his "Imaginary man" could possibly refer to the "French gentleman" in Mr. Venus's shop, but it most likely refers to Mr. Venus himself, an imaginary version of the taxidermist Mr. Willis, to whom illustrator Marcus Stone took Dickens for inspiration (see note above). In a letter to Stone on Februrary 28, 1864, Dickens wrote: "I have done the St. Andrew Street place, and have made it the last Chapter of the 2nd. No. I will send you a proof when I get it. It is very like, with an imaginary man and an imaginary place in the story." The full text of this letter is available on the Our Mutual Friend Scholarly Pages (University of California Santa Cruz) at http://omf.ucsc.edu/dickens/letters/marcus-stone.html.

Dickens told his illustrator Marcus Stone that “he had a personage who had just appeared upon the scene who was to have some eccentric calling, and that he could not find the calling that would suit him” (quoted in Michael Cotsell, The Companion to Our Mutual Friend [Allen & Unwin, 1986], 65). Stone took Dickens to see a taxidermist called Willis in Seven Dials in London, “an articulator of skeletons, a stuffer of birds, and dealer in bottled monsters.” "I suggested Mr. Willis, or rather his occupation, as an idea that might be suggestive," wrote Stone. "'It is the very thing that I want he said it couldn't be better.'" This real-life detour resulted in Mr. Venus’s appearance in the second installment. For more, see Michael Slater, Charles Dickens (New Haven: Yale UP, 2009), 524-25, and Francis Xavier Shea, "Mr. Venus Observed: The Plot Change in Our Mutual Friend," Papers on Language and Literature 4 (1968): 170–181, 170.

Although the phrase "dust ground" does not appear in the installment, Dickens mentions the "dust mounds" in this chapter when Wegg visits Boffin's Bower. The mention of dust recurs at the end of the installment when Mr. Venus explains that Mr. Boffin brings him items he finds in the dust: "'The old gentleman was well known all round here. There used to be stories about his having hidden all kinds of property in those dust mounds."

Dickens told his illustrator Marcus Stone that “he had a personage who had just appeared upon the scene who was to have some eccentric calling, and that he could not find the calling that would suit him” (quoted in Michael Cotsell, The Companion to Our Mutual Friend [Allen & Unwin, 1986], 65). Stone took Dickens to see a taxidermist called Willis in Seven Dials in London, “an articulator of skeletons, a stuffer of birds, and dealer in bottled monsters.” "I suggested Mr. Willis, or rather his occupation, as an idea that might be suggestive," wrote Stone. "'It is the very thing that I want he said it couldn't be better.'" This real-life detour resulted in Mr. Venus’s appearance in the second installment. For more, see Michael Slater, Charles Dickens (New Haven: Yale UP, 2009), 524-25, and Francis Xavier Shea, "Mr. Venus Observed: The Plot Change in Our Mutual Friend," Papers on Language and Literature 4 (1968): 170–181, 170.

Although the phrase "dust ground" does not appear in the installment, Dickens mentions the "dust mounds" in this chapter when Wegg visits Boffin's Bower. The mention of dust recurs at the end of the installment when Mr. Venus explains that Mr. Boffin brings him items he finds in the dust: "'The old gentleman was well known all round here. There used to be stories about his having hidden all kinds of property in those dust mounds."

his "Imaginary man" could possibly refer to the "French gentleman" in Mr. Venus's shop, but it most likely refers to Mr. Venus himself, an imaginary version of the taxidermist Mr. Willis, to whom illustrator Marcus Stone took Dickens for inspiration (see note above). In a letter to Stone on Februrary 28, 1864, Dickens wrote: "I have done the St. Andrew Street place, and have made it the last Chapter of the 2nd. No. I will send you a proof when I get it. It is very like, with an imaginary man and an imaginary place in the story." The full text of this letter is available on the Our Mutual Friend Scholarly Pages (University of California Santa Cruz) at http://omf.ucsc.edu/dickens/letters/marcus-stone.html.