Miss Havisham paid twenty-five guineas to bind me apprentice, and that was the end of Satis House. I stood in the forge for four years with the hammer in my hand and shame in my chest. Joe was the gentlest man I have ever known, and I was ashamed of him, which is the meanest thing I ever did. One winter night my sister was struck down from behind with a leg-iron and never spoke again. Biddy came to keep the house, and she was good and quick and saw everything. She asked me why I wanted to be a gentleman. To spite Estella, I said, or to win her, and I could not tell which. Biddy said that either reason would make me unhappy, and she was right on both counts.