Without hesitation, Sikes charges home and quietly enters his room. He double-locks and barricades the door. Nancy awakens and is pleased to see her man back. When she detects that something is amiss, he drags her into the middle of the room and tells her: "You were watched to-night, every word you said was heard."
The horrified girl struggles fiercely, begging to be spared, just as she spared Sikes. In her wild pleas, she promises to speak to Brownlow so that they can each seek a new life alone in distant places. In her moment of extremity, Nancy uses Rose's mantra: "It is never too late to repent." But Nancy's efforts are in vain. Sikes hits her with his pistol, knocking her down. The bleeding Nancy struggles to her knees and — holding Rose Maylie's handkerchief — raises her hands, pleading with Sikes. Shielding his eyes from the damage he's done to Nancy, Sikes takes up a club and delivers the final blow.
As the life of the city is renewed by the bright sunlight of a fresh day, Sikes sits immovable in the chamber of death. At a sign of life he had followed his first blows with many more. Now he recoils from the sight of his handiwork. Covering the body does not help; and he cannot turn his back to it. He burns the lethal weapon and removes the bloodstains from his clothing. At last, he backs out of the door, locks it, and leaves the house with his dog.
Sikes retreats to the country north of London. All day long, he wanders about aimlessly without plan or purpose. Eventually, he ventures into the village of Hatfield and slinks into a small pub for a meal. The gossip of the local patrons is disrupted by the entrance of "an antic fellow, half pedlar and half mountebank." This vendor is pitching the virtues of a preparation warranted to remove any kind of stain. As the fellow reaches "blood-stains" in his spiel, he snatches Sikes's hat to use for a practical demonstration, because Sikes's hat has spatters of Nancy's blood on it. "With a hideous imprecation [insult]," Sikes recovers his hat and bolts from the premises.
