Our Mutual Friend Book 3, Part 13, Chapter 9 Summary

Somebody Becomes the Subject of a Prediction

  • It's Betty Higden's funeral now, so it looks like the old woman didn't survive after all. Aww. At the funeral, Mr. Rokesmith and Bella Wilfer meet Lizzie Hexam for the first time.
  • After Lizzie leaves them for a moment, Rokesmith and Bella talk about how great she is. Bella changes the subject to how terribly Mr. Boffin has been treating Rokesmith. Rokesmith is happy to know that she cares.
  • When Lizzie returns, she and Bella hit it off right away and they agree to be good friends going forward. While talking, they realize how they are both connected to the death of John Harmon, since Bella was supposed to be this man's wife and Lizzie's dad is the one who found John's body (which we now know was the body of George Radfoot).
  • Lizzie confides to Bella that she has left London because she is avoiding people who've been making advances on her. But as she talks, she admits she's in love with the man who's been pursuing her. It's pretty clear here that she's talking about Eugene Wrayburn and not Bradley Headstone.
  • Lizzie ends the meeting by saying that she knows Bella is in love with somebody too. It's just that Bella hasn't admitted it to herself yet.