Chapter 28

Summary

The coachman leaves Jane at Whitcross. Unfortunately, Whitcross is hardly a place where she can find work or food. It is a glorified signpost, with the nearest town 10 miles away. Jane suddenly realizes that she left all her possessions on the coach. Now she has no money, food, or acquaintances to help her. She spends the night in the woods, where she is comfortable enough, but suffering from a broken heart. In the morning, she is very hungry, having eaten only a roll the day before. She walks for hours, and finds a nearby hamlet. Tired and hungry, she enters a bread shop to ask for a piece of bread in exchange for her handkerchief or gloves. However, when she sees the lady at the front desk, she cannot bring herself to beg. Instead, she inquires about job offers in the hamlet. The woman is not rude, but unhelpful, and Jane leaves without food or employment. She asks for a job as a servant at a nearby house, but is refused, albeit gently. She goes to the parsonage, but the clergyman, who is supposed to help the destitute, is out of town for a fortnight. The only time she eats that day is when a kind farmer gives her a piece of bread. The night is cold and wet. The next day, Jane manages to eat some porridge a little girl was about to give to the pigs. The rest of the day is spent in looking for a job and being rejected everywhere. In the evening, Jane’s strength is failing her and she is starving. Suddenly, she sees a light that, on further investigation, comes from a house. She goes near the house and watches the occupants through a window.

An elderly servant woman, Hannah, is knitting. Two sophisticated young ladies are studying German by the fireside. Apparently, they are waiting for someone named St. John. The two women are named Mary and Diana, and Jane feels as though they are kindred spirits. Eventually, she knocks on the door and Hannah answers. The servant seems suspicious of Jane’s request to talk to Mary and Diana, and thinks Jane’s despair is merely a charade. Hannah seems to think it is a plot to steal something or harm the ladies, ands shuts Jane out. Poor Jane realizes that she is going to die of starvation and cold as the rain beats down on her. She says aloud that she must try to accept death as God wants it, and a voice answers her. It is St. John, who has come home, and he allows her to be brought in. The ladies, full of compassion, give her some food. She says her name is Jane Elliot, since she is trying to avoid discovery. She is given a warm, dry bed, and sinks into it, thanking God gratefully.

Reaction

Jane’s desperate situation is painful to read, because she has nowhere to turn and is met with suspicion everywhere she goes. It paints the sad situation of mistrust; where in the name of self-preservation, people forget their compassion. In addition, pride gets in the way of need until hunger overtakes Jane and she resorts to begging. It is fortunate that St. John saw the exchange between Hannah and Jane, because Jane would probably have died overnight from exhaustion, hunger, and cold. Hannah is the new Grace Poole in that she is the new woman-who-talks-strangely. She says words like “childer,” “bairn,” and “knawn’t” (384-5). Better than ‘ware,’ at least!