Summary

Mr. Bagnet is preparing a birthday dinner for his wife. George Rouncewell has been invited; at precisely

4:30 in the afternoon he arrives, still somewhat distracted and depressed by the death of little Jo, but also delighted to be in the company of amiable old friends.

Unannounced and unexpected, Detective Bucket appears. Extremely congenial, he ingratiates himself with the whole group, including the children. He notices that George seems distracted. They leave together and Bucket arrests George on the charge of having murdered Tulkinghorn, who had, on one occasion, cried out “a threatening, murdering, dangerous fellow,” words referring to Gridley but taken to refer to George. George is put in jail. Bucket collects the handsome reward offered by Sir Leicester for the capture of his lawyer’s murderer.

Analysis

The plot continues to develop much like a detective story. Bucket’s character becomes more distinct. However, there is no sense of climax here; the reader is virtually certain that George cannot be Tulkinghorn’s killer.