Our Mutual Friend | Page 3

equivalent
proprietary form).
[2] Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this "Small Print!" statement.
[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Project of 20% of the net profits you derive
calculated using the method you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you
don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are payable to "Project Gutenberg
Association/Carnegie-Mellon University" within the 60 days following each date you
prepare (or were legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax
return.
WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO?
The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, scanning machines, OCR
software, public domain etexts, royalty free copyright licenses, and every other sort of
contribution you can think of. Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg Association /
Carnegie-Mellon University".
*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END*

Prepared by: Donald Lainson [email protected]

OUR MUTUAL FRIEND
Charles Dickens

CONTENTS

Book the First
THE CUP AND THE LIP
1. ON THE LOOK OUT 2. THE MAN FROM SOMEWHERE 3. ANOTHER MAN 4.
THE R. WILFER FAMILY 5. BOFFIN'S BOWER 6. CUT ADRIFT 7. MR WEGG
LOOKS AFTER HIMSELF 8. MR BOFFIN IN CONSULTATION 9. MR AND MRS
BOFFIN IN CONSULTATION 10. A MARRIAGE CONTRACT 11. PODSNAPPERY
12. THE SWEAT OF AN HONEST MAN'S BROW 13. TRACKING THE BIRD OF
PREY 14. THE BIRD OF PREY BROUGHT DOWN 15. TWO NEW SERVANTS 16.
MINDERS AND RE-MINDERS 17. A DISMAL SWAMP

Book the Second
BIRDS OF A FEATHER
1. OF AN EDUCATIONAL CHARACTER 2. STILL EDUCATIONAL 3. A PIECE OF
WORK 4. CUPID PROMPTED 5. MERCURY PROMPTING 6. A RIDDLE WITHOUT
AN ANSWER 7. IN WHICH A FRIENDLY MOVE IS ORIGINATED 8. IN WHICH
AN INNOCENT ELOPEMENT OCCURS 9. IN WHICH THE ORPHAN MAKES HIS
WILL 10. A SUCCESSOR 11. SOME AFFAIRS OF THE HEART 12. MORE BIRDS
OF PREY 13. A SOLO AND A DUETT 14. STRONG OF PURPOSE 15. THE WHOLE
CASE SO FAR 16. AN ANNIVERSARY OCCASION

Book the Third
A LONG LANE
1. LODGERS IN QUEER STREET 2. A RESPECTED FRIEND IN A NEW ASPECT 3.
THE SAME RESPECTED FRIEND IN MORE ASPECTS THAN ONE 4. A HAPPY
RETURN OF THE DAY 5. THE GOLDEN DUSTMAN FALLS INTO BAD
COMPANY 6. THE GOLDEN DUSTMAN FALLS INTO WORSE COMPANY 7. THE
FRIENDLY MOVE TAKES UP A STRONG POSITION 8. THE END OF A LONG
JOURNEY 9. SOMEBODY BECOMES THE SUBJECT OF A PREDICTION 10.
SCOUTS OUT 11. IN THE DARK 12. MEANING MISCHIEF 13. GIVE A DOG A
BAD NAME, AND HANG HIM 14. MR WEGG PREPARES A GRINDSTONE FOR
MR BOFFIN'S NOSE 15. THE GOLDEN DUSTMAN AT HIS WORST 16. THE
FEAST OF THE THREE HOBGOBLINS 17. A SOCIAL CHORUS

Book the Fourth
A TURNING

1. SETTING TRAPS 2. THE GOLDEN DUSTMAN RISES A LITTLE 3. THE
GOLDEN DUSTMAN SINKS AGAIN 4. A RUNAWAY MATCH 5. CONCERNING
THE MENDICANT'S BRIDE 6. A CRY FOR HELP 7. BETTER TO BE ABEL THAN
CAIN 8. A FEW GRAINS OF PEPPER 9. TWO PLACES VACATED 10. THE DOLLS'
DRESSMAKER DISCOVERS A WORD 11. EFFECT IS GIVEN TO THE DOLLS'
DRESSMAKER'S DISCOVERY 12. THE PASSING SHADOW 13. SHOWING HOW
THE GOLDEN DUSTMAN HELPED TO SCATTER DUST 14. CHECKMATE TO
THE FRIENDLY MOVE 15. WHAT WAS CAUGHT IN THE TRAPS THAT WERE
SET 16. PERSONS AND THINGS IN GENERAL 17. THE VOICE OF SOCIETY
POSTSCRIPT, IN LIEU OF PREFACE

BOOK THE FIRST

THE CUP AND THE LIP


Chapter 1
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 boathook
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