“Dear Magwitch, I must tell you now, at last. You understand what I say?” A gentle pressure on my hand. “You had a child once, whom you loved and lost.” A stronger pressure on my hand. “She lived, and found powerful friends. She is living now. She is a lady and very beautiful. And I love her!”
– Charles Dickens
Great Expectations, Chapter 56. As Magwitch is dying, Pip offers him closure with the revelation that his “lost” child is now grown to a beautiful woman whom Pip loves. Magwitch’s daughter Estella was adopted and he has not seen her since she was a young girl. Pip’s consoling of the dying criminal is an act of love and loyalty towards his benefactor, who risked all by coming to London to see him. This shows the degree to which Pip has grown and matured from the time he was a hopeless snob and looked at Magwitch with a mixture of disgust and horror.