Before bringing Sarah to England, Mr. Crewe lends his old friend, Carrisford, a significant amount of his fortune to invest in a diamond mine in Africa.
Arriving back at his estate in India, he receives a letter from Carrisford, telling him the diamond mine was empty, and his fortune has been lost.
Minchin has already amassed heavy expenses for Sara's birthday with lavish gifts and decorations, having hoped to extort more money from her father, and is furious when she finds out she'll have to pay for them out of her own pocket.
Cold and hungry, she uses it to buy six buns from a nearby bakery, giving five to a beggar girl she meets and leaving only one for herself.
Carrisford has returned to England and actually lives right next door to Miss Minchin's school, but has never met Sara and assumes she is just a servant girl.
Carrisford has his solicitor, Carmichael, whose children have constant interactions with Sara as they live opposite Miss Minchin's, start searching schools all over Europe in hopes of finding her.
After searching numerous cities, including Paris, St. Petersburg, Lisbon, and Vienna, Carmichael says he cannot make any more trips himself.
Stunned, Carrisford tells her the statue actually was her father's, and that he is the friend whom it had been thought lost Ralph Crewe's fortune, and he has been searching all over Europe for her.
Carrisford tells Sara that she is welcome to stay with him as long as she likes and that he will arrange private tutors to finish her schooling.