In this chapter, the reader is introduced to a new character named Elaine. She is the daughter of the founder of the orphanage, a woman who saved Jim's life and raised him to adulthood. She was the only family that Jim had back then, and she is now his "elder sister" . He tells her that he and Elaine are now living in New Fort, a town in the north of the country, and that they have been digging through the trash and begging for food. Elaine tells him that she hasn't yet given him his share of the profits, but that she's glad to see that he's doing well. She says that she came to clean up the place, so that the other children wouldn't get into trouble. Jim is glad that Elaine is doing well, because he heard rumors that she was organizing other children into their own ways. He wants to invite her to come live with him at the orphanage. He asks her if she wants to take him away from her, but she says that it's up to her to make that decision. She invites him to come and live with her.