Our Mutual Friend, Chapter 14 summary
Chapter 14 of 68 · Book 1: The Cup and the Lip · 13 min to read the chapter
In Chapter 14, Riderhood guides the searchers to Gaffer’s boat, where they recover Gaffer’s body and hear the Inspector explain how his own rope traps and drowns him. Eugene leaves without warning, while an exhausted Mortimer Lightwood drifts through confused dreams before meeting his friend again that afternoon.
What happens
- Riderhood takes Eugene, Lightwood, and Mr. Inspector through hail and cold to the hidden boat.
- Mr. Inspector frees the boat and its trailing rope, then rows it ashore.
- Riderhood discovers that the body attached to the rope is Gaffer himself.
- Mr. Inspector explains how a fall overboard and a tightening slipknot appear to cause Gaffer’s death.
- Eugene disappears, while Lightwood drinks at a pub and returns home in a state of exhausted confusion.
- That afternoon, Eugene returns looking disheveled and explains his absence as a walk.
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In this chapter
What to notice
The Inspector sums up his explanation of the death. Gaffer’s equipment turns against him, reversing his usual position as the person who retrieves bodies.
Quick check
What does the Inspector identify as the mechanism of Gaffer’s death?
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