But I never thought there was anything low and small in my keeping away from Joe, because I knew she would be contemptuous of him. It was but a day gone, and Joe had brought the tears into my eyes; they had soon dried, God forgive me! soon dried.
– Charles Dickens
Great Expectations, Chapter 29. Pip didn’t realize how wrong he was in his neglect and abandonment of Joe. Explaining his failure to visit him, he hides behind the excuse that Estella would look down on his working class friend. This shows Pip’s lack of loyalty to Joe and the shame he feels at being seen with him.