The old gaol at Lincoln Castle, with part of the Governor’s House and the wall of the exercise yard.
Part 1 of 2
“DEAR boy,” he said, as I sat down by his bed: “I thought you was late. But I knowed you couldn’t be that. God bless you! You’ve never deserted me, dear boy.”
I pressed his hand in silence, for I could not forget that I had once meant to desert him.
“And what’s the best of all,” he said, “you’ve been more comfortable alonger me, since I was under a dark cloud, than when the sun shone. That’s best of all.”
He lay on his back, breathing with great difficulty. Do what he would, and love me though he did, the light left his face ever and again, and a film came over the placid look at the white ceiling.
“Are you in much pain to-day?”
“I don’t complain of none, dear boy.”
“You never do complain.”
He had spoken his last words. He smiled, and I understood his touch to mean that he wished to lift my hand, and lay it on his breast. I laid it there, and he smiled again, and put both his hands upon it.
Précis
Abel Magwitch’s gratitude to Pip Pirrip for visiting him in hospital makes Pip a little ashamed; he does not feel he deserves it. But if Pip was once less than gracious towards Magwitch, now he appreciates his friendship, making a point of never being late for visiting time, and bringing as much comfort as he can to the dying man. (60 / 60 words)
Part Two
A reconstructed prison cell in the old gaol at Lincoln Castle. The table is set up for the disagreeable task of teasing out rotten hemp rigging from ships, recycling the fibre for sale as stuffing for matresses. As the photographer explains, this is the origin of the expression, ‘money for old rope’.
“DEAR Magwitch, I must tell you now, at last. You understand what I say?”
A gentle pressure on my hand.
“You had a child once, whom you loved and lost.”
A stronger pressure on my hand.
“She lived, and found powerful friends. She is living now. She is a lady and very beautiful. And I love her!”
With a last faint effort, which would have been powerless but for my yielding to it and assisting it, he raised my hand to his lips. Then, he gently let it sink upon his breast again, with his own hands lying on it. The placid look at the white ceiling came back, and passed away, and his head dropped quietly on his breast.
Mindful, then, of what we had read together, I thought of the two men who went up into the Temple to pray, and I knew there were no better words that I could say beside his bed, than “O Lord, be merciful to him a sinner!”*
See Luke 18:9-14.
Précis
With Magwitch’s last moments clearly upon him, Pip decides he must now tell him a secret: that Estella, the love of Pip’s life, is in fact Magwitch’s long-lost daughter. By pressure on Pip’s hand, Magwitch signals his joy and happiness; and passes away in such innocence that Pip feels sure Magwitch’s criminal past will not count against him. (58 / 60 words)
