Our Mutual Friend

As the boat moved silently over the water, the thing at the end of the rope always followed. Sometimes it came near the boat and sometimes it pulled away like something alive. As it moved through the water, changes seemed to pass over the dead man's face. For the thing that followed at the end of the rope was the body of a drowned man.

At the inquest the dead man was identified as Mr John Harmon, who had recently returned from abroad. John Harmon had not been drowned, but murdered. But how had he died and who had killed him?

The People in This Story 4

Preface: Coming Home 6

1 On the River 7

2 The Harman Murder 10

3 The Golden Dustman 16

4 Another Death 22

5 The New Secretary 28

6 Mr Bradley Headstone – Schoolmaster 31

7 ‘What Are You Doing?’37

8 Bella’s New Life 40

9 ‘You Are The Ruin Of Me’ 44

10 ‘What Use Is My Life To Me?’52

11 The Power Of Money 58

12 Lizzie’s Secret 61

13 The Schoolmaster And The Rogue 65

14 The Golden Dustman At His Worst 70

15 At The Lock 77

16 The Attack 82

17 ‘Let Him Go Unpunished’88

18 ‘I’ll Never Let You Go’92

19 John Harman Comes Home 97



Points for Understanding 105

Glossary 115

1 Terms to do with life in nineteenth-century England 117

2 Terms to do with the river 118

3 Term ti do with the law and the police 119

4 Words describing character and emotions 120

5 General 121

6 A note on ungrammatical language 122



List of titles at Upper Level 127