The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling

The narrator instructs his readers on how to perceive the incidents in his history, asking that they not condemn a character as bad simply because he is not all good. Imperfection of character, he posits, can serve as moral instruction.

At midnight, an Irishman arrives at the inn and urgently inquires after a woman. Thinking that he means Mrs. Waters, Susan the maid shows him to that room. The man bursts inside, waking Tom, who confronts him. The intruder’s name is Fitzpatrick, and he is searching for his wife, Harriet Fitzpatrick. Another Irish gentleman who knows Fitzpatrick rushes in and points out that Mrs. Waters is not Fitzpatrick’s wife. When the landlady arrives, Mrs. Waters accuses all three men of invading her room with evil intentions. The landlady wails that the reputation of her house is destroyed, and Tom lies, asserting that he only ran into Mrs. Waters’s room to assist her when he heard her cry out.

The landlady warns Susan to keep to herself the fact that she saw Tom jump out of Mrs. Waters’s bed. Fitzpatrick is an Irish gentleman whose wife, Harriet, ran away from him because he treated her cruelly. Two more ladies arrive at the inn, one of whom is very beautiful.