# Secret Service explained — Martin Chuzzlewit

> Chapter companion for Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens.

## What happens

Tom Pinch unknowingly passes Mr. Nadgett, who is secretly surveilling Jonas Chuzzlewit for the Anglo-Bengalee Assurance Company. Nadgett's covert activities include frequenting a barber's shop and an undertaker's establishment, all while maintaining his mysterious demeanor. Meanwhile, Jonas is manipulated by Montague into helping recruit Mr. Pecksniff for a scheme, unaware that Nadgett is his pursuing fate.

## Themes in this chapter

### Deception and Trust

Nadgett's secret surveillance of Jonas and Montague's manipulation highlight pervasive deceit and the erosion of trust.

### Greed and Corruption

Jonas's involvement with the Assurance Company and Montague's schemes underscore the corrupting influence of greed.

## Character check-ins

### Tom Pinch

Passes Mr. Nadgett in the street, unaware of his connection to Jonas Chuzzlewit.

### Nadgett

Secretly surveils Jonas Chuzzlewit, visiting Sweedlepipe's barber shop and Mould's establishment as part of his investigation.

### Jonas Chuzzlewit

Manipulated by Montague into helping recruit Pecksniff; unaware that Nadgett is watching him.

### Tigg Montague

Whispers to Jonas, causing him great terror, and enlists his help with Pecksniff.

### Sarah Gamp

Discusses Nadgett's mysterious behavior with Mr. Sweedlepipe.

### Poll Sweedlepipe

Hosts Nadgett's visits to his barber shop and discusses him with Mrs. Gamp.

## Key lines

> Mr. Nadgett took an interest in his lightest proceedings; and it never flagged or wavered. He watched him in and out of the Assurance Office, where he was now formally installed as a Director; he dogged his footsteps in the streets; he stood listening when he talked; he sat in coffee-rooms entering his name in the great pocketbook, over and over again; he wrote letters to himself about him constantly; and, when he found them in his pocket, put them in the fire, with such distrust and caution that he would bend down to watch the crumpled tinder while it floated upwards, as if his mind misgave him, that the mystery it had contained might come out at the chimney-pot.

Nadgett obsessively tracked Jonas's every move, from the Assurance Office to the streets, even writing and burning letters to himself to keep his surveillance secret.

_Illustrates Nadgett's meticulous and secretive investigation of Jonas._

> From red to white; from white to red again; from red to yellow; then to a cold, dull, awful, sweat-bedabbled blue. In that short whisper, all these changes fell upon the face of Jonas Chuzzlewit; and when at last he laid his hand upon the whisperer’s mouth, appalled, lest any syllable of what he said should reach the ears of the third person present, it was as bloodless and as heavy as the hand of Death.

Jonas's face rapidly changed colors from terror and rage after Montague whispered to him, and he desperately covered Montague's mouth to prevent Nadgett from hearing.

_Highlights Jonas's extreme fear and the power Montague holds over him._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/martin_chuzzlewit_se/chapters/xxxviii
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/martin_chuzzlewit_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/martin_chuzzlewit_se/chapters