Great Expectations Chapter 28: I Take Coach For Our Town...

Herbert takes Pip to the station to catch the coach back to his hometown. The ride home promises to be an interesting one when it's discovered that several convicts will be transported along with the paying passengers (a not uncommon custom in London at this time, Older Pip tells us). Things get even more interesting when Pip realizes one of the convicts is the same man that swirled his drink with a file years back at The Three Jolly Bargemen--the convict that Pip met as a young boy out on the marshes. But Pip is older and has the look of a gentleman, so the convict doesn't recognize him, and except for the disturbing feeling the convict stirs up in him, the ride passes without incident.

Pip takes a room at the local hotel, primarily because he's embarrassed and uncomfortable about staying with Joe, and when he sits down for his dinner, the waiter tosses an old newspaper on the table. The article seems to suggest that Uncle Pumblechook is Pip's patron, a bit of gossip which Older Pip tells us is much-believed in the marshes. But for now, Pip has no reason to expect that anyone besides Miss Havisham is his benefactor.