Pip decides to pay a visit to Miss Havisham the next day. He forms many reasons why he should stay at the inn rather than at Joe’s.
Two convicts are being transported on the same coach as Pip. Pip recognizes one of them as the man who had given him a shilling at The Jolly Bargemen. The man doesn’t recognize Pip, and Pip tries to conceal himself to prevent that from happening.
There is a dispute on the coach, for there is no room for the convicts except at the front. However, the passengers don’t like them so close to them. They have little choice in the matter. Pip dislikes the convict’s breath on his back. He is glad Herbert calls him Handel instead of Pip, so that the convict he recognized doesn’t hear the name.
Pip does wonder if he should return the convict his money. He hears the two convicts talking about someone who had two one pound notes stowed away. The convict goes on to say that this other person had asked him to give the money to a boy who had fed him and kept his secret. The prisoner had done it, and his companion tells him he was a fool. The convict Pip recognized says the man later got charged for escaping prison and got a life sentence.
Pip gets off at the next stop, fearing the convict will eventually recognize him. He walks the rest of the way. At the Blue Boar, he reads an article in the newspaper that gives Pumblechook credit for being the founder of Pip’s fortunes.