Miss Wilfer descends to the carriage, 9 cm high by 13.8 cm wide (3 ½ inches by 5 ½ inches) vignetted, in Dickens's Our Mutual Friend, Book 2, “Birds of a Feather,” Chapter VIII, “In which an Innocent Elopement Occurs,” in The Charles Dickens Library Edition (1910), facing XV, 320.
It was a very magnificent spectacle indeed, to see Mrs. Wilfer loudly demand with extended gloves, “The male domestic of Mrs Boffin!” To whom she delivered the brief but majestic charge, “Miss Wilfer. Coming out!” — Our Mutual Friend, p. 326.
Passage in Detail Realised: Bella Wilfer and the Magnificent Boffin Equipage
Sol Eytinge, Junior's portrait of the Secretary with the dual identity: John Harmon (Book Two, “Birds of a Feather”; Chapter XIII, “A Solo and a Duet,” facing p. 221 in the Diamond Edition, Vol. VIII).
The front garden-gate clanked, and the Secretary was seen coming at a brisk pace up the steps. ‘Leave me to open the door to him,’ said Mrs. Wilfer, rising with stately resignation as she shook her head and dried her eyes; ‘we have at present no stipendiary girl to do so. We have nothing to conceal. If he sees these traces of emotion on our cheeks, let him construe them as he may.’
With those words she stalked out. In a few moments she stalked in again, proclaiming in her heraldic manner, ‘Mr. Rokesmith is the bearer of a packet for Miss Bella Wilfer.’
Mr. Rokesmith followed close upon his name, and of course saw what was amiss. But he discreetly affected to see nothing, and addressed Miss Bella.
‘Mr. Boffin intended to have placed this in the carriage for you this morning. He wished you to have it, as a little keepsake he had prepared — it is only a purse, Miss Wilfer — but as he was disappointed in his fancy, I volunteered to come after you with it.’
Bella took it in her hand, and thanked him.
‘We have been quarrelling here a little, Mr. Rokesmith, but not more than we used; you know our agreeable ways among ourselves. You find me just going. Good-bye, mamma. Good-bye, Lavvy!’ and with a kiss for each Miss Bella turned to the door. The Secretary would have attended her, but Mrs. Wilfer advancing and saying with dignity, ‘Pardon me! Permit me to assert my natural right to escort my child to the equipage which is in waiting for her,’ he begged pardon and gave place. It was a very magnificent spectacle indeed, to see Mrs. Wilfer throw open the house-door, and loudly demand with extended gloves, ‘The male domestic of Mrs. Boffin!’ To whom presenting himself, she delivered the brief but majestic charge, ‘Miss Wilfer. Coming out!’ and so delivered her over, like a female Lieutenant of the Tower relinquishing a State Prisoner. The effect of this ceremonial was for some quarter of an hour afterwards perfectly paralyzing on the neighbours, and was much enhanced by the worthy lady airing herself for that term in a kind of splendidly serene trance on the top step. [Book Two, “Birds of a Feather”; Chapter VIII, “In Which an Innocent Elopement Occurs,” 326]
Commentary: Installed in “Boffin’s Bower,” is Bella Becoming “Mercenary”?
‘John Rokesmith’ (the alias of John Harmon), the observant, judgmental Secretary to the Golden Dustman, Nicodemus Boffin, privately has chided Bella Wilfer — originally in Part 8 (December 1864) — with becoming mercenary. She seems, he adds, to have forgotten all about her family. To counter the latter assertion, she orders up the magnificent Boffin equipage, and is driven to her family's residence. However, the sight of her daughter in the splendid carriage provokes a haughty response on the part of Mrs. Wilfer, eager to show off her daughter's status to her neighbours, for the scene occurs not outside Boffin's Bower, Cavendish Square, but in the street before the modest Wilfer townhouse in lower middle-class Holloway.
Relevant Illustrations in the Original, Diamond, and Household Editions (1864-1875)
Above: James Mahoney's treatment of the secretary's interview with Bella in this chapter: “You never charge me, Miss Wilfer,” said the Secretary, encountering her by chance alone in the great drawing-room, “with commissions for home. I shall always be happy to execute any commands you may have in that direction.” (Household Edition, 1875).
Left: Marcus Stone's first December 1864 illustration of John Rokesmith and Bella Wilfer (Part 8), Pa's Lodger and Pa's Daughter. Right: American Sol Eytinge, Junior's dual character study of the Bella and her kindly father, R. W., The Cherub and the Lovely Woman (The Diamond Edition, Vol. VIII, 1867). [Click on the images to enlarge them.]
Related Materials
- Illustrations by Marcus Stone (40 plates from the Chapman and Hall edition of May 1864 through November 1865)
- Frontispieces by Octavius Carr Darley (4 photogravures from the Hurd and Houghton Household Edition of 1866)
- Illustrations by Sol Eytinge, Jr. (16 plates from the Ticknor and Fields' Diamond Edition of 1867)
- James Mahoney (58 plates from the Chapman and Hall Household Edition of 1875)
- Harry Furniss (28 lithographs from the Charles Dickens Library Edition, Vol. XV, 1910)
- Clayton J. Clarke (two studies from his designs for the Player's Cigarette Cards, 1910)
Scanned images caption, and commentary by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use the images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose, as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned them, and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Bibliography
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Cordery, Gareth, and Joseph S. Meisel, eds. The Humours of Parliament: Harry Furniss's View of Late-Victorian Culture. Columbus: The Ohio State University Press, 2014. [Review by Françoise Baillet]
Davis, Paul. Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Checkmark and Facts On File, 1999.
Dickens, Charles. Our Mutual Friend. Illustrated by Marcus Stone [40 composite wood-block engravings]. The Authentic Edition of the Works of Charles Dickens. 21 vols. London: Chapman and Hall; New York: Charles Scribners' Sons, 1901 [based on the original nineteen-month serial and the two-volume edition of 1865]. Vol. XIV.
Dickens, Charles. Our Mutual Friend. Frontispieces by Felix Octavius Carr Darley and Sir John Gilbert. The Household Edition. 55 vols. New York: Sheldon & Co., 1863. 4 vols.
Dickens, Charles. Our Mutual Friend. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr. The Diamond Edition. 14 vols. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. Vol. VIII.
Dickens, Charles. Our Mutual Friend. Illustrated by James Mahoney. The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1875. Volume IX.
Dickens, Charles. Our Mutual Friend. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. Vol. XV.
Hammerton, J. A. "Chapter 21: The Other Novels." The Dickens Picture-Book. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. 18 vols. London: Educational Book Co., 1910. Vol. XVII. 441-442.
Vann, J. Don. "Our Mutual Friend, twenty parts in nineteen monthly instalments, May 1864—November 1865." Victorian Novels in Serial. New York: The Modern Language Association, 1985. 74.
Created 2 August 2025