I might have known that he would never help me out; but it took me aback to have to shape the question afresh, as if it were quite new. "Is it likely," I said, after hesitating, "that my patron, the fountain-head you have spoken of, Mr. Jaggers, will soon--" there I delicately stopped.

     "Will soon what?" asked Mr. Jaggers. "That's no question as it stands, you know."

     "Will soon come to London," said I, after casting about for a precise form of words, "or summon me anywhere else?"

     "Now, here," replied Mr. Jaggers, fixing me for the first time with his dark deep-set eyes, "we must revert to the evening when we first encountered one another in your village. What did I tell you then, Pip?"

     "You told me, Mr. Jaggers, that it might be years hence when that person appeared."

     "Just so," said Mr. Jaggers, "that's my answer."