Chapter
10: Oliver spent more time
with the Jew, and the other boys each day learning more and more of how to unmark handkerchiefs, and
playing the game of picking Fagin's pockets. After a while, Oliver wanted to go out with the boys
and do the work they do, and finally Fagin allowed it. On their first day out, Oliver began to
get annoyed because the boys weren't doing anything constructive. Then they spotted a gentleman
leaning over a bookstall and Oliver watched as they went up to him. They took a handkerchief out
of his pocket and Oliver was horrified that they were stealing from him. The man realized that
it was missing and turned to see Oliver running away. The other boys screamed 'stop thief' as
the gentleman did and watched as he chased Oliver through the streets. Eventually a man knocked
Oliver down and the gentleman whose pocket had been picked accosted him. Oliver swore to his innocence
but was not believe and a police officer came and dragged Oliver away.
Chapter
11: The policeman searched
Oliver, locked him up, and then dragged him before the local drunken magistrate. The gentlemen,
Mr. Brownlow, began an argument with the magistrate and tried to explain that he was not sure if Oliver
committed the crime. He also thought that Oliver's face looked familiar to him but he couldn't
place it. The magistrate tried to question Oliver but he couldn't speak, and finally fainted.
The magistrate began to sentence him to three months of heavy labor, when a winded man ran into the
office and demanded to speak. He was the bookseller that Mr. Brownlow had been shopping with when
the robbery had occurred. The bookseller had seen the whole robbery and testified that Oliver
had not committed the crime. The magistrate releases Oliver and Mr. Brownlow takes him, unconscious,
with him in his coach along with the savior bookseller.
Chapter
12: Mr. Brownlow took Oliver
to his house, where he was unconscious for days. Oliver awakes from his illness to find a sweet
old woman, Mrs. Bedwin, taking care of him. She nurses him back to health and Mr. Brownlow comes
to visit him to inquire after his health. Oliver begins to get his strength back and is very grateful
to both Brownlow and Bedwin for taking care of him. Once he is healthy enough to sit in a chair, he
sees a portrait of a woman. The picture fascinates him, and Mrs. Bedwin believes that he is upset
by it and tries to take it away. Mr. Brownlow comes to see him and notices that the woman in the
picture looks exactly like him. He points this out to Mrs. Bedwin, but decides not to tell Oliver
of it yet. Oliver, at their looks of exclamation, faints again. After he had been kidnapped,
the Dodger and Charlie Bates went back to the Jew's house, and because Oliver knew their secrets, he
became very upset with the boys when he realized Oliver was no longer with them.
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