chunk: Mrs. Clennam has been withholding her knowledge that Little Dorrit is the heiress to an enormous fortune and estate. Overcome by passion, the old woman rises from her chair and totters out of her house to reveal the secret to Little Dorrit and beg her forgiveness, which the kind-hearted girl freely grants. The former then falls in the street, never to recover the use of her speech or limbs, as the house of Clennam literally collapses before her eyes, killing Rigaud. Rather than hurt Arthur, Little Dorrit chooses not to reveal what she has learned even though this means forfeiting her legacy.