“Compeyson’s business was the swindling, hand writing forging, stolen bank-note passing, and such-like. All sorts of traps as Compeyson could set with his head, and keep his own legs out of and get the profits from and let another man in for, was Compeyson’s business.”
– Charles Dickens
Great Expectations, Chapter 42. Magwitch tells Pip and Herbert how he met Compeyson at the races and they became partners in crime. The upper class swindler and forger Compeyson who turned to a life of a crime is the real villain of the novel.