(This is after Wemmick's Wedding)
The wedding ceremony was over, and as we were all departing the building, Wemmick noticed a sign-in book entitled "Weddings."
Wemmick then said, "Now, we just celebrated a wedding, we must sign this book!" He opened the book and immediately gasped as a look of horror overcame his face.
"What's wrong?" I asked. Wemmick responded by pointing. There, on the first page of the book, was written: "Mr. and Mrs. Jaggers (Formerly Molly Magwitch)." Wemmick and I then promptly went over to Jaggers' office.
By the time we got there, it was dark outside, and the moon had already assumed her position in the night sky, yet the light in Mr. Jaggers' office was still on. Luckily Wemmick, who always seems to be prepared for moments like these, pulled out his key and proceeded to unlock the door.
We barely stepped foot in the door before Wemmick yelled to Jaggers, "I cannot believe your maid is your wife!"
Mr. Jaggers immediately appeared in front of his office door. "I do not have the slightest idea of what you are talking about, Wemmick. I am surprised to see such disrespectful behavior coming from you of all men!"
Wemmick replied, "No longer can you keep your secret. We know you are married to Molly!"
At that moment, Mr. Jaggers' face turned rosy and droplets of sweat had already formed on his forehead as reality sunk in.
Without any questioning of how we knew, Jaggers motioned to us and said, "Come into my office where I will tell you the story." I got chills up and down my body as I walked into the office once again. I looked over and saw Wemmick could not contain his chuckles. Without saying another word, Mr. Jaggers began his story:
"Pip, as you know, I did business with Abel Magwitch regarding you. Well, Abel and I were very good friends when we were younger many years ago. He provided me with a favor and I owed him one in return. That is why I married Molly. I did not marry her for love, I married her because Abel asked me to. Compeyson, Molly's brother, was furious that his sister had married Abel. That is why Compeyson did phony business with him to get revenge for the marriage. Compeyson demanded that Molly leave Abel, so the night before Abel was first arrested, he pleaded with me to marry Molly so that she would be taken care of. I agreed because of the friendship I held with Abel. First, I won her court case, and then I began to court her. I wanted to keep our relationship private because of the damage it would do to my reputation. Unfortunately, I could not keep anything from my parents, and they demanded to meet her. Molly was insane, and I had to tame her before she met my parents or else none of this would be believable. Molly had calmed down by the time my parents came, but they saw right through my act. They knew I did not love her, so in an effort to prove them wrong, Molly became pregnant. At this, they believed me, but were disappointed in me for not marrying her first. I was still young and desperate to please my father, so we got married that next weekend. My mother died three months later, and my father died two months after that. Eventually, Molly gave birth to a son. Compeyson took revenge on me by stealing our son from us. Since my parents were dead and our son was gone, I had no reason to keep a relationship with Molly. I still had to uphold my promise to Abel, so I made her my maid."
We all sat in silence for several minutes. Then, without a word, Wemmick and I looked at each other and left. We will never look at Mr. Jaggers the same way again.
