After a two-week voyage, Michael, Leila and Calvin finally set foot on English soil, have "nothing to declare except their accents", and eventually arrive at Victoria on the boat train from Dover with only her mother's address and some money to start a new life with. They take a taxi to the fictitious Quaxley Street only to be faced with a shabby, overcrowded house divided into several bedsits, and her mother gone again. Leila learns that she has been in hospital for some time, and during the following weeks regularly visits her there. However, the heart-to-heart she has wanted to have with her never takes place as her health rapidly deteriorates. She dies soon afterwards.