Jack Dodger aka Pip Stick

Jack Dodger is the main character and hero of the novel. It is learned that his given name was Pip Stick, a name that caused him to be picked on and bullied at the orphanage where he grew up. For this reason, he learned to dodge and move quickly to avoid the blows of the other children. His ability to dodge about earned him the name Dodger. It is later when Dodger is knighted by Queen Victoria that Serendipity suggests that he adopt the first name of Jack.

Dodger is a tosher who is working the sewers of London when he hears a girl scream as she jumps from a carriage during a downpour. The girl whispers to him, asking his help to keep from getting sent back to her country and Dodger devotes himself to keeping the girl in London. He arranges to...