In Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations, Pip Pirrip lays out two pounds to rid himself of a visitor whom he remembers from many years before as a convict on the run. To his amazement, the man twists the notes into a spill, and burns them at the lamp, before going on mildly to ask how Pip came to be so well-to-do.

Pressed to reveal the source of his prosperity, Pip finds himself at a loss. He is still floundering when his visitor hints that he knows exactly how much Pip’s allowance is; and when he also shows that he knows the name of Pip’s lawyer and childhood guardian, the young gentleman’s world starts to spin.

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