Jane and Mrs. Byass had a long talk before dinner-time.  Mystery was at an end between them now; they talked much of the past, more of the future.

At two o’clock Jane received a visit from Miss Lant.  This lady was already apprised by her friend Mr. Percival of all that had come to pass; she was prepared to exercise much discretion, but Jane soon showed her that this was needless, The subject of pressing importance to the latter was Pennyloaf’s disastrous circumstances; unable to do all she wished, Jane was much relieved when her charitable friend proposed to set off to Merlin Place forthwith and ascertain how help could most effectually be given.  Yes; it was good to be constrained to think of another’s sorrows.

There passed a fortnight, during which Jane spent some hours each day with Pennyloaf.  By the kindness of fate only one of Bob’s children survived him, but it was just this luckless infant whose existence made Pennyloaf’s position so difficult.  Alone, she could have gone back to her slop-work, or some less miserable slavery might have been discovered; but Pennyloaf dreaded leaving her child each day in the care of strangers, being only too well aware what that meant.  Mrs. Candy was, of course, worse than useless; Stephen the potman had more than his work set in looking after her.  Whilst Miss Lant and Jane were straining their wits on the hardest of all problems—­to find a means of livelihood for one whom society pronounced utterly superfluous, Pennyloaf most unexpectedly solved the question by her own effort.  Somewhere near the Meat Market, one night, she encountered an acquaintance, a woman of not much more than her own age, who had recently become a widow, and was supporting herself (as well as four little ones) by keeping a stall at which she sold children’s secondhand clothing; her difficulty was to dispose of her children whilst she was doing business at night.  Pennyloaf explained her own position, and with the result that her acquaintance, by name Mrs. Todd, proposed a partnership.  Why shouldn’t they share a room, work together with the needle in patching and making, and by Pennyloaf’s staying at home each evening keep the tribe of youngsters out of danger?  This project was carried out; the two brought their furniture together into a garret, and it seemed probable that they would succeed in keeping themselves alive.

But before this settlement was effected Jane’s own prospects had undergone a change of some importance.  For a fortnight nothing was heard of Joseph Snowdon in Hanover Street; then there came a letter from him; it bore a Liverpool postmark, but was headed with no address.  Joseph wrote that the business to which he had alluded was already summoning him from England; he regretted that there had not even been time for him to say farewell to his daughter.  However, he would write to her occasionally during his absence, and hoped to hear from her.  The allowance of two pounds a week would be duly paid by an agent, and on receiving it each Saturday she was to forward an acknowledgment to ‘Mr. H. Jones,’ at certain reading-rooms in the City.  Let her in the meantime be a good girl, remain with her excellent friend Mrs. Byass, and repose absolute confidence in her affectionate father—­J.  S.