OLIVER TWIST is one of my favourite novels of all time. However, one point in the book seems unclarified to me. Perhaps someone can shed light on this mystery?

It concerns the undertaker. If you read the book, you will remember the undertaker who bought Oliver. He was quite fond of Oliver. However, he beat him, chiefly (I think) because his wife would not stop nagging at him to do so. I don't imagine him as an antagonist.

And yet, how does the undertaker's story end? He is robbed by Noah Claypole, who abandons him and "steals" the maid, also. Why was he punished in this way by Dickens?