ONE man with a very strong motive for seeing Oliver lost among thieves was Edward Leeford. Oliver was his half-brother, the child of his father’s mistress. Leeford had destroyed a Will settling his father’s estate on Oliver, but just to be sure he bribed Fagin to keep the boy ‘a sneaking, snivelling pickpocket’ forever.

Nancy, one of Fagin’s girls, overheard the conspiracy, and stole out to warn Mr Brownlow. Fagin discovered it (as he discovered most things) and led Bill Sikes, Nancy’s abusive lover, to believe that she had turned informer. That night, as Fagin hoped, Sikes murdered Nancy.

Leeford’s conspiracy was now a hanging matter. He saved himself by signing a paper that restored Oliver’s legacy; but criminal London gave up Sikes and Fagin, and their stories both conclude at the end of a rope. Oliver lived on with Mr Brownlow, and happily: for that (said Dickens) is the reward of affection and humanity of heart, and of gratitude to Him whose code is Mercy and Benevolence.