In order to earn money, Mary gives the child to be cared for by a woman in Ilford and gets a job as a seamstress in Whitechapel. However, poverty drives up the demands of her working day and lessens her ability to act against the poor care that her child is receiving. Upon learning that she has an illegitimate child, Mary's landlord and employer casts her out and she is faced with a desperate need to earn a large sum of money in order to pay for her sick child's care. Without other options, she determines to become a prostitute, but is saved from acting on this when Martin arrives back from the Antarctic and saves her from the street.
