Summary
Chapter I
Since some gentlemen have recently made their literary mark without having any
learning, modern critics are now claiming that a writer does not require
learning. However, the narrator believes that writing—like any
art—requires knowledge and study. A writer especially needs to have
knowledge of their subject&mash;for instance, if one brought together
Homer, Virgil, and
Aristotle, they would not write a very good book on the
art of dance.
Chapter II
Jones receives two letters from Lady Bellaston. The first asks him
whether he arranged to meet Sophia in the drawing room of her house. She warns
him that she can hate as passionately as she can love. The second urges him to
come and visit her at her house immediately. As Jones is preparing to leave,
Lady Bellaston walks in with her dress in disarray. She asks if Jones has
betrayed her, and he promises her on his knees that he has not. Suddenly
Partridge prances into the room announcing Mrs. Honour's arrival. Tom hides
Lady Bellaston behind his bed before Honour enters. Honour prattles on about how
Lady Bellaston meets men at a house where she pays the landlady's rent. Then she
hands Jones a letter from Sophia. Once Honour leaves, Lady Bellaston emerges
from behind the bed, enraged that she has been "slighted for a Country Girl."
Lady Bellaston now realizes that Sophia will always occupy first place in
Jones's affections, but resigns herself to the second prize. She and Jones
decide to camouflage the purpose of his visits by pretending that Tom has come
to visit Sophia.
Chapter III
Jones receives a letter from Sophia saying that if he cares for her at all, he
should not visit her that day—she is worried that Lady Bellaston suspects
something. Jones pretends to be ill so as not to offend Lady Bellaston—he
writes an explanatory letter to her ladyship, as well as a letter to Sophia.
Lady Bellaston sends a note announcing that she will visit Jones at his room at
nine that night. Mrs. Miller asks Tom, very courteously, to leave her house,
as she does not approve of him entertaining strange women in his room from ten
at night to two in the morning. She is worried about the virtue of her
daughters. Jones, slightly annoyed, says that he will not defame her house, but
he needs to see whomever he pleases. Tom learns from Mrs. Miller that Partridge
has told her about the highway robbery and of Tom's relation to Allworthy. Tom
is furious. Partridge blames Mrs. Honour for disclosing these facts.
Chapter IV
Nightingale tells Tom that he is also planning to leave Mrs. Miller's house,
but without saying farewell. Tom insinuates that he knows this surreptitious
mood has some relation to Nancy. He accuses Nightingale of using too much
gallantry in order to make Nancy fall in love with him. Nightingale professes
that he likes Nancy more than any woman he has ever met, but that his father has
prearranged a marriage for him with a woman he has never seen before. He begs
Tom not to reveal his secret. The narrator praises Nightingale's honorable
character—although this honor, he says, does not extend to affairs of
love.
Chapter V
Mrs. Miller invites Tom to tea—she does not wish to part on bad terms with
him. She tells him her story, saying that, without Allworthy's assistance,
her family could not have survived. Mrs. Miller's father left his three
daughters poverty-stricken, and Mrs. Miller was the only daughter to survive.
She married a clergyman, who died five years after their wedding. Mrs. Miller
reads Tom the generous letter that Allworthy wrote to her at this time. He sent
her an initial twenty guineas, then bought her a furnished house, and bestowed a
fifty-pound annuity on her. Tom relates his history to Mrs. Miller—without
mentioning Sophia. That night Jones waits in his room from nine until midnight,
but Lady Bellaston makes no appearance.
Chapter VI
Jones is woken by an uproar. He summons Partridge, who relates that Nancy,
Mrs. Miller, and Betty are crying in the kitchen. He jokes that there is a
new delivery for the "Foundling-Hospital." Mrs. Miller tells Jones that
Nightingale—"that barbarous Villain"—has deflowered her daughter,
who is pregnant with his child. She shows Tom the letter Nightingale left for
Nancy, in which he promises to provide for her and the child. Nancy's reputation
might have been preserved if she had not fainted in public after receiving the
letter. Nancy has twice attempted suicide, says Mrs. Miller. She admits that she
noticed Nightingale's attentions to Nancy, but sincerely thought that he would
marry her daughter. Tom resolves to find Nightingale.
