A Discovery

• (Esther keeps on going.)
• Esther goes to talk to Skimpole, hoping to get him to stop hanging out with Richard.
• He's all smiles, and as always doing his I-don't-understand-this-thing-you-humans-call-money thing.
• She asks him as nicely as possible to stay the heck away from Richard and Ada because they have no money.
• To her surprise, Skimpole totally agrees. Why? Because when people run out of money, he's noticed that they suddenly start asking him to pay back his loans.
• Esther then yells at him for betraying Jarndyce by selling out Jo to Bucket. Skimpole is all, "but money? what is it? I'm so naïve!" Esther doesn't know how to argue morality with him, so she leaves.
• Then we get this awesome bit of news: this is the last time she'll ever see Skimpole in her life. Soon after this chat, Jarndyce found out that he still wouldn't leave Richard alone, so their friendship ended.
• Then Skimpole wrote a tell-all autobiography where he called Jarndyce "the Incarnation of Selfishness" (61.41). Which, obviously, is ridiculous. Then five years later he died. So there. Take that, Skimpole.
• More interestingly, this other thing happens when Esther walks back from Richard and Ada's house with Woodcourt one day.
• He tells her that... he loves her! He's always loved her, and her face doesn't matter to him. He just loves, loves, loves her forever.
• She is psyched! But oh, this is coming a little too late, since she's already engaged to Jarndyce. D'oh!
• They decide to be friends forever, and after he leaves she cries and cries and cries.