This man pursued Miss Havisham closely, and professed to be devoted to her. I believe she had not shown much susceptibility up to that time; but all the susceptibility she possessed certainly came out then, and she passionately loved him. There is no doubt that she perfectly idolized him. He practised on her affection in that systematic way, that he got great sums of money from her, and he induced her to buy her brother out of a share in the brewery (which had been weakly left him by his father) at an immense price, on the plea that when he was her husband he must hold and manage it all.
– Charles Dickens
Great Expectations, Chapter 22. Herbert tells Pip the story of Miss Havisham’s heartbreak. Not only did fiancé Compeyson abandon her at the altar on her wedding day, but he was a conman who never loved her. He manipulated, deceived and conned her out of her money with the help of co-conspirator Arthur Havisham, Miss Havisham’s half-brother. The scheme involved her buying out Arthur’s share of the family brewery for an immense sum, on the pretense that Compeyson would manage it after they married.