株即将死去的植物点了点头，然后便走出院子，并一直用眼睛在四周张望，仿佛在深思能否发现另一盆花木来代替即将死去的那一株。
我们正通过门房走出监狱时，我发现我的监护人不仅在那些被监禁的囚犯眼中是大有名气，而且在看守们眼中也是众口皆碑的人物。这时我们正走到两扇钉了钉子、装了倒刺的大门之间，那位看守仔细地把一道门锁上，却没有立即打开另一道门，而是说道：“温米克先生，我想问一下，贾格斯先生对于那件河滨谋杀案打算如何处理？是办成过失杀人罪，还是其他什么罪？”
“你为什么不问他自己呢？”温米克反问道。
“哦，是的，是这样！”看守说道。
“皮普先生，你看，和这些人打交道都是这样，”温米克转过脸来，把他那张邮筒口式的嘴拉长着说道，“他们总是这样毫无顾忌地问我这个那个，因为我是雇员；可他们从来不敢当面向我的大律师提出这个那个问题。”
“这位年轻人是你们事务所的学徒还是新来的练习生呢？”这看守听了温米克诙谐的话后，笑着问道。
“你看，又是这副样子来了，”温米克大声嚷道，“我说的没有错吧！第一个问题还没有完，又向我这个受雇人员问起第二个问题了。好吧，你说次普先生是学徒又怎么呢？”
这个看守又笑着露出牙齿说道：“那他就知道贾格斯先生是什么人了。”
“唷！”温米克逗趣地打了看守一拳，大声说道，“你和我的主子打交道时，就变得像牢旁钥匙一样哑口无言，什么话也说不出了。你这只老狐狸，快放我们出去，要么我就请贾格斯先生告你私自拘禁罪。”
看守笑着向我们说再见，等我们走下石阶到了街上时，还见到他正从装着倒刺的铁栅门上探出头来对我们笑着。
“皮普先生，我告诉你，”温米克先非常真诚地拉住我的胳膊，在我耳边正正经经地说道，“据我所知，贾格斯先生做得最漂亮的事就是摆出高不可攀的架子。他经常摆出高傲的架子是因为他有很大的神通。那位上校就不敢和他道别，就好像这位看守一样，不敢向他探听有关案情。在他的高不可攀和这类人之间为寻求一种联系，他便要有一个帮手居于二者之间，你看，这不是完完全全玩他们于股掌之间嘛。”
我监护人的精妙手腕早就在我心中留下了极其深刻的印象。说句心里话吧，我早就希望我的监护人不像现在这个样子，如果能力小一些那就更好了。
在小不列颠街的律师事务所门口，我和温米克先生分了手。门口依旧有不少人走来走去，都是来求贾格斯先生帮助的。我自己回到驿站所在的那条街，继续等候马车，计算一下还需三个小时马车才能来。于是，我便开始思索，世界上的事情无奇不有，那监狱和犯罪的气息总是在我身边神山鬼没地包围着；早在我孩提时代，在那冬日沼泽地上的一个黄昏，我就和这团气息首次相遇；后来又有两次，就像虽褪色却没有消失的污秽一样又重复地和我相遇过。如今，正当我处于锦绣前程的幸运之中，它又隐隐地向我袭来。我的心思正被这些思想占据时，大脑又出现了年轻美貌的埃斯苔娜，那般高傲，那般雅洁，马上便会向我迎面走来。我越想越恨，竟然把她和监狱相提并论。于是我又想，如果不遇到温米克就好了，或者虽然遇到他而不和他同往新门监狱，那也很好。可是在一年的三百六十五天中，就恰巧是今天我去了新门监狱，吸进了监狱中的臭气，沾上了监狱中的污尘。于是，当我在街上来往走动时，我先把从狱中带来的尘土从脚上跺去，又把衣服上沾的狱中灰土拍干净，再把从狱中吸进的臭气完全从肺中呼出。我忆起今天来到这地方迎接的是谁，遂感到全身染满了污秽，因而倒认为马车来得过早了。我在温米克的花房中所带来的乌烟瘴气还没有消散，突然迎面驶来的马车中，埃斯苔娜的面孔已在窗户中出现，她的手正向我频频挥动。
我不知道究竟是一个什么阴影倾刻之间又在眼前闪过。