Hugh rejoins the other rioters, who have gathered around a carriage where Dolly Varden and Emma Haredale are being kept. Hugh climbs into the carriage, sits between them, and puts his arms around them. He threatens to kiss them every time they scream. Emma is terrified but Dolly is furious. She thinks of Joe Willet and how badly she treated him. She remembers how he rescued her from Hugh when the latter stopped her on the path back to the Maypole. The men take the women to a cottage, and Hugh carries Dolly inside. Emma has fainted. Dolly is at first overjoyed when Simon Tappertit arrives, but she soon realizes that he is in league with the rioters and she has much to fear from him as she does from Hugh. Dennis is not interested in the women. Sim promises Hugh that he may have Miggs, which causes Hugh to laugh.

Hugh and his men return to London to hear the news that soldiers have taken possession of the Boot. He asks if anyone has heard anything about Barnaby, who had been left to stand guard. Someone knocks on the door, stating that he wants to see Hugh. It is a one-armed man who looks as though he has been severely beaten; his clothes are torn and he is carrying a large stick. He tells Hugh that Barnaby was taken, but he defended himself as well as he could. He is now on his way to prison. There is a cry to attack Newgate Prison, but Hugh and Dennis block the door, telling the men that it would madness to attack without a plan. Hugh proclaims that not only Newgate but every jail in London will be burned down and the prisoners released. They plan to burn Newgate the following night.

Mr. Haredale has difficulty finding anyone in the village who will lend a carriage to a Catholic, but eventually someone does so, primarily to get rid of him. In London, the situation is the same: the Lord Mayor refuses to take charge of Barnaby Rudge, Senior, because he is the prisoner of a Catholic. Mr. Haredale goes to Sir John Fielding, another magistrate, who places Rudge in Newgate Prison.

Stagg comes to visit Rudge, who tells the blind man the account of his crime and the terror that the Bell in the tower struck his heart. Stagg suggests a plan for his release: He will convince Mrs. Rudge to say he is not her husband in order to get her son released. Rudge agrees, thinking this is his only chance. After Stagg leaves, Rudge is taken to a small yard for exercise. He is stunned when his son is also brought there. He reveals to Barnaby that he is his father. Barnaby embraces him, asking where he has been and why he left his family.