ing her nothing whatever of the child's parentage.

Miss Havisham had named the child Estella, and, seeing she would be a
very beautiful woman, had determined to bring her up heartless and cold,
to ruin as many men's lives as possible, so as to avenge her own wrongs
and broken heart.

So Estella had grown up in the dismal house, Miss Havisham's only
companion. Day by day she became more lovely, and even while she was
still a little girl, the same age as Pip, Miss Havisham was impatient
to begin teaching her her lesson.

This was the reason Pip had received his invitation to Miss Havisham's
house. Though he had no idea of it, he was intended only as practice for
little Estella, who under Miss Havisham's teaching was growing up very
fond of admiration and very cold-hearted, too.

Pip thought Miss Havisham the strangest lady he had ever seen, and the
yellow satin, the candle-lighted rooms, and the stopped clocks seemed to
him very odd. But Estella was so pretty that from the first moment he
saw her he had no eyes for anything else. Even though she called him
clumsy and common, and seemed to delight in hurting his feelings, Pip
fell in love with her and could not help himself. Miss Havisham made
them play together and told him to come again the next week.

Pip went home in very bad humor on account of all the hurts which
Estella had given his feelings. Uncle Pumblechook, being very curious to
know all about his trip, bullied and questioned him so (beginning as
usual with the multiplication table) that Pip, perfectly frantic, told
him the most impossible tales. He said Miss Havisham was in a black
coach inside the house, and had cake and wine handed to her through the
coach window on a golden plate, and that he and she played with flags
and swords, while four dogs fought for veal cutlets out of a silver
basket.

But when Uncle Pumblechook told Joe these wonders, Pip was remorseful.
He went to the forge and confessed to Joe that he had been telling a
falsehood, and promised he would never do so again.

This visit was the first of many that Pip paid to the gloomy house whose
shutters were always closed. Next time he went he was taken into the
chamber where the decayed wedding-cake sat on the table. The room was
full of relatives of Miss Havisham (for it was her birthday), who spent
their lives flattering and cringing, hoping when she died she would
leave them some money.

After a time Pip went into the garden and ther