In about a month after that, the Spider’s time with Mr. Pocket was up for good, and, to the great relief of all the house but Mrs. Pocket, he went home to the family hole.
– Charles Dickens
Great Expectations, Chapter 26. The last line of the chapter uses two metaphors to describe the character of the villainous and despicable Bentley Drummle. He is the “Spider” who has crawled back to the “family hole,” suggesting he behaves like some kind of tunneling animal. Drummle returns to his ancestral home and being heir to a baronetcy it is probably a grand mansion. But Pip’s depiction of it as a “hole” shows his deep distaste for the man. Foreshadowed in the phrase is Drummle’s less than noble death later in the story.