Robbery Under Arms · Chapter
LVI explained
Dick Marston receives a visit from his sister Aileen in his condemned cell.
What happens
Dick Marston receives a visit from his sister Aileen in his condemned cell. She mourns their mother's death and Jim's death, and speaks of Jeanie's grief and the disappearance of their father. Aileen urges Dick to pray and seek redemption. After her visit, the gaoler informs Dick that his sentence has been commuted to twelve years' imprisonment. Dick resolves to serve his time, takes up carpentry, and hears news of the fates of other bushrangers: Dan Moran is shot and killed, Billy the Boy narrowly escapes death after a failed robbery, and the narrative reflects on the nature of bushrangers and those who aid them.
Themes in this chapter
Crime and Punishment
Dick faces the reality of his sentence and the possibility of redemption through serving his time; the fates of other bushrangers illustrate the consequences of a life of crime.
Family and Loyalty
Aileen's visit underscores familial bonds and loyalty even in the face of death; Dick's resolve is strengthened by the thought of a loved one waiting for him.
Honor and Morality
Dick reflects on the moral decay of bushrangers like Moran, and contrasts the courage of gentlemen who resisted with the complicity of common laborers.
Characters to notice
- Dick Marston
Narrator and condemned prisoner; receives a visit from Aileen, learns of his commuted sentence, and resolves to serve twelve years.
- Aileen Marston
Visits Dick in his cell, dressed in black; mourns the deaths of their mother and Jim, and vows to dedicate her life to religion.
- Jim Marston
Deceased; Aileen speaks of his son and Jeanie's grief; his memory haunts Dick.
- Jeanie Morrison
Jim's widow; remains in her cottage, quiet and grieving, refusing to leave.
- Warrigal
Reported seen near Nulla Mountain, weak and on a knocked-up horse.
- Dan Moran
Shot and killed by a station hand after being surrounded by police; described as a cruel, treacherous brute.
Key passages
“I tried to comfort her; it was no use. 'Let me cry on, Dick,' she said; 'I have not shed a tear since I first heard the news—the miserable truth that has crushed all our vain hopes and fancies; my heart has nearly burst for want of relief.'”
Dick attempts to console Aileen, but she insists on crying, explaining she has been unable to weep since learning the devastating news that shattered their dreams.
Aileen's emotional release in the cell highlights her grief and the weight of the family's tragedies.
“She half drew me to my knees. She knelt down herself on the cold stone floor of the cell; and I—well—I seemed to remember the old days when we were both children and used to kneel down by mother's bed, the three of us, Aileen in the middle and one of us boys on each side.”
Aileen pulls Dick to his knees, and as she kneels on the cold floor, he recalls their childhood prayers by their mother's bedside.
This moment of shared prayer evokes nostalgia and a return to innocence, contrasting with their current despair.
“He was a cruel, treacherous, unmanly brute, and he came to his end just the very way as Starlight said he would after that affair at Kadumbla.”
Dick describes Dan Moran as a vicious and cowardly man who met the fate Starlight predicted after the Kadumbla incident.
Dick's harsh judgment of Moran reflects his own moral reckoning and the code among bushrangers.