Dickensian Caricature

[when Pip returns to Satis House after living in London]
A curious lady, standing beside Estella stared at me with oval eyes. She was not very tall, not a very slender or beautiful person in general, especially standing next to Estella. Her dress was only mediocre in maker and could not compare the shining radiance that was Estella. She had a large mole on the corner of her lip and much of her face was hidden behind a large peacock hat, draped over one eye. She didn’t look up at me and kept her body deceptively hidden between Miss Havisham’s large chair.

Miss Havisham and Estella gave me their hands but this new ward of Miss Havisham’s did not. She stood hidden behind Miss Havisham’s stick which crossed over at a strange angle like an invisible boundary that she could not pass.

“Pip, this is Cordelia,” introduced Miss Havisham. “She is a friend of Estella’s from school and will be staying with Estella for a few weeks.”

Cordelia nodded at me politely and put her hands behind her back. “Would you like to go for a walk, Pip?” she asked me and I gladly accepted. We walked around the garden and she asked me very specific questions about me and what I’ve done so far.

“What’s your background Pip?” she asked. I replied that I reside with Mr. Pocket my tutor in London and my guardian was Mr. Jaggers.

“What about your parents?” she asked and continued to fire questions at me until she had known everything from what time I wake up in the morning to my allowance each month.

“How about you?” I asked as I was now curious to know why she was so interested in knowing these detail about me.

“I’m a friend of Estella’s. We meet in France. I don’t know much about my future but Estella has promised to help me find a new start in London along with her,” she replied while fidgeting with a ring on her finger.

“Are you married?” I asked?

“No this is my engagement ring. My first love died three years ago and I wear it in remembrance to him,” she replied while fondly staring at her ring. As I look closely at her ring I noticed the engraving.

“What does that signify?” I asked and Cordelia quickly put her hands behind her back as I saw her mouth twitch beneath the monstrous black bird hat she was wearing and began to hurry back into the house.

“I hear Miss Havisham calling.”