Pip eventually gave up and Great Expectations ended up a much shorter story. As for Estella, she later escaped when the home welding kit she'd being paying for in weekly installments in secret, finally arrived by post (they were all the rage for fashionable young ladies), and she cut her way through to freedom in an arc of blue sparks, swiftly followed by the slender heel of a boot. It was arguably for some, the birth of steampunk. For others of the older generation however, it wasn't the dawn of such an exciting era. Miss Havisham wasn't very happy to say the least, but she had cake to console herself, and plenty of it. Four tiers in fact. Complete with piped icing ornamentation; oh joy. In time, Miss Havisham even softened to have other cakes delivered to keep the habit edible, and at her request, icing scrollwork-free. She was also known to order the occasional well meaning book on good housekeeping or 'Welding for young women.' that she liked to ceremoniously toss onto the fire, watching until the pages flamed upwards into the chimney.