Little Dorrit

LITTLE DORRIT The novel’s action starts in 1820, in a jail cell in Marseille where two prisoners coming from completely different social backgrounds are incarcerated. Monsieur Rigaud anxiously awaits the jailer’s arrival to bring him news of his trial while the other prisoner, Cavalletto, sleeps undisturbed by Monsieur Rigaud’s restlessness. When the jailer comes, Monsieur Rigaud is informed that his trial will take place on that afternoon but the jailer has no information about Cavalletto’s trial. After the jailer leaves, Monsieur Rigaud tells Cavalletto that he married a rich widow of an innkeeper but their relationship was tense because Rigaud could not take his wife’s money. Then, one day, he pushed her off a cliff and she died. The chapter ends when the jailer comes back for Rigaud and Cavalletto goes back to sleep.