You will be disgusted too.
"The interesting penitent (expecting Lady Janet's visit) was, of course, discovered in a touching domestic position! She had a foundling baby asleep on her lap; and she was teaching the alphabet to an ugly little vagabond girl whose acquaintance she had first made in the street.

Just the sort of artful _tableau vivant_ to impose on an old lady--was it not?
"You will understand what followed, when Lady Janet opened her matrimonial negotiation.

Having perfected herself in her part, Mercy Merrick, to do her justice, was not the woman to play it badly.

The most magnanimous sentiments flowed from her lips.

She declared that her future life was devoted to acts of charity, typified, of course, by the foundling infant and the ugly little girl.