A waterman, rowing with his daughter on the Thames in search of plunder, finds the body of a man who had been brutally assaulted before being drowned. Who is the man?

Society' takes a hand and Gaffer Hexam, the waterman who discovered the body, is suspected of murder.

Noddy Boffin, the ‘Golden Dustman', engages a secretary, the Wilfers decide to take a lodger and Bella is adopted.