The trio stop before a ruined house in a narrow street; they are admitted with elaborate caution by John Dawkins. Seeing Oliver in his respectable garments, Fagin and Bates greet him with ridicule and mockery, while The Artful Dodger searches his pockets. Fagin and Sikes quarrel over the five-pound note, which Sikes snatches out of the old man's hands.
Oliver begs to have the books sent back to Mr. Brownlow. When it is gleefully conceded that he will be held guilty of deliberate theft, the boy makes a frantic attempt to escape. Nancy slams the door to protect Oliver from the vicious dog. When Fagin starts to beat the recaptured boy, Nancy grasps his club and flings it into the fire.
The aroused girl then turns on Fagin with incurable anger. She declares vehemently that if Fagin harms the boy, she will be hanged in order to even the score with him; she cries out all of her grievances against Fagin for making her what she is. Even Sikes cannot stem Nancy's hysterical fury. When she is about to attack Fagin, Sikes catches her wrists and she faints.
Oliver's clothes are taken from him and replaced by the tattered remnants he formerly wore. Fagin had seen the old suit in the hands of the dealer who purchased them, thereby gaining a clue to the boy's exact whereabouts. Oliver sleeps in a locked room.
