Our Mutual Friend Book 2, Part 6, Chapter 2 Summary

Still Educational

  • We return to Jenny Wren, the little hunchbacked dolls' dressmaker who lives with Lizzie Hexam. Jenny tells Lizzie that she (Jenny) doesn't plan on marrying Charley Hexam because she doesn't like him.
  • Jenny Wren often fantasizes about what a tyrant she'll be to her husband once she gets married. She plans on treating her future husband like a slave, even though the book suggests that Jenny will have a tough time finding someone to marry her.
  • At this point, Mr. Eugene Wrayburn shows up at the door. You might remember in the last chapter that Charley Hexam and Bradley Headstone saw him heading for Lizzie's house.
  • Eugene asks Lizzie whether she's made up her mind about a proposition he has already made her. It sounds like he has offered to be her personal tutor, just like Bradley Headstone plans on doing.
  • Lizzie is hesitant at first, but she eventually accepts Eugene's offer.
  • With all that done, Jenny Wren's father comes home from a night of drinking. Jenny scolds him and sends him away as though she were the parent and he were the child. She even demands his wages from work so he won't blow any more of them on booze. Nice job, Jenny.