Edwin Leeford's will

Edwin Leeford's will is the pivotal legal instrument around which the hidden inheritance plot of Oliver Twist revolves. Drafted on the night Leeford fell ill in Rome, the will was intended to provide for his illegitimate son, Oliver, and for Agnes Fleming, the woman he loved. Its destruction by Leeford's legal wife and the subsequent concealment of its contents by her son, Monks, set in motion the campaign of persecution and fraud that drives the novel's central mystery.

Contents and Provisions

The will, discovered among Leeford's papers after his death, was accompanied by a letter to Agnes Fleming. In it, Leeford expressed his misery at his forced marriage and his hatred for his legitimate son, Monks, whom he described as having been trained from infancy to hate him. The will left Leeford's wife and Monks each an annuity of eight hundred pounds. The bulk of his property was divided into two equal portions: one for Agnes Fleming, and the other for their child, if it should be born alive and ever come of age. If the child were a girl, she was to inherit the money unconditionally; if a boy, only on the stipulation that during his minority he never stained his name with any public act of dishonor, meanness, cowardice, or wrong. Leeford stated that he made this stipulation to mark his confidence in Agnes and his conviction that the child would share her gentle heart and noble nature. If he were disappointed in this expectation, the money was to go to Monks, for then, and only then, when both children were equal, would he recognize Monks's prior claim upon his purse—a claim based on none of his heart, but on a repulsion that had existed from infancy.

Destruction and Concealment

Upon Leeford's death, his wife, Monks's mother, took possession of the will and, acting as a woman should, according to Monks, burned it. She also kept the letter to Agnes, ensuring it never reached its destination. She preserved these and other proofs, in case anyone ever tried to "lie away the blot" of Oliver's illegitimacy. On her deathbed, she bequeathed these secrets to Monks, along with her unquenchable hatred for all involved. Monks swore to hunt down the child if it ever crossed his path, to drag it to the very gallows-foot if he could, and to spit upon the empty vaunt of the insulting will.

Discovery and Resolution

Years later, Mr. Brownlow, Leeford's oldest friend, pieced together the truth. He confronted Monks, forcing him to confess and sign a statement of facts. The will's provisions were then carried into execution for Oliver's benefit. Mr. Brownlow, unwilling to deprive Monks of the opportunity to reform, proposed an equal division of the remaining property between the two brothers, a proposal to which Oliver joyfully acceded. Monks, however, quickly squandered his portion, fell back into crime, and died in prison. The will, though destroyed, ultimately served its purpose: it secured Oliver's identity and inheritance, and it brought the conspiracy of Monks and Fagin to light.