# In Which a Friendly Move Is Originated explained — Our Mutual Friend

> Chapter companion for Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens.

## What happens

Mr. Boffin's reading sessions with Silas Wegg shift to the morning at the Boffin mansion, though Boffin occasionally visits the Bower for evening readings. Wegg, feeling underappreciated, laments the loss of 'Our House' to manipulate Boffin's sympathy. Wegg completes a purchase from Mr. Venus, acquiring a mysterious packet. During a visit to the Bower, Wegg probes Venus about old Mr. Harmon's secretive habits and possible hidden items in the dust mounds. Wegg proposes a 'friendly move' to jointly search the premises for valuables or papers, agreeing to share any finds equally in the 'cause of the right.'

## Themes in this chapter

### Wealth and Corruption

Wegg's greed and manipulation to uncover hidden wealth from the dust mounds, and his resentment of Boffin's fortune, highlight the corrupting influence of money.

### Charity and Hypocrisy

Wegg feigns nostalgia and concern for 'the cause of the right' while plotting to exploit Boffin's property, exposing his hypocrisy.

### Social Class and Mobility

Wegg's bitterness about being 'banished to the Bower' while Boffin rises in society reflects tensions around class and social mobility.

## Character check-ins

### Mr. Boffin

Alters reading schedule with Wegg; visits Bower for evening readings; sympathetic to Wegg's lamentations about the house.

### Silas Wegg

Resents Boffin's visits; manipulates Boffin with nostalgia; completes purchase from Venus; proposes joint search of the dust mounds.

### Mr. Venus

Delivers the purchased packet to Wegg; discusses old Mr. Harmon's secretive nature and possible hidden items; agrees to Wegg's proposal.

## Key lines

> If Wegg had been worse paid for his office, or better qualified to discharge it, he would have considered these visits complimentary and agreeable; but, holding the position of a handsomely-remunerated humbug, he resented them.

Wegg resented Boffin's visits because, as a well-paid fraud, he felt entitled to complain despite his incompetence.

_Highlights Wegg's hypocrisy and the universal tension between employer and incompetent employee._

> And this, sir, was once Our House! This, sir, is the building from which I have so often seen those great creatures, Miss Elizabeth, Master George, Aunt Jane, and Uncle Parker—whose very names were of his own inventing—pass and repass!

Wegg invents fictional former residents to evoke nostalgia and guilt in Boffin, manipulating him for sympathy.

_Shows Wegg's cunning use of false sentiment to gain advantage._

> If there is anything to be found on these premises, let us find it together. Let us make the friendly move of agreeing to look for it together. Let us make the friendly move of agreeing to share the profits of it equally betwixt us. In the cause of the right.

Wegg proposes a secret partnership with Venus to search for hidden valuables in the dust mounds, framing it as a righteous endeavor.

_Introduces the central plot of Wegg's scheme to uncover the Harmon will._

## Links

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