LXIV explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Greed and Exploitation

  The Brass siblings and Quilp exploit the legal system and Kit's innocence for personal gain.

• Sacrifice and Devotion

  The Marchioness selflessly sells Swiveller's clothes to buy medicine and nurses him back to health.

Characters to notice

• Richard Swiveller

  Lying ill and delirious, he gradually recovers and learns of the plot against Kit.

• The Marchioness

  Nurses Swiveller back to health and reveals the Brass conspiracy.

• Sampson Brass

  Mentioned as having conspired with Sally and Quilp to frame Kit.

• Sally Brass

  Mentioned as an active participant in the plot against Kit.

• Daniel Quilp

  Implied as the instigator of the frame-up against Kit.

Key passages

• “Tossing to and fro upon his hot, uneasy bed; tormented by a fierce thirst which nothing could appease; unable to find, in any change of posture, a moment’s peace or ease; and rambling forever through deserts of thought where there was no resting-place, no sight or sound suggestive of refreshment or repose, nothing but a dull eternal weariness, with no change but the restless shiftings of his miserable body, and the weary wanderings of his mind, constant still to one ever-present anxiety⁠—to a sense of something left undone, of some fearful obstacle to be surmounted, of some carking care that would not be driven away, and haunted the distempered brain, now in this form, now in that⁠—always shadowy and dim, but recognizable for the same phantom in every shape it took, darkening every vision like an evil conscience, and making slumber horrible; in these slow tortures of his dread disease, the unfortunate Richard lay wasting and consuming inch by inch, until at last, when he seemed to fight and struggle to rise up, and to be held down by devils, he sunk into a deep sleep, and dreamed no more.”

  Richard Swiveller suffers from a feverish illness, tormented by thirst and anxiety, until he finally falls into a deep, dreamless sleep.

  Describes Swiveller's delirious state and the onset of his recovery.

• “‘I’m dreaming,’ thought Richard, ‘that’s clear. When I went to bed, my hands were not made of eggshells; and now I can almost see through ’em. If this is not a dream, I have woke up by mistake in an Arabian Night instead of a London one.’”

  Swiveller thinks he must be dreaming because his hands look so thin and translucent.

  Highlights Swiveller's confusion and the surreal nature of his recovery.

• “‘There was him and her,’ said the small servant, ‘a sittin’ by the fire, and talking softly together. Mr. Brass says to Miss Sally, “Upon my word,” he says, “it’s a dangerous thing, and it might get us into a world of trouble, and I don’t half like it.” She says⁠—you know her way⁠—she says, “You’re the chickenest-hearted, feeblest, faintest man I ever see, and I think,” she says, “that I ought to have been the brother, and you the sister. Isn’t Quilp,” she says, “our principal support?” ‘He certainly is,’ says Mr. Brass. “And an’t we,” she says, “constantly ruining somebody or other in the way of business?” ‘We certainly are,’ says Mr. Brass. “Then does it signify,” she says, “about ruining this Kit when Quilp desires it?” ‘It certainly does not signify,’ says Brass. Then they whispered and laughed for a long time about there being no danger if it was well done, and then Mr. Brass pulls out his pocketbook, and says, “Well,” he says, “here it is⁠—Quilp’s own five-pound note. We’ll agree that way, then,” he says. “Kit’s coming tomorrow morning, I know. While he’s upstairs, you’ll get out of the way, and I’ll clear off Mr. Richard. Having Kit alone, I’ll hold him in conversation, and put this property in his hat. I’ll manage so, besides,” he says, “that Mr. Richard shall find it there, and be the evidence. And if that don’t get Christopher out of Mr. Quilp’s way, and satisfy Mr. Quilp’s grudges,” he says, “the Devil’s in it.”’”

  The Marchioness recounts overhearing Sampson and Sally Brass plotting with Quilp to frame Kit by planting a five-pound note in his hat.

  Reveals the conspiracy that led to Kit's imprisonment.