Pip receives a note that Joe is coming to visit him, something he dreads. He is relieved Joe is coming to the Barnard Inn and not Hammersmith, where Joe would be subject to Drummle's judgments. Pip has been living high and spending too much, and he even has a servant now. Joe arrives and is ill at ease: He is out of character in his dress clothes, wipes his feet for what seems forever before coming in, fidgets with his hat (which keeps falling on the floor), and keeps calling Pip "Sir." On observing the closeness of the apartment, he wonders how they stay healthy and adds that he would not keep a pig there. His struggle with the fork, food, and table manners embarrasses Pip. Finally Joe delivers his message sent by Miss Havisham: Estella is back and would be glad to see him. Acknowledging that he and Pip are not meant to be together in London, Joe leaves shortly afterward. Pip, guilty, and realizing he did nothing to make the man comfortable, goes after him. But Joe is gone.
Pip catches a coach home, riding with two convicts who are being transferred to the Hulks. They do not recognize Pip, but he recognizes one of them as the man from the Jolly Bargemen with the shilling and the two one-pound notes. He overhears them talking about Pip's convict and that he was made a lifer. They arrive at the Blue Boar, where Pip has decided to stay for his visit. He had planned to see Joe, but keeps finding excuses to avoid the man. The waiter gives Pip a newspaper article about Pumblechook, who again proclaims himself Pip's first benefactor.
