Summary
Silas Wegg is an impoverished man with a wooden leg who makes a living selling various items, including ballads. He has established a regular place for himself next to a large house that he feels a sense of attachment to. He is greeted by a man named Boffin, who has been passing by him while visiting the house. Boffin comments that he has heard Silas singing some of his ballads and has been impressed. Boffin explains that he is illiterate but that he would like to hire someone to come and read to him. After negotiating the price, Wegg agrees to this plan. Boffin has already selected the book he would like read to him, and gives Wegg directions to get to his house, known as Boffin’s Bower. Later that evening, Wegg arrives to be greeted by Mr. Boffin and his wife. Their house is a strange combination of high fashion and homely comfort, but they are very accommodating to Wegg as he begins reading to them from Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
Meanwhile, a man named Rogue Riderhood has entered a waterside pub known as the Six Jolly Fellowship-Porters, which is managed by a woman named Miss Abbey Potterson. Miss Potterson reluctantly allows him to enter, leading Riderhood to question why she is mistrustful of him. Riderhood brings up Gaffer Hexam, explaining that he has suspicions about his former partner. Riderhood hints that Hexam may have been involved in murdering some of the bodies he then “finds” in order to increase his profit.
That night, after the pub has closed, Miss Potterson sends for Lizzie Hexam, who arrives at the pub. Miss Potterson complains that although she has tried to help Lizzie to get away from her father, Lizzie has always rejected her help. Miss Potterson now shares the accusation of Hexam being a murderer, and is surprised that Lizzie does not seem alarmed; in reality, Lizzie does not believe this accusation at all, and is relieved that Potterson has not uncovered the truth about her father stealing money from the dead. Lizzie also notes that she assumes Riderhood was the one to make this accusation, and when Potterson confirms it, Lizzie explains that Riderhood has always been angry and seeking revenge ever since her father ended their partnership. Moreover, Lizzie has suspicions that Riderhood may have committed the Harmon murder himself and left the body for her father to find.
Miss Potterson points out that it’s more likely the two men conspired together, but urges Lizzie to consider leaving her father regardless of what he has or has not done. Lizzie is grateful but insists she has to care for her father; Miss Potterson reluctantly states that neither Hexam nor Riderhood is welcome at the pub any longer. As Lizzie makes her way home, she becomes more worried about the potential consequences of this accusation. When she gets back to the house, she spends all night preparing, and waits for her brother to wake up. When Charley wakes up, she tells him it is the right time for him to go away and live at the school he has been attending. She has some money saved for him and will send more. Although Charley is initially resentful, he leaves.
A short time later, Gaffer Hexam comes home. Lizzie initially distracts him from his questions about his son, but eventually tells him that Charley has left to pursue his education. Hexam reacts with anger, and his stabbing gesture alarms Lizzie. When Lizzie faints in distress, Hexam softens and takes care of his daughter.
On his way to read to Boffin, Silas Wegg stops at a small shop in Clerkenwell. The shop owner, Mr. Venus, recognizes him due to his missing leg. As the two share a meal, it becomes clear that Venus is a taxidermist and articulator of bones, who is now in possession of Wegg’s amputated leg. Wegg is interested in purchasing it back, now that he has increased income, but since he doesn’t have the money at the moment, Venus offers to save the leg for him. Despite his profitable business, Venus is unhappy because he is in love, but the woman he loves finds his line of work distasteful. When Wegg mentions he is now working for Boffin, Venus acknowledges that he is familiar with both him and Harmon, and noted the news of the Harmon murder with interest.
Mr. Boffin goes to call on Mr. Lightwood and is greeted by his clerk. When Lightwood returns to the office, he is able to report that with the death of John Harmon now considered proved, Mr. Boffin is now in full possession of the Harmon fortune. Mr. Boffin is ambivalent about this, expressing how much he missed simply working for old Mr. Harmon, and how he and his wife had always advocated for the Harmon children. He reflects on the affection he and his wife felt for little John Harmon when they last saw him as a lonely child, and how happy they were to think of him coming home and claiming his fortune. He now wants to specify a large reward for anyone with information about the murder, and also to ensure that Mrs. Boffin will inherit the fortune next.
Wrayburn comes in to the office, and is introduced to Boffin. Boffin then leaves, and as he makes his way home, a young man approaches him. The man explains that he has learned about Boffin coming in to a great deal of money, and would like to offer his services as a secretary. The man is vague about his past, but introduces himself as John Rokesmith, who is renting part of the Wilfer house. Confused by this coincidence, Boffin agrees to meet with Rokesmith to discuss employment in a few weeks’ time, but cautions that he already has Silas to help him with literary work.
Back home, Boffin discusses with his wife the official change to their fortune. She suggests they rent out their present house and move to somewhere more fashionable, and also that Bella Wilfer might be invited to come and live with them. Finally, she is interested in adopting an orphan as a way of honoring the memory of little John Harmon. They decide to put these plans into action immediately and go out to call on their clergyman, Reverend Frank Milvey. The Boffins explain their desire to adopt an orphan and the Reverend and his wife promise to find some suitable candidates. Next, the Boffins go to see the Wilfers and explain their plan of inviting Bella to come and live with them. Bella agrees, and the Boffins also mention that they have recently met Mr. Rokesmith, referring to him as a mutual friend.
Meanwhile, two members of the Veneering social circle, Sophronia Akershem and Alfred Lammle, have become engaged. Twemlow is invited to attend a dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Veneering, and Mr. Podsnap to discuss the upcoming wedding; he is still at a loss at the feigned intimacies of the social climbers, and agrees to give the bride away. The wedding is a dazzling display of wealth and pretension but during their honeymoon, the couple is horrified to discover that neither of them has any money. They have each been misled by the Veneerings into believing the other is rich. They agree to keep the unhappy reality a secret, to try and get revenge against the Veneerings, and to do whatever they can to obtain money.
Analysis
Education figures as a major theme in this section of the novel. Boffin’s strange social position is highlighted by the fact that although he has now become very wealthy, he comes from humble social origins and has not been well-educated. While it’s not entirely surprising that he would take advantage of his new circumstances to improve his knowledge, he makes the bizarre choice of choosing Silas Wegg, a man who is also of low social class and poorly educated to instruct him. Boffin’s choice reveals his innocence and lack of social strategy; unlike someone in the Veneering social circle, he doesn’t know how to make strategic social connections, and naively follows his heart.
The choice of text Boffin and Wegg read together allows for a comical parody of the classical education that was often still prized in the Victorian era. Part of a sign of an aristocratic background was that a young man would have the opportunity to study Latin and Greek texts, so the focus on the history of Rome alludes to an attempt to mirror the traditional classical education in a diluted and delayed way. Their study text also focuses on describing a civilization that collapsed due to its decadence; considering the representation of London, another capital of what was at the time a global empire, the text seems to be a wink to Dickens’s desire to use his novel to criticize a British society that seemed to be also potentially sowing seeds of its own destruction as the citizens became more greedy and materialistic.
While Boffin eagerly seeks out an opportunity to expand his knowledge, Lizzie has to struggle with both Charley and her father in order to get Charley the education he needs. When Miss Potterson advises Lizzie to cut ties with her father in order to avoid jeopardizing her own future, she accurately predicts how Gaffer's low social position and associations with criminal behavior are likely to have negative impacts on his children. However, Lizzie is willing to take on a sacrificial role, and functions as a kind of maternal figure to both her father and brother. This serves as one of the many examples in the novel wherein young people function as surrogate parents, while the adults who should be taking care of them fail in their moral responsibilities.
in these sections, the behaviors of the Boffin and Lammle couples create an opportunity for juxtaposing different attitudes to wealth. The Boffins do not celebrate the fortune they have acquired because it comes at the cost of a young man whom they felt affection for; they are also sensitive and empathetic in thinking about what the impact of this change of events will mean for Bella. By asking Bella to come and live with them, planning to adopt an orphan, and even entertaining Rokesmith's abrupt request to come and work with them all show how the Boffins immediately try to use their good fortune to benefit others.
In contrast, the Lammle marriage reveals how deception and pretenses are used by those trying to climb the social ladder and advance their fortunes. The vague nature of Alfred Lammle's fortune hints that there might be something shady about his appearance of being wealthy, but also reveals how the world of the Veneerings and their friends is driven solely by appearances. Because no one is actually interested in anyone else, details about people's true nature and circumstances seldom come to light as long as they can maintain a show (or "veneer") of wealth and glamour. In a moment of dark irony, Mr. and Mrs. Lammle are forced to confront the fact that neither of them has any money and they are now locked in to a kind of partnership that will be driven by trying to deceive others, just as they have each been deceived.
