The Old Curiosity Shop

Kit’s trial begins eight days later. The grand jury finds sufficient evidence to charge him with felony theft; Kit pleads not guilty. The prosecuting lawyer calls Sampson to the witness stand, then Sally, and then Dick. The Brasses speak strongly against Kit, while Dick’s testimony about treating Kit’s little brother to lunch is one that neither lawyer seems sure of what to do with. The jury finds Kit guilty.

In jail, Kit feels confident that the truth will come out, and he tells his mother not to worry about him too much. Dick helps Kit’s mom get home; he stays with her until her emotional state settles down. Dick returns to the Brasses. Sampson dismisses him from employment, and Dick suspects the Brasses of some villainy. Upon returning home, Dick suddenly comes down with a high fever.

Dick’s fever makes him delirious, but he does slowly recover. He awakens to find the Marchioness in his rooms, playing cribbage by herself. At first he thinks he is having another fever dream, but he soon realizes that she is really there. She tells Dick he has been sick in bed for nearly three weeks. In that time, she ran away from the Brasses, who have since posted advertisements about their runaway servant. The Marchioness told Dick’s landlord that she was his sister so she could come upstairs unbothered. She moved what little she had into his house and has been taking care of him. The Marchioness tells Dick that Kit was sentenced to “transportation” for many years (448); she knows no more about Kit’s or his mother’s present state than that. After some persuasion, she tells Dick what she overheard in the Brasses’ house before she left: Quilp enlisted the Brasses to set up Kit’s arrest and frame him as a thief. Dick immediately has her bring her story to the Garlands.

The Marchioness reaches the notary after making many diversions to ensure no one follows her. She looks in the window and sees Chuckster, Abel Garland, and Witherden, the notary. She waits for Abel to leave before going inside, as she wants to keep the conversation as private as possible, but when the moment comes, she is too scared to go in. Instead, she chases down Abel’s carriage and convinces him to go to Dick’s house so they can devise a plan to save Kit. The Marchioness shares her whole story with Abel, and Dick sends Abel out to put the information to use, asserting that “[he] and [his] friends will know what to do” with it better than Dick (456).

Dick wakes up to find Mr. Garland, Abel Garland, the notary, the single gentleman, and the Marchioness in conversation, and they assure him it is not too late to act on this new information. The Marchioness makes sure Dick eats his breakfast; she even washes his face and hands for him. When she retires to eat her own breakfast, Dick and the men plan how to take Quilp down. First, they decide to get a confession out of Sally Brass. They meet Sally in a coffeehouse under the pretense that they found her runaway servant. Once she is there, they tell her what they know of her involvement and offer an ultimatum: confess all she knows and help them catch Quilp, or deny everything and go down alongside Quilp and her brother. She is just about to respond when Sampson bursts into the room, gives up Quilp, and confesses their whole plan. Sally is disgusted by how easily her brother turned.

Witherden, the notary, has Sampson write his statement, and they go immediately to a justice office. Kit’s ruling is reversed, and a warrant is served for Quilp’s arrest. Back at Dick’s house, the group celebrates their successes. The notary also delivers the news that Dick’s aunt died and left him a large sum of money divided up in an annuity of 150 pounds per year. Dick’s first thought on what to do with his new wealth is how he can use it to improve the Marchioness’s life.