Chapter 21 begins on a particularly dreary morning. Sikes and Oliver head out into rainy London. Dickens describes the way that London comes awake at 5 a.m. with the hustle and bustle of people going about their lives. Sikes and Oliver walk a long time and every so often Mr. Sikes will drag Oliver forward so as to quicken his pace. However, with his short legs, Oliver has to quicken “his pace into a kind of trot between a fast walk and a run” in order to keep up with Sikes (241). Eventually, Sikes and Oliver catch a ride on the back of a cart from a friendly driver who assumes that Sikes is Oliver’s father.

They arrive in Hampton, where they get dinner at a public house. Oliver falls asleep at the table and later is awoken by a rude push from Sikes. They manage to get a ride with a man on his cart. Finally, Sikes and Oliver arrive at a ruined house outside of Shepperton. Initially, Oliver believes that Bill means to murder him, but Sikes keeps Oliver’s hand in his and heads into the house.