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A Plot Between Fagin and Monks
Fagin, Charley Bates, and the Artful Dodger waited eagerly for news of the robbery. Toby Crackit dragged himself into the room.
He was unshaven, and his clothes and hair were a mess. He dropped slowly into a chair and was silent for several moments.
"How's Bill Sikes?" he said at last.
"What?" screamed Fagin.
"Do you mean to say...." began Toby, turning very pale.
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| A Plot Between Fagin and Monks |
"What's going on, Toby?" eried Fagin. "Where are Sikes and the boy? Why haven't they come here?"
"The robbery failed," said Toby quietly. "They fired and hit the boy. We ran away with him. Everyone in the countryside woke up and started to chase us!"
"What happened to the boy?" "Bill carried him on his back. Then we tried to drag him along between us, but he was too heavy. They were chasing us and were almost upon us. So it became each man for himself. We left Oliver lying in a ditch."
Toby Crackit Returns....Alone.....
Fagin let out a groan and dashed toward The The Three Cripples, the tavern where Sikes usually hung out.
"Have you seen Sikes?" he asked the landlord.
"No, Mr. Fagin.
"Will Monks be here?" asked Fagin. "I must tell him that I have been out taking care of that business matter for him."
"He should be here in ten minutes," said the landlord.
"I can't wait," snapped Fagin. "Tell him he must come to see me tomorrow!"
Leaving Oliver in a Ditch.....
Fagin went directly to Sikes's house and broke the news to Nancy.
"Oliver's probably better off dead than he is among us," said the girl sadly.
Raging About Sikes.....
"Listen, Nancy!" cried Fagin in rage. "If Sikes comes back without the boy - if he gets free and doesn't bring Oliver back to me - you have my permission to murder him as soon as he sets foot in this house!"
"Don't bother me, Fagin! Bill has done lots of good jobs for you. If the robbery, didn't work this time, it will next time. As for Oliver, I hope he's dead and out of harm's way. As long as Bill and Toby come through all right, the boy is better off lying dead in that ditch."
A dark, shadowy figure stood in Fagin's doorway when he arrived home.
I've been waiting two hours for you," the man told Fagin impatiently. "Where the devil have you been?"
"Out on your business all night, Monks," replied Fagin nervously. "But let us talk of this inside where we will not be overheard."
Once inside, Fagin whispered to Monks the details of the unsuccessful robbery.
"The robbery wasn't planned well," said Monks. "Why didn't you keep Oliver here and make a pickpocket of him right away? Or arrange for him to be arrested and sent to prison for life? That would have served my purposes for Oliver Twist."
"But not my purposes, Monks. My interests must be considered too," Fagin complained. "It wasn't easy to train him in the business. He wasn't like the other boys I've taught. I had no hold on him and nothing to frighten him with. What could I do? I sent him out with the Dodger and Charley Bates to pickpocket at the book-stalls, but that failed, and Oliver was caught by the police. But then he was taken into the care of the very man my boys were robbing."
"That was not my fault," snapped Monks.
Different Purposes for Oliver.....
"I know that," said Fagin. "In fact, if that hadn't happened, you wouldn't have seen Oliver and discovered that the was the boy you were looking for when you knocked him down for the Has Someone Overheard Them?.....
police to nab him. I got him back for you through Nancy, but now she has begun to favor him."
"Thrash Nancy, then!" said Monks, biting down angrily on his swollen purple lips. "I can't do that, but I'll make Oliver into a thief if he's still alive."
Has Someone Overheard Them?.....
"If he's dead," said Monks, "just remember that I had nothing to do with it! I told you from the start that I don't want any murders. I'd always feel guilty that..."
Suddenly, Monks stopped and stared out the window. "Who's that?" he said. "I saw the shadow of a woman pass outside."
The two men went quickly outside, but no one was in sight.