Great Expectations Chapter 41: I Take Council With Herbert...

Herbert is let in on Pip and the convict's secret, and the story astonishes him. The convict knows that he's "low," and tells Pip and Herbert not to worry, that he has no intentions of revealing himself as Pip's benefactor. Late in the night, Pip walks Provis back to his boarding house and returns to the Temple, to do some serious talking with his friend.

Hebert is nothing but kind to Pip, though he is at first "too stunned to think" (396). Pip, finally facing his situation, realizes he is a young man, "...heavily in debt--very heavily for me, who [has] now no expectations--and I have been bred to no calling, and I am fit for nothing" (396). Furthermore, even if Pip could break free from Provis' money and live on his own, such a disappointment might infuriate the convict and no one wants to infuriate a convict, especially one like Provis, who's always got his jack-knife at the ready.

Topic Tracking: Expectations 9

Herbert and Pip decide that Provis must be smuggled out of England, and that Pip must follow. But for now, they need to learn a bit more about the convict, and it is resolved that they'll ask him some questions at breakfast.