Chapter VIII

Pip spends the night at Mr. Pumblechook's corn-chandler shop on High Street, taking in the sights of seeds, corduroys, and the idle tradesmen around him. At breakfast, Pumblechook annoys him with math problems while he enjoys his bacon and hot rolls, giving Pip as little butter as possible and diluting his milk. At ten o'clock, they head off to Miss Havisham's home—a dark, iron-barred brick mansion known as Satis House—where a proud, beautiful young woman named Estella greets them at the gate and sends Pumblechook away. She leads Pip through dim hallways lit by candlelight to a room illuminated only by wax candles, where he meets Miss Havisham: an elderly-looking woman in a yellowed wedding dress, wearing one shoe, with her watch and clock both stopped at twenty minutes to nine. Miss Havisham shares her heartbreak, insists that Pip play, and when he struggles, she calls for Estella to play cards with him. During a game of "beggar my neighbour," Estella mocks Pip's rough hands, heavy boots, and the way he calls knaves "Jacks." Miss Havisham watches quietly and asks Pip what he thinks of Estella; he admits that she is proud, pretty, and cutting. After Estella wins, Miss Havisham tells Pip to return in six days. Estella shows him out, serving him bread and meat as if he were a dog, and he hides behind a brewery gate to cry. While wandering the empty brewery yard, Pip catches sight of Estella twice like a vision, then experiences a frightening hallucination of Miss Havisham hanging from a beam. He regains his composure, and Estella lets him out with a taunt, leaving him to walk back to the forge, feeling newly ashamed of his roughness and ignorance.