Pip goes straight to Clarriker’s with his check and arranges funding for Herbert’s new job. Clarriker tells Pip that he hopes to open a new business in the East which he hopes Herbert will run.
Pip is overjoyed, but also really saddened by the thought that he will have to say goodbye to Herbert soon.
When Herbert discovers he’s been offered a new position, he is totally psyched. He imagines what it will be like when he, Clara, and Pip are living in Cairo together, chilling with the pyramids.
Wemmick sends a cryptic message to Pip telling him that next Wednesday will be the ultimate day to escape with Magwitch.
Pip and Herbert lay down plans for their Mission Impossible. They decide to include Startop in the plan, since Pip can’t use his arm anymore and won’t be able to row.
When all of the details are set, down to who will bring the passports and what ships they will try to catch, Pip receives another cryptic note.
The note, however, is written in a mysterious hand, and it is threatening. It says the following:
"If you are not afraid to come to the old marshes tonight or tomorrow night at nine, and to come to the little sluice-house by the lime-kiln, you had better come. If you want information regarding your Uncle Provis, you had much better come and tell no one and lose no time. You must come alone. Bring this with you."
Creepy. So, Pip has a decision to make. If he wants to obey the message, he has to go to the marshes tonight. Tomorrow, is the Great Escape.
Pip catches the last carriage to the marshes, and decides to rest at a little inn where no one will know him. The innkeeper tells the story of a local boy who struck it rich by means of a mysterious benefactor and who spurned those who loved him most. Pip, not revealing that he is that same, local boy, plays along. He asks who the local boy has spurned, and the innkeeper tells him that Pumblechook is the victim.
This sends Pip over the edge, for he knows that Joe, the man he truly has mistreated, would never, ever complain. He sees Mr. Pumblechook as an imposter and as an absolute twerp.
Pip can’t eat any of his dinner, so he heads out into the cold, dark, and windy marshes to meet the mysterious person.