Fever 1793

Matilda goes downstairs—where Mother continues to scold her for her laziness—and sits down at the large kitchen table of the “soon-to-be famous Cook Coffeehouse” (7). Despite the large space, Matilda lives with only her mother, grandfather, and cook Eliza. Matilda’s father, a carpenter, built the coffeehouse just after the Revolutionary War ended when Matilda was four, but he fell and broke his neck soon after the coffeehouse opened. Because Matilda’s mother had married a “tradesman (the horror!)” (8), her family already abandoned her, so she alone kept the business open. A coffeehouse is “a respectable business for a widow and her father-in-law to run” (7); the establishment doesn’t provide alcohol, but Mother turns a blind eye to a bit of gambling. The coffeehouse is often full of important men from the city, and Matilda knows her father “would have been proud”—but she’s not sure “what he would have thought of me” (8).

Eliza greets Matilda, and Matilda explains that Eliza was born a slave, but her husband saved money from horseshoeing to purchase her freedom. Eliza moved to Philadelphia, a more tolerant city, and began cooking for Matilda’s family, saving money to buy her husband’s freedom. Then, only two years after Matilda’s father’s death, a runaway horse killed Eliza’s husband. Yet unlike Matilda’s mother, who “turn[ed] sour” (9) upon becoming a widow, Eliza recovers her love for life. Eliza tells stories “even better than Grandfather,” and Matilda considers her “my best friend” (9).

Eliza and Matilda wonder why Polly hasn’t arrived, and Mother sends Matilda outside to work in the garden—a difficult task with the current drought. As Matilda works, she fusses about being called “Little Mattie” by Eliza (12)—after all, she’s old enough that Mother is worried about “finding [her] a husband” (12). Matilda is less concerned with marriage than with traveling and one day owning “an entire city block” of businesses (12)—she is a girl who will “steer [her] own ship” (12).

As the chapter ends, Mother enters the garden and reveals that Polly is dead.

Matilda is stunned by the news of Polly’s death and remembers being a “cradle friend” (14) to Polly when they were both young. Polly was struck with a mysterious fever and died less than an hour later. Eliza and Mother worry that a disease might be spreading. Mother won’t allow Matilda to attend Polly’s funeral—“‘you’ll have nightmares’” (16), she says—and Matilda impulsively asks why her mother is “‘so horrid’” (16). Immediately regretting her words, Matilda remembers that Mother was once a softer, kinder woman—but “life was a battle, and Mother a tired and bitter captain” (17). Matilda apologizes to her mother.

It’s midafternoon, and Matilda serves gingerbread to her grandfather, “Captain William Farnsworth Cook of the Pennsylvania Fifth Regiment” (18-19), and a few other gentlemen in the coffeehouse. Captain Cook, who served in the Army his entire life, “trie[s] to instill some military training” in his granddaughter, but always “sweeten[s] it with candy” (19). Above Grandfather Cook’s head hangs King George’s cage—King George is a “scraggly” (18) parrot Grandfather won playing cards, who repeats everyone’s words.

The men are discussing a “‘deadly miasma’” (19) in the waterfront district, and Matilda wonders if that’s what killed Polly. The men mention fever among both Santo Domingan refugees and wealthier citizens, and a doctor worries that yellow fever may have returned to Philadelphia for the first time in 30 years. The conversation moves on to Mr. Jefferson, who wants to quit his job as secretary of state—apparently the position isn’t “‘good enough for him’” (21).

By evening Matilda is exhausted from doing Polly’s work all day, and Mother tells her to stop what she’s doing—Polly will finish in the morning. Silence follows as Mother realizes her mistake. As the chapter ends, Matilda hears Matthew hammering at the forge and wonders if he knows Polly is dead. 

A week after Polly’s death, 64 people have died and whispers about a dockside fever have “snaked through the city” (24). The rumors result in more customers for the coffeehouse, as people are avoiding the businesses closer to the river. Because Matilda now does Polly’s work as well as her own, she has “little time to mourn” (24) and is constantly exhausted.

Eight days after Polly’s death, Matilda finally has a “chance for escape” (25), as Grandfather convinces Mother to let Matilda go to the market despite the risk of fever. Mother wishes for Matilda to stay with the Ludingtons at their country farm in Gwynedd, a dismal prospect with “disgusting pigs and dogs that bit” (25). Mother warns Matilda not to go below Third Street, or to “‘loiter […] shamelessly in front of the Peale house’” (27), and Matilda hurries off to complete her errands.

At the market, Matilda hears more gossip about both the drought and the fever. She runs into Nathanial Benson, who makes her “stomach flip […] over like an egg in a skillet” (30). She hasn’t seen him in a few months, and he’s grown taller, “look[ing] much more like a man” (30). Nathaniel is a painter’s assistant at the Peales’ house—thus Mother’s warning to Matilda not to linger there—and Mother considers Nathaniel “a scamp, possibly even a scoundrel” (30). Nathaniel teases “‘Little Mattie’” (30) and steals her basket, but she counters by making him think he’s lost a shoe buckle.

Nathaniel invites her to go fishing with him, but the church bell interrupts them, indicating that another person has died. The bell rings 21 times, meaning the victim was only 21. Nathaniel wonders if it was “‘a fever victim’” (32). They discuss Polly, and Matilda cries at the loss of her friend. Nathaniel comforts her, and Matilda returns to her errands.

The “unceasing” (34) heat wave continues for another week. Grandfather watches Matilda dry tablecloths in a mangle and tells her that Mother heard Nathaniel was “‘behaving improperly toward [Matilda] at the market’” (35). Eliza, Grandfather, and Matilda banter about how busy Mother keeps them with chores, while Silas the cat knocks all the linens Matilda has just washed into the dust.

At lunch, the family debates what to do with the extra income they’ve enjoyed since the fever has forced people to their side of the city. Grandfather thinks they should open a store, which Mother considers a “‘foolish notion’” (37) because they should save their money for when business slows. Matilda sides with her grandfather, suggesting they could expand the coffeehouse, serve “‘proper meals’” (38), and sell foreign goods and paintings.

A messenger arrives, revealing that Pernilla Ogilvie has invited them to afternoon tea that very afternoon. Pernilla has a son, Edward, whom Mother believes would be “‘a fine match’” for Matilda (41), but Matilda doesn’t want to have tea with the Ogilvie “‘snobs’” (41). Grandfather convinces the women to accept the invitation, and they scramble to let out Matilda’s one “fancy” (43) gown and fix her hair. By the time they leave for tea, Matilda “‘looks like a china doll’” (45), according to Grandfather.

Mother adjusts Matilda’s appearance once more before entering the Ogilvies’ mansion, telling her daughter, “‘I want the best for you’” (46). They enter a grand drawing room as big as the coffeehouse, and Mother is dismayed to see Pernilla Ogilvie’s dress far outshines her own. Pernilla’s daughters, Colette and Jeannine, enter the drawing room, and Colette appears unusually tired—as Matilda sarcastically thinks, she’s probably “exhausted from being waited on hand and foot” (49). Pernilla complains that everyone except “‘shopkeepers and wharf rats’” (50) has left town to avoid the fever, and no one is available to attend her ball. Matilda’s mother asks a little too obviously about Pernilla’s sons, and Jeannine answers that the boys are off at school.

Matilda’s mother congratulates Colette on her recent engagement, and Colette becomes flustered. To Matilda’s consternation, Mother keeps asking about the Ogilvie boys, while Matilda thinks that “we d[o] not belong here” (52) with this wealthy family. Finally, Jeannine tells Mrs. Ogilvie that Mother is obviously trying to make a match between Matilda and one of her sons, and “‘their filthy little tavern’” is likely “‘part of the deal’” (53). Matilda furiously responds that it’s a coffeehouse, not a tavern, to which Jeannine counters with the insult, “‘grog shop’” (53), inciting Matilda’s mother to comment on the girls’ poor manners. Suddenly, Colette collapses, claiming she’s “‘burning’” (53), and Mother exclaims “‘The fever!’” (53) as the chapter ends.

From the day of the “ill-fated tea party” (54) on, so many have died from fever that “the church bells of Philadelphia tolled without cease” (54). The Ogilvies, like most wealthy families, have “disappeared” (54) from the city, and Mother’s letter to the Ludingtons in the country receives no response. Business at the coffeehouse dwindles to a handful of customers a day, but with the continuing heat wave, Matilda is “too hot to care” (55).

Eliza leaves for a meeting of the Free African Society to discuss the fever, while Matilda goes with her grandfather to Andrew Brown’s print shop. Grandfather declares to Mr. Brown that “‘I didn’t run from the redcoats, and I won’t run from a dockside miasma’” (57), but another customer, Mr. Carris, warns that the situation might be more serious than Grandfather thinks. In fact, Mr. Brown has just printed an ordinance from the mayor, telling people to avoid the sick, mark the homes touched by disease, and that “all bell tolling should cease immediately” (58). Matilda is relieved that at least the bells will stop. Rickett’s Circus building has become a place for the poor who’ve taken ill, where they “‘lie on the floor […] with little water and no care’” (59). The disease is so serious that some doctors worry “‘one in forty’” (59) people might die. Grandfather insists such claims are merely exaggeration.

On the way home, a worried Matilda counts the days until the first frost—“frost always killed fever” (61), she says—and thinks fleeing to the Ludingtons’ in the country might not be so bad. Grandfather and Matilda see a man pushing a cart with “a thin white arm flopp[ing] over the side” (61). The man stops in front of the coffeehouse and dumps the woman in the cart on the street. Matilda is shocked to see the woman is her own mother.