Tom Jones Book 13, Chapter 2

What Befel Mr. Jones On His Arrival in London

• Tom tries to visit the Irish nobleman's mansion, but he goes to the address that the nobleman rented before he left for Ireland.
• Now, the nobleman is staying somewhere else.
• Finally, Tom agrees with Partridge to give up the search until the following day.
• The next morning, he is lucky enough to find the correct house.
• He knocks on the door and asks for Sophia.
• The servant who opens the door takes one look at his poor clothes and totally refuses to help Tom.
• Tom offers him a bribe, and another servant offers to take him to the lady of the house.
• The servant brings Tom to see Mrs. Fitzpatrick.
• It's almost worse for Tom to come thisclose to seeing Sophia, only to see—Mrs. Fitzpatrick.
• Mrs. Fitzpatrick assumes he's a servant of Squire Western's and refuses to talk to him.
• But Tom promises to come back later that afternoon.
• The serving lady compliments Tom's looks so enthusiastically Mrs. Fitzpatrick decides to meet with Tom when he comes back to the house.
• Tom has now guessed that Sophia is here with her cousin, but hidden from him.
• At their meeting, Tom is very polite.
• Mrs. Fitzpatrick still won't tell him anything about Sophia.
• She guesses that he is Mr. Blifil, and she doesn't want to betray her cousin.
• After he takes off, a maid guesses to Mrs. Fitzpatrick that Tom is probably Tom Jones.
• She tells all about Tom to one of the other maids, and the maid passes on the story of Sophia's heartbreak to Mrs. Fitzpatrick.
• Mrs. Fitzpatrick decides that (a) yes, he has to be the guy Sophia loves (because he's so dreamy), and (b) it's a good thing she didn't tell him where to find Sophia, because he's supposed to be so loose with women.