# Fledgeby — Our Mutual Friend character guide

> Fledgeby in Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Mr. Fledgeby, Fascination Fledgeby, young Fledgeby

**First appearance:** 0023-v-mercury-prompting

## Snapshot

A cowardly, whisker-twirling moneylender who hides behind Riah's name and torments Jenny Wren while dodging any risk to his own skin.

## Who they are

Fledgeby operates Pubsey and Co. through the dignified front of old Riah, keeping his own hands conspicuously clean while squeezing debtors and baiting Lammle in private. His cowardice and cunning form a single vice: he wants the profits of cruelty without ever being seen to inflict it. He matters because his sham respectability is the novel's sharpest early study in how finance disguises predation as gentility.

## Relationships

### [Mrs. Boffin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/characters/mrs_boffin)

_professional_

Fledgeby, a moneylender, interacts with Mrs. Boffin as a creditor and social climber, but she sees through his deceitful nature.

### [Bella Wilfer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/characters/bella_wilfer)

_social_

Bella finds Fledgeby repulsive and dishonest, and she avoids his advances with disdain and sharp wit.

### [Mrs. Boffin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/characters/mrs_boffin)

_professional_

Fledgeby, a moneylender, interacts with Mrs. Boffin as a creditor and social climber, but she sees through his deceitful nature.

### [Mrs. Boffin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/characters/mrs_boffin)

_professional_

Fledgeby, a moneylender, interacts with Mrs. Boffin as a creditor and social climber, but she sees through his deceitful nature.

### [Bella Wilfer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/characters/bella_wilfer)

_social_

Bella finds Fledgeby repulsive and dishonest, and she avoids his advances with disdain and sharp wit.

### [Bella Wilfer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/characters/bella_wilfer)

_social_

Bella finds Fledgeby repulsive and dishonest, and she avoids his advances with disdain and sharp wit.

## In the story

### [Cupid Prompted](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/chapters/iv-cupid-prompted)

Awkward and self-conscious, he is prompted by the Lammles to pay attention to Georgiana, though he struggles with the role.

### [Mercury Prompting](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/chapters/v-mercury-prompting)

Introduced as a miserly young moneylender who breakfasts with Lammle and later visits his rooftop garden.

### [An Anniversary Occasion](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/chapters/xvi-an-anniversary-occasion)

Fledgeby is presented to Lady Tippins and Twemlow. He appears awkward and socially inept, claiming he does not like town and backing into the background.

### [Lodgers in Queer Street](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/chapters/i-lodgers-in-queer-street)

Fledgeby conducts business with Riah, mocking him and exploiting his position. He receives Lammle's news of the Podsnap rejection and destroys the promissory note, showing his cunning and manipulative nature.

### [Meaning Mischief](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/chapters/xii-meaning-mischief)

Visits the Lammles; Mrs. Lammle attempts to coax him into using his influence with the Jewish moneylender Riah.

### [Give a Dog a Bad Name, and Hang Him](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/chapters/xiii-give-a-dog-a-bad-name-and-hang-him)

Left alone in the countinghouse, he spies on the street, denies being the master to Jenny Wren, and manipulates Twemlow's debt situation while plotting against Riah.

### [A Few Grains of Pepper](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/chapters/viii-a-few-grains-of-pepper)

Visits Jenny to probe about Lizzie; later beaten by Alfred Lammle, found spluttering in his chambers.

### [Two Places Vacated](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/chapters/ix-two-places-vacated)

Revealed as the true principal of Pubsey and Co., though absent from the scene.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/characters/fledgeby
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/our_mutual_friend_se/characters