What Happens

Two years later, Ruth Honeywill comes to see Robert Cokeson in his office. She says that she has recently seen Falder, who cannot get a job and is “just skin and bone.” She begs Cokeson to give Falder his old job back, saying that this firm would be the best place for him, since his criminal past is already known and there is “nothing to find out.” Cokeson says that there is a vacancy at the firm, and he will do what he can to secure it for Falder, but he is not optimistic.

Ruth leaves and soon afterwards, Falder himself enters, looking thin, pale, and restless. He tells Cokeson that he has “paid for that job a thousand times and more” and that he only wants a chance to redeem himself. When he left prison, a place was found for him, but he had to leave when the other clerks discovered his criminal past. He says that he is “afraid all the time now” but feels a different man after seeing Ruth again, adding: “I’ve often thought that being fond of her’s the best thing about me; it’s sacred, somehow – and yet it did for me.”

James and Walter How come into the room, and Cokeson asks Falder to go into the clerks’ office while he speaks to them. He tells the partners that Falder is “quite penitent,” but James How objects to having “a gaol-bird in the office” and says that Falder has a weak character. However, he agrees to give Falder another chance if he will put the past behind him and abandon any idea of resuming his relationship with Ruth Honeywill.

When they speak to Falder, he says he cannot do this and asks Ruth, who is waiting outside, to come into the office. When she enters, James How suggests that it would be better for both of them if Ruth were to leave Falder, but Falder is adamant that she can obtain a divorce and they can marry. As they discuss the matter, it dawns on Falder that Ruth has only been able to support herself by selling her body while he was in prison. This realization overwhelms him.

Detective Sergeant Wister enters the office, looking for Falder, who is wanted for failing to report to the police under the terms of his release, and for obtaining a job with a forged reference. Falder jumps out of the window and breaks his neck. Ruth drops to her knees beside his body while Cokeson exclaims: “No one’ll touch him now! Never again! He’s safe with gentle Jesus!”

Why It Matters

Falder was sentenced to three years in prison, but the concluding Act shows that this was effectively a death sentence. Even before Falder’s suicide, it is clear that his life has been ruined. He is miserable, constantly afraid, and life has become a perpetual struggle. He bitterly says that he has paid for his crime “a thousand times and more,” and the offenses which lead directly to his suicide – failing to report at a police station and forging a job reference – are even more trivial than the one for which he was initially arrested.

Cokeson tells How that Falder is penitent, but the truth is more complicated. Falder himself says that his love for Ruth is the best thing about him. He does not express remorse for having used stolen money in an attempt to help her. Instead, he describes the crushing effect the penal system has had on him, from rejection by his family to vagrancy to committing another forgery...