The plot thickens, and a young man takes a step toward his ruin - Bleak House

A third of the way through Bleak House we begin to see the alarming decline of Richard, and another plot element begins to take shape. As to Richard, Ada's affianced, Dickens has shown him to be an affable young man with a perverse concept of money - very typical in Dickens of those who actually have plenty of money or have access to it - and with no clear idea about his future other than that he wants to marry Ada. All well and good, but - he starts out studying medicine but has no real interest in what he's doing. And then he decides maybe he's more suited for the law. And we can see where this is headed: he will pursue the case of Jarndyce v Jarndyce, through which he hopes to land a huge settled that will carry him and Ada to prosperity. And of course that will be his ruin. It would be one thing if he were ambitious and intelligent - that type of character might cut through all the red tape and actually bring the case to settlement; or if he were shrewd and conniving and could work it out, as dozens of other lawyers have done, to keep the case in court and to continue to collect fees. But, no, he's naive and weak and will got swallowed alive by the case. As to the plot element, Dickens has set up a few strange scenes that are a little hard to figure out: a legal copiest who dies mysteriously, and several people who for no evident reason concerned with learning his identity and his fate. We begin to think that one of the people interested in the dead man is Lady Dedlock - and then, when Esther sees Lady D in church, Esther has a sudden feeling that she knows that lady and that face - so we begin to think that of course Lady D is Esther's birth mother, but who is the dead man? Was he Esther's father? And what would that have to do with Lady Dedlock, and why should she care about the man who died in isolation and poverty? Dickens know how to set the trap - but this one is particularly obscure and unfathomable, at least at this point in the narrative.