“My name is on the first leaf. If you can ever write under my name, ‘I forgive her,’ though ever so long after my broken heart is dust pray do it!” “O Miss Havisham,” said I, “I can do it now. There have been sore mistakes; and my life has been a blind and thankless one; and I want forgiveness and direction far too much, to be bitter with you.”
– Charles Dickens
Great Expectations, Chapter 49. Miss Havisham is racked with guilt over her cruelty towards Pip. Having seen his heartbreak on learning that Estella is to marry Bentley Drummle, she sees in Pip the shadow of herself and her own marital heartbreak. Here she begs Pip for his forgiveness. She hands him a pad with her name on it and asks him to write “I forgive her,” even if this happens long after her death. Magnanimously Pip forgives her there and then.