Summary
The Podsnaps decide to throw a birthday party to celebrate the eighteenth birthday of their daughter, Georgiana. They invite the Veneerings and also the Lammles. Veneering updates everyone on the Harmon inheritance, sharing that Noddy Boffin has now been nicknamed the Golden Dustman and that the father of Bella Wilfer works for Veneering's firm. As the party continues, Mrs. Lammle seeks out young Miss Podsnap, who confides that she is shy, not good at the social graces she is expected to perform, and dislikes it when her parents make her the center of attention. Meanwhile, Mr. Podsnap gets in a disagreement with a guest who brings up the subject of impoverished people. When the Lammles leave the party, Mr. Lammle tells his wife to continue to cultivate a friendship with Georgiana since he thinks this will create an opportunity for them to get money.
By this time, it is spring, and Lightwood and Wrayburn have rented a cottage together for the summer months. Over dinner, Wrayburn shares that his father has selected a wealthy woman for him to marry. He is not happy with this plan, and rejects Lightwood’s suggestion that he could at least meet the woman in question because he insists he will never marry her. Their conversation is interrupted by a man who comes seeking Lawyer Lightwood. He expresses his desire to make a sworn statement concerning the Harmon murder, and only after the two lawyers agree to copy down his statement does he identify himself as Rogue Riderhood.
Riderhood makes the accusation that the Harmon murder was committed by Gaffer Hexam. When further questioned, he explains that while he and Hexam were partners, he became suspicious and broke off the partnership; Riderhood also notes that Lizzie will tell a different story, but that she would be lying in order to protect her father. However, Lightwood points out that Riderhood merely has suspicions and no proof. Riderhood indignantly insists he has more to say, and claims that he can swear that Hexam admitted having committed the crime to him. He says this conversation took place on the night when the body was retrieved, outside of the Six Jolly Fellowships.
Riderhood describes what took place: when he exited the pub around midnight, Hexam was standing waiting to speak to him. Hexam explains that the reason he threatened Riderhood when their boats met earlier that night was because he thought Riderhood might be suspicious. Riderhood confirmed that he was, and then Hexam said that there was foul play, and he had done it for the money. Riderhood reports he wanted nothing to do with the situation, so he did not ask any questions and told Hexam he never wanted to speak to him again. The lawyers probe at why he has waited months to come forward with this information, and Riderhood says he was unsure what to do, but that now the announcement of the elevated reward has led him to contact Lightwood, who was listed as the contact to reach out to.
The lawyers are suspicious but decide they will need to bring Riderhood to the police station, especially since they don’t trust Hexam either. The three of them walk together and Riderhood leads them first to the pub, and then leaves them there to check whether Hexam is at home. He comes back to report that Hexam is out with his boat, but that Lizzie is at home making supper, which means her father is expected to return shortly. When they arrive at the police station, the Inspector reads the statement and confirms its accuracy with Riderhood. Riderhood is eager to go and find Hexam, but the Inspector first arranges for he and the two lawyers to go to the pub, and then for Riderhood to come and report to them when Hexam comes home. As they walk, the Inspector shares his suspicion that Riderhood is likely also implicated in the crime and “selling out” his accomplice.
As they wait at the pub, Lightwood and Wrayburn feel ill at ease, but are concerned about what the arrest of her father might mean for Lizzie. Riderhood returns to report that Gaffer will probably not return for at least three hours, and the Inspector goes to keep watch with him, but suggests the lawyers stay in the pub. They agree to do so, but first Wrayburn goes to determine where they are watching from. After noting where Riderhood and the Inspector are keeping watch, he goes and observes Lizzie anxiously waiting for her father. Eventually Wrayburn and Lightwood become very restless and decide to go and seek out their companions. As time passes, they wonder why Hexam has not returned and Riderhood offers to get in his boat and row around looking for him. When Riderhood comes back, he reports that he has found Hexam’s boat empty and drifting.
Confused and dismayed, Wrayburn, Lightwood, and the Inspector board Riderhood’s boat to go out and see Hexam’s empty boat. They locate it and start to drag it back ashore, only to realize that the dead body of Gaffer Hexam is attached to it by a rope and being dragged along. The Inspector hypothesizes that Hexam died accidentally as a result of getting tangled in his rope and falling overboard and goes to get a police inspector. Lightwood is surprised to find that Wrayburn has vanished. Exhausted, he makes his way back home, and wakes up to find that Wrayburn has also returned, claiming he left the scene with the boats in order to take a walk.
Mr. and Mrs. Boffin are struggling to make sense of some business documents when Mr. Rokesmith comes to call on them, hoping to discuss his offer of working as Mr. Boffins’s secretary. After clarifying the kinds of assistance he could offer, Rokesmith is hired. Boffin promptly explains that he is going to be moving to a new, fancier house that has been recommended to him by Silas Wegg, and asks Rokesmith to oversee preparations at the new house. Then the Boffins take Rokesmith on a tour of the house, reminiscing about their memories of the Harmon children. They explain that they do not intend to sell, though they might consider selling the dust mounds.
That evening, Wegg comes for his regular visit to read to Boffin, who has been worrying about treating his companion fairly. Boffin would like Wegg to give up keeping his sales stall once the Boffins move in to their mansion, and in exchange he will pay Wegg to live at the Bower and look after the house. Wegg agrees, giving Boffin the impression that he is being generous when he is really getting the arrangement he has been working towards all along. Before the two men can resume reading, Mrs. Boffin expresses her anxiety that she feels she is sensing the presence of ghosts in the house. Mr. Boffin tries to comfort her, but she remains distressed.
Rokesmith begins performing his work as Boffins’s secretary, and is very conscientious and diligent. He seems as though he has closely researched the Harmon will, but Boffin is not alarmed by this. Oddly, Rokesmith also refuses to interact with Mortimer Lightwood, who is now Boffins’s lawyer. Lightwood is still involved in trying to get information about the Harmon murder, but now that Hexam is dead, there are few leads to pursue. Lightwood would like to speak with Julius Handford again, but no trace of him can be found. With Boffins’s permission, Lightwood places an advertisement for Handford, but no one responds. Meanwhile, Rokesmith is also helping Mrs. Boffin with her search for an orphan to adopt. Reverend Milvey has suggested a promising child, who is currently being cared for by his great-grandmother, an impoverished elderly woman named Betty Higden, and Mrs. Boffin and Rokesmith go together to meet the child.
In addition to her orphaned great-grandson, Johnny, Mrs. Higden is caring for two other children named Toddles and Poddles, assisted by an older boy named Sloppy who helps her with reading and writing. In their conversation, Mrs. Higden reveals that she is more afraid of the workhouse than any other fate. When Mrs. Boffin mentions her desire to adopt Johnny, Betty Higden wavers between knowing that Johnny’s life will be better if he is adopted, and her desire to keep him. They agree that Betty will take her time to get used to the idea, and that Sloppy will keep the Boffins informed about when she might be ready to part with Johnny.
That evening, Rokesmith runs into Bella as she is taking a walk. He tells her that the Boffins will be ready for her to move in in two weeks’ time, and about his new job. He also suggests that if she tries, she can probably get the Boffins to give her as much money as she would have had after the Harmon marriage, but he later seems upset that she reacted with pleasure to this suggestion. When the Boffins move in to their fashionable new house, they attract a lot of attention from social climbers and individuals looking to take advantage of them. The Veneerings, Lady Tippins, Twemlow, and the Podsnaps are all eager to befriend them, and various businesses and charities seek their patronage. Fortunately, Rokesmith is able to exercise his judgement and work to ensure that the Boffins do not get exploited. Meanwhile, having moved in to the Bower, Silas Wegg spends all of his time searching the house.
Analysis
This section focuses on developing the mystery surrounding the Harmon murder. In an era where the detective story was only starting to emerge as a genre, Dickens played a significant role in developing some of the main customs we associate with this type of story, in Our Mutual Friend and some of his other novels (with Bleak House being another notable example). Lightwood and Wrayburn function as amateur detectives, working alongside the Inspector to try and figure out whether Riderhood is telling the truth. Gaffer Hexam's pseudo-criminal activity and rough behavior has primed a reader to be suspicious of him, but Riderhood seems equally untrustworthy. In a world where characters are ready to deceive each other in order to benefit themselves, the possibility that Riderhood might be framing his former partner to cover up some criminal activity of his own seems increasingly plausible.
Likewise, Silas Wegg emerges as a sinister character who is trying to manipulate Mr. Boffin, who is too innocent and kind-hearted to be suspicious. In keeping with the novel's key theme that no one is ever quite what they seem, Silas has his own agenda. He seems to object to the social mobility that has resulted from Boffin's inheritance; he does not see Boffin as an appropriate individual to possess wealth and live in the mansion which Silas has developed his bizarre attachment to. As a result, Silas feels entitled to Boffin's generosity, rather than recognizing it as a gift, and plans to exploit the opportunity that arises from him now living in the Bower (the former Harmon family home).
This section contains the roots of the love plot between Wrayburn and Lizzie: he is clearly struck by her. Given Lizzie's lack of education, working-class origins, and the possible criminality of her father, a relationship between the two seems to face many challenges, especially since Wrayburn's father is anxious for his son to marry a wealthy woman. This tension between Wrayburn and his father parallels the Harmon plot line: in both cases, the older generations desire to protect the family fortune and see it as their right to control the romantic lives of their children. These overtly controlling fathers act as foils for the incompetent and neglectful father figures of the novel (Jenny Wren's father, Gaffer Hexam, and to some extent Mr. Wilfer) and prove destructive in a different way. They alienate their sons by attempting to control their lives, and also risk creating marriages that will not be happy or successful. As the Lammles have revealed, marriages based on a profit motive are unlikely to result in a happy relationship.
The introduction of Betty Higden furthers the contrast between wealth and poverty in the novel. Her intense fear of the workhouse allows Dickens to engage in a systematic criticism of a system that was theoretically designed to help impoverished people, but often did more harm than good. Workhouses were government-run facilities intended to provide employment and lodging, but they often lead to individuals living in appalling conditions and being cruelly mistreated. Betty also reflects a Victorian cultural attitude towards the stigma around poverty: so long as she can eke out a living through her own efforts, she believes she is living with dignity and integrity, but the idea of accepting charity is horrifying to her.
Ironically, Betty is shown to be one of the few parental/care-giver figures who actually reflects on what would be best for their child and prioritizes it ahead of their own interests. Although it is heart-breaking for Betty to let go of Johnny, she is willing to do so because she knows being adopted by the Boffins will give him a vastly better quality of life and many more opportunities for his future.
