Without Ayah, Mary is beginning to feel lonely and sad at having no sense of belonging. Medlock is shocked how plain Mary is compared to Mary’s beautiful mother. Mary departs on her journey to England and once arrived is met by her uncle’s housekeeper named Mrs. In a few days she will sail to England, where her uncle lives at a place called Misselthwaite Manor. She finds out from the children that she will be sent to live with her uncle, Archibald Craven. The children of the clergyman take to making fun of Mary’s snobbish ways, which angers her. She stays with an English clergyman, which she dislikes because the house is dirty and the family is poor. Mary continues to act self-absorbed and doesn’t feel much grief at the death of her parents, expecting that she would continue to be cared for as always. He informs her that both of her parents have died from the disease. Then suddenly, a police officer named Barney enters and is startled to find Mary in the bungalow. The only presence is a snake crawling on the ground. Mary feels neglected while everyone is panic stricken about the cholera. Mary wonders if she will have a new nurse and doesn’t feel much emotion towards the death of Ayah. When she wakes up, everything feels still. Mary naps for awhile in her father’s bungalow and there is much commotion while she sleeps.

Mary finds out that there has been an outbreak of cholera and many people have died, including Ayah. Mary sees that her mother is in distress.

One morning when Mary is 9 years old, there is a strange feeling in the air and many of the servants are missing. As the daughter of rich parents, her caretakers have never disciplined Mary, and thus she has grown to be very selfish and misbehaved. She is the child of an English statesman and a self-absorbed mother who have left her to be raised by a nanny named Ayah. The novel opens by introducing us to the main character Mary Lennox, a little girl born in India who is described as being particularly disagreeable and sickly.

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