It is almost midnight as Fagin scurries home through the blustery streets. Near the house, he is intercepted by a stranger whose voice he recognizes. Fagin lets the stranger into the house. The boys and Crackit are sleeping downstairs, so Fagin conducts his companion into a first-floor room. The candle is left outside the door, to furnish illumination without showing light through the shutters.
The mysterious figure is Monks; at first he and Fagin converse in whispers. It would seem that the old man is defending himself against accusations from the other. As their voices are raised, Monks complains, "I tell you again, it was badly planned."
They are discussing a boy. Monks insists that Fagin could have made a thief of him and arranged his downfall, with a possible sentence of transportation (being sent to a penal colony) for life. Fagin protests that he has done all that he could, and if the boy is still alive he is trapped.
While Monks is speaking, he suddenly utters a startled exclamation. The frightened man claims that he saw the shadow of a woman pass along the wainscot. The two dash out of the room to where the candle is flickering, but see or hear nothing. Fagin takes his fearful companion on a tour of the building. Monks is gradually restored to an uneasy calm, supposing that his imagination has played him tricks.
