After living with Herbert for a while in London, Pip
realizes that what Mr. Jaggers has predicted has come true: "Of course you'll go wrong
somehow, but that's not fault of mine." Indeed, Pip has gone wrong as he has filled
Barnard Inn with "too much upholstery" and placed "the canary-breasted Avenger at his
[Herbert's] disposal" so that Herbert, too, has spent too much money. For instance, they
have joined a gentleman's club, The Finches of the Grove, where they do little but spend
money. As Pip assesses his situation, there is a nostalgia for the fire of the forge
and the stalwart friend, Joe. Pip narrates,
I lived in a state of chronic uneasiness
respecting my behaviour to Joe. My conscience was not by any means comfortable about
Biddy. When I woke up in the night—like Camilla—I used to think, with a weariness on my
spirits, that I should have been happier and better if I had never seen Miss Havisham's
face....
Pip would take on
Herbert's debt if permitted, but Herbert will not hear of such a thing. So, after
Herbert has spent the day at the banks hoping to find work, they sit down to figure what
they owe and how they will pay it, and to leave a "little margin," but more money is
spent, more debt accrued, and much more action is taken in the computations than in the
paying. When they were finished Pip would roll his bills into a bundle and tie them.
And, they are "always more or less miserable" because they do not resolve their
financial problems although they are momentarily soothed by their having put "affairs
into focus" at least temporarily.
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