“I was sent for life. It’s death to come back. There’s been overmuch coming back of late years, and I should of a certainty be hanged if took.” Nothing was needed but this; the wretched man, after loading wretched me with his gold and silver chains for years, had risked his life to come to me, and I held it there in my keeping! If I had loved him instead of abhorring him; if I had been attracted to him by the strongest admiration and affection, instead of shrinking from him with the strongest repugnance; it could have been no worse. On the contrary, it would have been better, for his preservation would then have naturally and tenderly addressed my heart.
– Charles Dickens
Great Expectations, Chapter 39. We witness Pip’s great guilt over Magwitch placing his life in Pip’s hands by returning to England from Australia. As an escaped convict it’s the hangman’s rope for Magwitch if caught, he tells Pip. Pip feels bad because instead of love he showed disgust for a man who risked his life for him and gifted him gold and silver for years.