Financial ruin begins to surface as Tom is arrested for not paying his debts while travelling in a sedan chair, which is a covered seat carried by porters and associated with high society. In a moment of irony, Sarah Young, whom he previously abandoned in Plate 1, intervenes to pay his bail showing her loyalty which stands in contrast to his irresponsibility. The plate underscores the economic realities behind his extravagance and marks a turning point where the consequences of excess intrude visibly upon his carefully staged public identity.
Here we are told that after reckless pleasure and bad choices, a person then comes to their senses only to find they have lost their money and must face the consequences. It is now they feel regret for the harm they have caused:
"O vanity of youthful blood, So by misuse to poison Good! Reason awakes, and views unbar'd The sacred gates he watch'd to guard; Approaching sees the harpy, Law, And Poverty, with icy paw Ready to seize the poor remains That Vice hath left of all his gains. Cold Penitence, lame After-thought, With fears, despair, and horrors fraught, Call back his guilty pleasures dead, Whom he hath wrong'd and whom betray'd".