January 19, the date of Jane’s departure from Gateshead has arrived. She rises at five o’clock in the morning, so that she’ll be ready for the six o’clock coach. None of the family rises to bid Jane farewell, and she happily journeys far away from the Reeds. The porter’s wife is surprised that Mrs. Reed is allowing such a young child to travel alone. Jane’s imaginative nature is once again apparent, and she worries that kidnappers will snatch her away at the inn where the coach stops for dinner.
The day of Jane’s arrival at Lowood is rainy, windy, and dark. Jane is led through the unfamiliar, labyrinthine halls of Lowood, until she reaches a large room in which eighty other girls sit doing their homework. Soon it is bedtime, and Jane wearily makes her way to bed. The next day, Jane follows the full routine of the school, studying from pre-dawn until five o’clock in the evening. The chapter is filled with Jane’s observations of the school. Jane discovers the kind Miss Temple and the unreasonable Miss Scatcherd, who unfairly punishes Helen Burns. While solitary and isolated through most of the day, Jane does converse with Helen, who tells Jane that Lowood is a charity institution for orphan children. She also learns that Miss Temple must answer to Mr. Brocklehurst in all she does.
