Daily puzzle

Put Bartleby, the Scrivener back in order

Seven beats from our edition of Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville, shuffled. Drag them, or use the arrows, until the story runs straight. No account, no streak to lose.

  1. The comfortable office The narrator introduces his snug Wall Street law practice and his two eccentric copyists, Turkey and Nippers, plus the errand boy Ginger Nut.
  2. Bartleby is hired A pallid, forlorn young man answers the ad and is set to copying behind a screen near the narrator's desk.
  3. “I would prefer not to” Asked to examine a copy, Bartleby calmly declines, and the phrase soon spreads to every duty until he stops copying entirely.
  4. He lives in the office The narrator learns Bartleby has been sleeping in the office, friendless and alone, and feels a wave of pity mixed with dread.
  5. The lawyer moves out Unable to remove or reason with Bartleby, the narrator relocates his entire firm to escape him.
  6. The Tombs New tenants have Bartleby jailed for vagrancy; the narrator visits and arranges for him to be fed.
  7. Against the wall Bartleby prefers not to eat and is found dead in the prison yard; the narrator hears he once worked in the Dead Letter Office.