按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页，按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页，按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部！
————未阅读完？加入书签已便下次继续阅读！
ir bodies when they were alive．And worse than that，the adults never left me in peace．
‘Before we eat，let us thank God for the food in front of us，’said Mr Wopsle，in the deep voice he used in church．
‘Do you hear that？’whispered my sister to me．‘Be grateful！’
‘Especially，’said Mr Pumblechook firmly，‘be grateful，boy，to those who brought you up by hand．’
‘Why are the young never grateful？’wondered Mr Wopsle sadly．
‘Their characters are naturally bad，’answered Mr Pumblechook，and all three looked unpleasantly at me．
When there were guests，Joe's position was even lower than usual（if that was possible），but he always tried to help me if he could．Sometimes he comforted me by giving me extra gravy．He did that now．
‘Just imagine，boy，’said Mr Pumblechook，‘if your sister hadn't brought you up—’
‘You listen to this，’said my sister to me crossly．
‘If，as I say，she hadn't spent her life looking after you，where would you be now？’
Joe offered me more gravy．
‘He was a lot of trouble to you，madam，’Mr Wopsle said sympathetically to my sister．
‘Trouble？’she cried．‘Trouble？’And then she started on a list of all my illnesses，accidents and crimes，while everybody except Joe looked at me with disgust．Joe added more gravy to the meat swimming on my plate，and I wanted to pull Mr Wopsle's nose．
In the end Mrs Joe stopped for breath，and said to Mr Pumblechook，‘Have a little brandy，uncle．There is a bottle al…ready open．’
It had happened at last！Now she would discover I had stolen some brandy，and put water in the bottle．Mr Pumblechook held his glass up to the light，smiled importantly at it and drank it．When，immediately afterwards，he jumped up and began to rush round the room in a strange wild dance，we all stared at him in great surprise．Was he mad？I wondered if I had murdered him，but if so，how？At last he threw himself gasping into a chair，crying ‘Medicine！’Then I understood．Instead of filling up the brandy bottle with water，I had put Mrs Joe's strongest and most unpleasant medicine in by mistake．That was what the big brown bottle contained．
‘But how could my medicine get into a brandy bottle？’asked my sister．Fortunately she had no time to find the answer，as Mr Pumblechook was calling for a hot rum to remove the taste of the medicine．‘And now，’she said，when the fat man was calmer，‘you must all try Uncle Pumblechook's pre…sent to us！A really delicious meat pie！’
‘That's right，Mrs Joe！’said Mr Pumblechook，looking more cheerful now．‘ Bring in the pie！’
‘You shall have some，Pip，’said Joe kindly．
I knew what would happen next．I could not sit there any longer．I jumped down from the table，and ran out of the room．
But at the front door I ran straight into a group of soldiers．Mrs Joe was saying as she came out of the kitchen，‘The pie…has…gone！’but stopped when she saw the soldiers．
‘Excuse me，ladies and gentlemen，’said the officer in charge．‘I'm here in the King's name，and I want the black…smith．’
‘And why do you want him？’said my sister crossly．
‘Madam，’replied the officer Politely，‘speaking for myself，I'd like the pleasure of meeting his fine wife．Speaking for the King，I'd like him to repair these handcuffs．’
‘Ah，very good，very good！’ said Mr Pumblechook，clap…ping．
The soldiers waited in the kitchen while Joe lit the forge fire and started work．I began to feel better now that everyone had forgotten the missing pie．
‘How far are we from the marshes？’asked the officer．
‘About a mile，’replied Mrs Joe．
‘ That's good．We'll catch them before it's dark．’
‘ Convicts，officer？’asked Mr Wopsle．
‘Yes，two escaped convicts out on the marshes．Has anyone here seen them？’
The others all shook their heads．Nobody asked me．When the handcuffs were ready，Joe suggested we should go with the soldiers，and as Mrs Joe was curious to know what happened，she agreed．So Joe，Mr wopsle and I walked behind the men through the village and out on to the marshes．
‘ I hope we don't find those poor men，Joe，’I whispered．
‘ I hope not either，Pip，’he whispered back．It was cold，with an east wind blowing from the sea，and it was getting dark．
Suddenly we all stopped．We heard shouts in the distance．
‘This way！Run！’the officer ordered，and we all rushed in that direction．The shouts became clearer．‘ Murder！’‘Escaped convict！’‘Help！’At last we discovered two men fighting each other．One was my convict，and the other was the man who had run away when I had seen him near the shelter．Somehow the soldiers held the men apart and put the hand…cuffs on them．
‘Here he is，I'm holding him for you！’shouted my convict．
‘Officer，he tried to murder me！’cried the other man．His face was bleeding and he was clearly very frightened．
‘ Murder him！No，’said the first，‘ that would be too easy．I want him to suffer more，back on the prison…ship．He's lying，as he did at our trial！You can't trust Compeyson！’
Just then he noticed me for the first time．I shook my head at him，to show that I had not wanted the soldiers to find him．He stared at me，but I did not know if he understood or not．
The prisoners were taken to the riverside，where a boat was waiting to take them on to the prison…ship．Just as he was about to leave，my convict said，‘Officer，after my escape，I stole some food，from the blacksmith's house．Bread，cheese，brandy and a meat pie．I'm sorry I ate your pie，blacksmith．’
‘I'm glad you did，’replied Joe kindly．‘ We don't know why you're a convict，but we wouldn't want you to die of hunger．’
The man rubbed his eyes with the back of his dirty hand．We watched the small boat carry him out to the middle of the river，where the great black prison…ship stood high out of the water，held by its rusty chains．He disappeared into the ship，and I thought that was the last I had seen of him．
3 An opportunity for Pip
I always knew I would be apprenticed to Joe as soon as I was old enough，and so I used to spend most of the day helping him in the forge．However，I also attended the village evening school，which was organized by an ancient relation of Mr Wopsle's．Her teaching mostly consisted of falling asleep while we children fought each other，but Mr Wopsle's young cousin，Biddy，tried to keep us under control and teach us to read，write and count．Mr Wopsle‘examined’us every three months．In fact he did not ask us any questions at all，but read aloud from Shakespeare，waving his arms dramatically and enjoying the sound of his own voice．
One night，about a year after the escaped convicts had been caught，I was sitting by the kitchen fire，writing a letter to Joe．I didn't need to，because he was sitting right next to me，but I wanted to practise my writing．After an hour or two of hard work，I passed this letter to him．
‘Pip，old boy！’cried Joe，opening his kind blue eyes very wide．‘What a lot you've learnt！Here's a J and an O，that's for Joe，isn't it，Pip？’
I wondered whether I would have to teach Joe from the beginning，so I asked，‘How do you write Gargery，Joe？’
‘I don't write it at all，’said Joe．‘But，you know，I am fond of reading．Give me a good book or newspaper，a good fire and I ask no more．Well！When you come to a J and an O，how interesting reading is！’
‘ Didn't you ever go to school，Joe，when you were young？’
‘No，Pip．You see，my father drank a lot，and when he drank，he used to hit my mother，and me too，sometimes．So she and I ran away from him several times．And she used to say，“Now，Joe，you can go to school．”But my father had such a good heart that he didn't want to be without us．So he always came to find us，and took us home，and hit us．So you see，Pip，I never learnt much．’
‘Poor Joe！’
‘But remember，Pip，my father had a good heart．’
I wondered about that，but said nothing．
‘He let me become a blacksmith，which was his job too，only he never worked at it．I earned the money for the family，until he died．And listen to this，Pip，I wanted to put this on his gravestone：
Whatever the fault he had from the start，
Remember，reader，he had a good heart．’
‘ Did you invent that yourself，Joe？’I asked，surprised 。
‘I did，’said Joe proudly．‘It came to me in a moment．From my own head．But，Pip，sad to say，there wasn't enough money for the gravestone．My poor mother needed it．In bad health，she was．She died soon after．Found peace at last．’Joe's blue eyes were watery．‘I was lonely then，and I met your sister．Now，Pip，’Joe looked firmly at me，because he knew I was not going to agree with him，‘your sister is a fine woman！’
I could think of nothing better to say than‘I'm glad you think so，Joe．’
‘ So am I，’said Joe．‘I'm glad I think so．Very kind of her，bringing you up by hand．Such a tiny baby you were！So when I offered to marry your sister，I said，“And bring the poor little child to live with us．There's room for him at the forge！”’
I put my arms round Joe's neck and cried into his shi