King of the Wind

Constable Muggins takes Agba to Newgate Jail, and the terrified boy wonders if he’ll ever see Sham again. The chief warder searches Agba, steals his protective amulets, and tears up Sham’s pedigree. Grimalkin scratches the constable, and the man threatens to drown him. The warder scathingly reminds the constable that this would cause bad luck because a cat made the fortune of Dick Whittington, who was “thrice lord mayor of London” (113). The warder orders Agba to be chained with leg irons and taken to the Stone Hold.

Weeks pass. Agba spends the time “motionless in a kind of dream” with Grimalkin as his only comfort (115). Mistress Cockburn goes to the inn with a hamper of food for him because she “missed the poor boy sorely” (116). When Mrs. Williams coldly informs her that the boy is in Newgate Jail, Mistress Cockburn is so startled that she wanders into the street and is nearly run over by a carriage. The coach’s passengers are the Dowager Duchess of Marlborough and the Earl of Godolphin. The aristocrats often visit Newgate, and they invite Mistress Cockburn to accompany them when they hear of Agba’s plight.