Section VIII, ch. 31-33 Summary

Mr. Jackson, Dodson and Fogg's clerk, arrives in Mr. Pickwick's hotel room to announce that the trial will be held on the fourteenth of February. He also subpoenas Tupman, Snodgrass, Winkle and Sam Weller as witnesses for the offense. Mr. Perker informs Mr. Pickwick that his case is doubtful, so Mr. Pickwick insists on seeing Serjeant Snubbin, the courtroom attorney. Although Mr. Pickwick proclaims his innocence, he receives little reassurance. Meanwhile, Bob Sawyer's landlady, Mrs. Raddle, harasses him continually because he is unable to pay his rent. The Pickwickians go to Bob Sawyer's party, but it is a disaster; there is a dispute over cards, the dinner is a complete failure, there is no hot water available for drinks, two men nearly duel, and there is no harmony in the singing. The party disperses when Mrs. Raddle...