his wards, Ada Clare and Richard Carstone. Later in the story it is revealed that Esther is the illegitimate daughter of Captain Hawdon and Lady Dedlock. John Jarndyce falls in love with her and asked her to marry him. She consents out of respect for Jarndyce but during the engagement she falls in love with Allan Woodcourt. When Jarndyce learns of her feelings for Allan he releases her from the engagement and she marries Woodcourt. Sweedlepipe, Paul (Poll) A barber and bird-fancier, and Mrs Gamp's landlord in Martin Chuzzlewit. "Poll Sweedlepipe's house was one great bird's nest. Gamecocks resided in the kitchen; pheasants wasted the brightness of their golden plumage on the garret; bantams roosted in the cellar; owls had possession of the bedroom; and specimens of all the smaller fry of birds chirrupped and twittered in the shop." Swidger, Milly Wife of William and the only member of the family not touched by Redlaw's gift of forgetting past sorrows, in The Haunted Man. Her inherent goodness, based on remembrance of her lost child, reverses the effects of this curse in her family, the Tetterbys, and Edmund Longford. Swidger, Philip Eighty-seven-year-old patriarch of the Swidger family. He loses his present happiness, based on his memories, when touched by Redlaw's gift. He is restored to happiness by Milly Swidger in The Haunted Man. Swidger, William Caretaker of the university where Redlaw teaches chemistry. His family is adversely effected by Redlaw's gift of forgetting past sorrows. The adverse effects of this 'gift' are finally reversed by William's wife, Milly in The Haunted Man. Swiveller, Dick Friend of Fred Trent, Swiveller has designs to marry Fred's sister, Nell Trent, but is encouraged to wait until Nell has inherited her grandfather's money. When Nell and her grandfather leave London Swiveller is befriended by Quilp who helps him gain employment with the Brasses. While at the Brasses he meets their little half-starved servant, whom he nicknames "the Marchioness". He becomes aware of the Brasses' villainy and, with the Marchioness' help, exposes a plot to frame Kit Nubbles. Swiveller later inherits money from his aunt, puts the Marchioness through school, and ultimately marries her in The Old Curiosity Shop. T Tackleton also known as Gruff and Tackleton, the name of his toymaking business. He is the Scrooge of the story, a hard-hearted, unfeeling man who has lived off of the exploitation of children all his life.