At those times, I would decide
conclusively that my disaffection to dear old Joe and the forge
was gone, and that I was growing up in a fair way to be partners
with Joe and to keep company with Biddy,--when all in a moment some
confounding remembrance of the Havisham days would fall upon me
like a destructive missile, and scatter my wits again. Scattered
wits take a long time picking up; and often before I had got them
well together, they would be dispersed in all directions by one
stray thought, that perhaps after all Miss Havisham was going to
make my fortune when my time was out.
If my time had run out, it would have left me still at the height
of my perplexities, I dare say. It never did run out, however, but
was brought to a premature end, as I proceed to relate.
Chapter XVIII
It was in the fourth year of my apprenticeship to Joe, and it was a
Saturday night. There was a group assembled round the fire at the
Three Jolly Bargemen, attentive to Mr. Wopsle as he read the
newspaper aloud. Of that group I was one.
A highly popular murder had been committed, and Mr. Wopsle was
imbrued in blood to the eyebrows. He gloated over every abhorrent
adjective in the description, and identified himself with every
witness at the Inquest. He faintly moaned, "I am done for," as the
victim, and he barbarously bellowed, "I'll serve you out," as the
murderer.
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