Bumble visits a pub where there is only one other customer, a tall, dark person wearing a cloak. After sizing each other up, the two begin a conversation. The stranger stresses that his identity is to remain secret, but he reveals that he knows something of Bumble's history. The dark man seeks information from Bumble and makes an advance payment.
The inquirer directs Bumble to recall an event of twelve years ago. It becomes clear to the reader that the stranger has reference to the birth of Oliver Twist, but he savagely denies interest in the boy. The woman who nursed the mother is the object of his investigation. When informed that the woman is dead, the man appears to hover between relief and disappointment. Then, saying that the matter is of no importance, he is about to leave.
Bumble's greedy instinct senses profit. His spouse has never told him what took place on the night of Sally's death, but he has learned that it concerned Sally's "attendance, as workhouse nurse, upon the young mother of Oliver Twist." So Bumble detains the stranger with the information that he can produce a witness to the old pauper's death. The man's apprehension seems to be revived by this confidence, and he arranges an evening meeting for the next day at some waterside address. The stranger leaves unceremoniously. Bumble notices that he did not write down his name. Overtaking the man, Bumble is curtly told that he is Monks!
The next evening, Mr. and Mrs. Bumble walk down to the riverside. The structures in the vicinity are all neglected shacks. Bumble leads the way to a large building, evidently once a factory of some sort but now collapsing into the stream. As the man and woman pause in front of the ruins, a rainstorm commences. Monks hustles them inside, provoked by Bumble's hesitation.
