the Maylies went to the country, and Oliver, whose life had
been spent in squalid crowds, seemed to enter on a new existence there.
The sky and the balmy air, the woods and glistening water, the rose and
honeysuckle, were each a daily joy to him. Every morning he went to a
white-haired old gentleman who taught him to read better and to write,
then he would walk and talk with Rose and Mrs. Maylie, and so three happy
months glided away.

In the summer Rose was taken down with a terrible fever, and anxiety hung
like a cloud over the cottage where she was so dear, but at length the
danger passed and the loving hearts grew lighter again.

Meanwhile a man named Monks,--a friend of Fagin's--had by chance seen
Oliver, had been strangely excited and angered at sight of him, and after
carefully learning some details of the boy's history, had gone to the
beadle at the workhouse where Oliver began life, and by dint of bribes,
had extorted information concerning Oliver's mother, which only one person
knew. Satisfied with what he learned, Monks conferred with Fagin, telling
some facts about Oliver which caused Nancy, who happened to overhear them,
to become terror-stricken.

As soon as she could, she stole away from her companions, out towards the
West End of London, to a hotel where the Maylies were then boarding, and
which she had heard Monks mention. Nancy was such a ragged object that she
found it difficult to have her name carried up to Rose Maylie, but at
length she succeeded, and was ushered into the sweet young lady's
presence, where she quickly related what she had come to tell. That Monks
had accidentally seen Oliver, and found out where he was living, and with
whom;--that a bargain had been struck with Fagin that he should have a
certain sum of money if Oliver were brought back, and a still larger
amount if the boy could be made a thief. Nancy then went on to tell that
Monks spoke of Oliver as his young brother, and boasted that the proofs of
the boy's identity lay at the bottom of the river--that he, Monks, had
money which by right should have been shared with Oliver, and that his one
desire was to take the boy's life.

These disclosures made Rose Maylie turn pale, and ask many questions, from
which she discovered that Nancy's confession was actuated by a real liking
for Oliver and a fierce hatred for the man Monks. Her tale finished, and
refusing money, or help of any kind, Nancy went as swiftly as she had
come, and w