In response to Miss Havisham’s note, Pip visits her the next day, and though she has caused him much pain, he feels compassion for her in her loneliness. Feeling tremendously guilty for the harm she has caused, she agrees to help Herbert and asks if she can do anything for him (Pip). Pip thanks her but tells her that he is fine. She gives him a note that authorizes Jaggers to give Pip money for Herbert, and then hands him a pad and asks him to at some point, if he can ever forgive her, write down “I forgive her.” Unwilling to judge her and filled with shame over his own mistakes, Pip responds that he can do it now. Miss Havisham drops to her knees crying out “What have I done!” She admits that Pip pointed out her mistake, and that her only intent when she adopted Estella was to save her from the same hurts. She now realizes she stole the girl’s heart and put ice in its place. Pip asks Miss Havisham if she knows who Estella’s mother was, but she only knows that Jaggers brought the girl to her. Before he leaves, Pip walks around the grounds and the brewery where as a child he had the vision of Miss Havisham hanging from the beam. Uncomfortable with the memory, Pip goes back upstairs to check on her and discovers her dress has caught on fire. He saves her from the fire, but his arms are badly burned and she is seriously hurt herself. Through the night the woman mutters over and over in the same order: “What have I done! When she first came, I meant to save her from misery like mine. Take the pencil and write under my name, I forgive her!”
