David learns that Sempere died of a heart attack following an argument with someone. As the undertakers take away his body, David sets his copy of Great Expectations into Sempere's hands.

At the end of Sempere's funeral, David approaches the gravesite to say goodbye. Suddenly, Pedro approaches him. David yells, "What did you promise her, to buy her back?" before punching Pedro in the face (487).

For the next several days, an increasingly embittered David does nothing but work on the manuscript: "The pages flowed from me without thought or measure, with nothing more than the desire to bewitch, or poison, hearts and minds" (490).