John Harmon Timeline and Summary

•  Back
• More 

• John Harmon returns to London after being away for decades, ready to claim his inheritance from his dead father.
• Along the way, Harmon meets a guy on his ship named Radfoot who looks just like him. They decide to play tricks on other passengers by switching clothes and posing as one another.
• When they reach London, Radfoot teams up with a guy named Riderhood to drug John's drink and leave him for dead. The men have heard John is travelling with a lot of money and their plan was to rob him.
• Later, George Radfoot shows up dead in the river wearing John's clothes. It was probably Riderhood who killed him, but in any case, everyone now thinks that John Harmon is dead. John Harmon takes the name of Julius Handford and decides not to let anyone know he's still alive.
• Harmon's inheritance passes to his father's faithful servants, Mr. and Mrs. Boffin. John approaches Mr. Boffin under the name John Rokesmith and takes a job as his secretary.
• While working for Boffin, Harmon meets Bella Wilfer, the girl he was supposed to marry in order to claim his inheritance. Turns out his dad had that written down in his will.
• John falls in love with Bella, but he needs to know whether she could love him without money. He declares his love for her, but she turns him down because he isn't high enough on the social ladder.
• Now that he's been rejected, Harmon decides that he'll never let anyone know his true identity. What's the use of money, he figures, if no one loves you for who you really are?
• Later in the book, the Boffins find out Harmon's true identity and agree to go along with his scheme to test Bella. Mr. Boffin acts meaner and meaner until Bella snaps and tells him she wants nothing to do with him or his money. She agrees to marry John Harmon as John Rokesmith, because she no longer cares about whether he has money.
• John and Bella get married and have a daughter together. Then one day, John runs into a lawyer who recognizes him as Harmon, and the cat's out of the bag. Harmon comes forward to the police and claims his full inheritance. He and Bella move to London and live a wealthy life.