She is exploited by the circus owner, and to rescue her Mrs Peckover takes her to the home of a minister, Dr Joyce.
She is admired by Valentine's friend Zack Thorpe, a high-spirited but vacuous young man somewhat resembling Allan Armadale in the novel of that name.
In a brawl in a disreputable theatre, Zack defends a man who turns out to be Matthew (Mat) Grice, Mary Sr.'s brother, and moves in with him.
Mat has spent decades wandering the Americas, but returns home after making his fortune on the California goldfields.
In Valentine's house, Mat meets Madonna and also catches sight of a hair bracelet, which he suspects is originally Mary's.
He accompanies Mat to the New World, but eventually persuades him to return home to his adoptive "family" of the Blyths (with whom Madonna remains) and Zack.
[3] Careful research of unusual and unlikely plot events is a feature of much of his work, to which it gives an enhanced sense of realism.
Hide and Seek was hailed by both contemporary[7] and modern critics[8] to be an advance on his previous work, the sensational melodrama Basil, though inferior to The Woman in White and other novels of his mature period.