Pip has finally accepted responsibility for his sins, debts, and life. He is frugal, remembers to write Joe and Biddy, and pays his debts. His maturity is evident when, instead of being upset that Joe beat him to marrying Biddy, he feels relief that he never mentioned his own wish to do the same. He also looks at others in a new light, acknowledging that the firm's success is due to Herbert's talents and that his original opinion of Herbert's ineptness was really his own ineptness showing.
The secret of Pip setting Herbert up in business is revealed, leaving only one secret left at the end of the story that Pip holds in his heart — Estella's parentage. Dickens never does say whether the final secret of Estella's parentage is ever revealed. Most likely, Pip takes it to his grave. Dickens provided two endings to this story. The original ending had Estella remarried to a Shropshire doctor, meeting Pip once in London and exchanging pleasantries, and then each going their separate ways. Dickens' own life had a precedent for this when he met his first love, Maria Beadnell, many years later in his life. By then she was very fat and his image of her was crushed. Certainly here Dickens has Estella losing some of her beauty and wearied a bit by life. But overall he treats Estella kindly. Dickens, instead, took the advice of a novelist friend and changed the ending to give Pip, Estella, and the readers a chance for a happy conclusion. However, the ending is ambiguous and no one is certain if the "shadow of no parting" means they stay together or not.
