The merchant of the chapter title lives comfortably despite having a large family, which includes 12 children (six sons and six daughters). One day, they lose everything when their house catches on fire, which is the first of many misfortunes—including bankruptcy and the loss of the merchant’s ships. All the family has left is a small country house, and the merchant moves them there when the city people blame and ridicule him for bringing about his own misfortune.

The merchant’s eldest five daughters are most disrupted by this change because they lose all their suitors and are unable to attract new ones simply by their privilege and wealth. The youngest daughter, however, accepts the misfortune, and though she misses her former life, she realizes that nothing can be done except live as they do now. She tries to cheer up her siblings, but they aren’t interested and don’t understand how she can be so cheerful in “the state it had pleased Providence to reduce them to” (17). While her family doesn’t appreciate her, others who meet her are taken in by her inner beauty and ability to see the goodness in a tough situation. Because of these qualities, she becomes known as “the Beauty.