Our Mutual Friend

Our Mutual Friend

By Charles Dickens.

Table of Contents

1. Titlepage
2. Imprint
3. Book the First: The Cup and the Lip
   1. I: On the Look Out
   2. II: The Man from Somewhere
   3. III: Another Man
   4. IV: The R. Wilfer Family
   5. V: Boffin’s Bower
   6. VI: Cut Adrift
   7. VII: Mr. Wegg Looks After Himself
   8. VIII: Mr. Boffin in Consultation
   9. IX: Mr. and Mrs. Boffin in Consultation
   10. X: A Marriage Contract
   11. XI: Podsnappery
   12. XII: The Sweat of an Honest Man’s Brow
   13. XIII: Tracking the Bird of Prey
   14. XIV: The Bird of Prey Brought Down
   15. XV: Two New Servants
   16. XVI: Minders and Reminders
   17. XVII: A Dismal Swamp
4. Book the Second: Birds of a Feather
   1. I: Of an Educational Character
   2. II: Still Educational
   3. III: A Piece of Work
   4. IV: Cupid Prompted
   5. V: Mercury Prompting
   6. VI: A Riddle Without an Answer
   7. VII: In Which a Friendly Move Is Originated
   8. VIII: In Which an Innocent Elopement Occurs
   9. IX: In Which the Orphan Makes His Will
   10. X: A Successor
   11. XI: Some Affairs of the Heart
   12. XII: More Birds of Prey
   13. XIII: A Solo and a Duet
   14. XIV: Strong of Purpose
   15. XV: The Whole Case So Far
   16. XVI: An Anniversary Occasion
5. Book the Third: A Long Lane
   1. I: Lodgers in Queer Street
   2. II: A Respected Friend in a New Aspect
   3. III: The Same Respected Friend in More Aspects Than One
   4. IV: A Happy Return of the Day
   5. V: The Golden Dustman Falls Into Bad Company
   6. VI: The Golden Dustman Falls Into Worse Company
   7. VII: The Friendly Move Takes Up a Strong Position
   8. VIII: The End of a Long Journey
   9. IX: Somebody Becomes the Subject of a Prediction
   10. X: Scouts Out
   11. XI: In the Dark
   12. XII: Meaning Mischief
   13. XIII: Give a Dog a Bad Name, and Hang Him
   14. XIV: Mr. Wegg Prepares a Grindstone for Mr. Boffin’s Nose
   15. XV: The Golden Dustman at His Worst
   16. XVI: The Feast of the Three Hobgoblins
   17. XVII: A Social Chorus
6. Book the Fourth: A Turning
   1. I: Setting Traps
   2. II: The Golden Dustman Rises a Little
   3. III: The Golden Dustman Sinks Again
   4. IV: A Runaway Match
   5. V: Concerning the Mendicant’s Bride
   6. VI: A Cry for Help
   7. VII: Better to Be Abel Than Cain
   8. VIII: A Few Grains of Pepper
   9. IX: Two Places Vacated
   10. X: The Dolls’ Dressmaker Discovers a Word
   11. XI: Effect Is Given to the Dolls’ Dressmaker’s Discovery
   12. XII: The Passing Shadow
   13. XIII: Showing How the Golden Dustman Helped to Scatter Dust
   14. XIV: Checkmate to the Friendly Move
   15. XV: What Was Caught in the Traps That Were Set
   16. XVI: Persons and Things in General
   17. XVII: The Voice of Society
7. Postscript
8. Colophon
9. Uncopyright

Imprint

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Book the First

The Cup and the Lip

I

On the Look Out

In these times of ours, though concerning the exact year there is no need to be precise, a boat of dirty and disreputable appearance, with two figures in it, floated on the Thames, between Southwark bridge which is of iron, and London Bridge which is of stone, as an autumn evening was closing in.

The figures in this boat were those of a strong man with ragged grizzled hair and a sun-browned face, and a dark girl of nineteen or twenty, sufficiently like him to be recognizable as his daughter. The girl rowed, pulling a pair of sculls very easily; the man, with the rudder-lines slack in his hands, and his hands loose in his waistband, kept an eager look out. He had no net, hook, or line, and he could not be a fisherman; his boat had no cushion for a sitter, no paint, no inscription, no appliance beyond a rusty boat-hook and a coil of rope, and he could not be a waterman; his boat was too crazy and too small to take in cargo for delivery, and he could not be a lighterman or river-carrier; there was no clue to what he looked for, but he looked for something, with a most intent and searching gaze. The tide, which had turned an hour before, was running down, and his eyes watched every little race and eddy in its broad sweep, as the boat made slight headway against it, or drove stern foremost before it, according as he directed his daughter by a movement of his head. She watched his face as earnestly as he watched the