It was no laughing matter with Estella now, nor was she summoning these remembrances from any shallow place. I would not have been the cause of that look of hers for all my expectations in a heap.

     "Two things I can tell you," said Estella. "First, notwithstanding the proverb that constant dropping will wear away a stone, you may set your mind at rest that these people never will--never would, in hundred years--impair your ground with Miss Havisham, in any particular, great or small. Second, I am beholden to you as the cause of their being so busy and so mean in vain, and there is my hand upon it."

     As she gave it to me playfully,--for her darker mood had been but Momentary,--I held it and put it to my lips. "You ridiculous boy," said Estella, "will you never take warning? Or do you kiss my hand in the same spirit in which I once let you kiss my cheek?"

     "What spirit was that?" said I.

     "I must think a moment. A spirit of contempt for the fawners and plotters."

     "If I say yes, may I kiss the cheek again?"

     "You should have asked before you touched the hand. But, yes, if you like."