As every person's purchase was of the value of an exact number of
shillings, and as the party possessed when they started out forty
shilling coins altogether, there was no necessity for any lady to have
any smaller change, or any evidence that they actually had such change.
This being so, the only answer possible is that the women were named
respectively Anne Jones, Mary Robinson, Jane Smith, and Kate Brown. It
will now be found that there would be exactly eight shillings left,
which may be divided equally among the eight persons in coin without any
change being required.