Chapter Commentary of The Secret Agent - Study Guide by Joseph Conrad

has arranged for herself to live away from the family in an almshouse (charity accommodation). She has done so to lessen Verloc's burden as breadwinner for the whole household, in the hope that he will have more patience with Stevie if he is the only dependant. She meekly breaks the news to Winnie, who mistakes her good intentions for ingratitude: "Weren't you comfortable enough in the house?". Winnie also says that she is worried that Stevie might get lost when he goes to visit his mother. The conclusion the attentive reader reaches is that she is going to fix his address on a label onto his coat in case he should forget it.

On their way to the almshouse, there is an incident which defines Stevie's character far more clearly. The horse-driven cab which they are riding in has a pitifully thin horse whom the driver insists on whipping. Stevie protests, and tries to get out of the cab to help the horse, an act typical of his unsuccessful altruism. He is deeply disturbed by the "steed of apocalyptic misery" and the unhealthy old cab- driver, and twitches and stammers, his "immoderate compassion succeeded by innocent but pitiless rage" until he manages to sum up his feelings with "Bad world for poor people". He evidently has a rare sympathy for the oppressed, which is ready to be exploited.

Chapter 9:

Verloc returns from France, where he has been for about a week, but has still found no solution to his problem. Having always reverenced Verloc, Stevie is, as ever, at his beck and call. "You could do anything with that boy, Adolf... He would go through fire for you" says Winnie with grim significance. It is ironic that Stevie's main protector in life inadvertently causes his destruction by putting ideas into her husband's head. Verloc begins to take a new interest in Stevie, taking him on walks and to stay with Michaelis in the country, and the reader realises that Verloc is grooming him to help him undertake the bomb attack.

Verloc returns home one evening extremely morose and agitated. He is mysterious regarding what he has been doing that day, and asks Winnie to get out their savings, indicating that he wants to emigrate. Winnie reacts calmly, knowing nothing of what is bothering her husband. The reader however, due to the mounting pieces of evidence, guesses rightly that the bomb attack has just taken place, and that Stevie has died.

A stranger arrives at the shop, whom we deduce to be the Assistant Commissioner. While he walks with Verloc outside, another visitor arrives: Chief Inspector Heat. There is an element of comedy in this because petty rivalries have meant that the colleagues are acting like competitors. Heat questions Winnie about Stevie's overcoat, and she is amazed that it should have come into the hands of the police. Verloc returns and Winnie listens at the door as Heat discusses the death of Stevie with him. Heat departs having warned Verloc; Winnie sits catatonic in a corner.

Chapter 10:

The Assistant Commissioner visits Sir Ethelred at the House of Commons, informing him, and we the readers, of what went on in his interview with Verloc. We learn that Verloc was in an unusual "psychological state" which caused him to confess all to the Assistant Commissioner, as criminals sometimes do directly after a crime. The Assistant Commissioner identifies shock, if not remorse, in Verloc: "It is obvious that he did not plan the death of that wretched lad... his brother in law". No decision as to whether to arrest Verloc is taken.

The Assistant Commissioner moves on to dinner at the house of the Lady Patroness. A fellow dinner guest is Mr Vladimir! When they are alone after dinner, the Assistant Commissioner informs him, somewhat triumphantly, that Verloc has been traced as responsible, and that Mr Vladimir himself is suspected as having been connected in some way. The Chapter therefore ends on a relatively positive note for the British police.

Chapter 11:

Back to Brett Street where Verloc is about to face his wife's grief. Verloc's experiences new and unpleasant thoughts: "He had dared cherish the hope of Stevie walking away from the walls of the Observatory as he had been instructed to do... rejoining Mr Verloc outside the precincts of the park... Stevie dead was a much greater nuisance than he ever had been alive."

He radically under-estimates Winnie's reaction, trying to cheer her with "Can't be helped" as he cuts himself some ham. Meanwhile, Winnie is thinking of Stevie - "She remembered brushing the boy's hair and tying his pinafores" - and of how she married Verloc only to give her brother's life security. With the benefit of hindsight, she remembers her misguided pleasure when she saw Verloc developing an interest in the boy, and taking him for walks. The difference between the thought patterns of the two characters means that trouble only can ensue.

Winnie is stone silent, and the nervous Verloc talks at her, inadvertently making things much worse: "It's your doing as much as mine... it was you who kept shoving him in my way". He then attempts reconciliation, saying "Come here" in the hope of an embrace. Winnie, with her head full of Stevie, stabs her husband with the carving knife. She is left alone with the body in the darkened front parlour of Brett Street, with only the sound of the clock ticking and the blood dripping.

Chapter 12:

Conrad remains with Winnie as she decides what to do next. She is afraid of being caught by the police and being hung on the gallows,