The impasse is broken by the appearance of Cecily's governess, Miss Prism. As she and Lady Bracknell recognize each other with horror, it is revealed that, when working many years previously as a nursemaid for Lady Bracknell's late sister, Miss Prism had disappeared with the sister's child, a baby boy. Miss Prism reveals that, in a moment of distraction, she had placed the baby in a handbag and put the manuscript of a novel she had been writing in the perambulator. The handbag was left at Victoria station and, when she realised her mistake, Miss Prism had fled. When Jack produces the handbag in which he was found, it becomes clear that he is Lady Bracknell's nephew and Algernon's older brother.