Chapter 2 Summary

Mattie goes downstairs to the kitchen and eats a fast breakfast provided by Eliza, the coffeehouse cook. She recalls how her father had built the coffeehouse after the Revolutionary War had ended and briefly recounts some of her family's history. She remembers how, after building the coffeehouse, her father had been killed in an accident. Shortly thereafter, her grandfather had come to the coffeehouse to live and help. Although the family's surname is Cook, the family members are ironically not particularly good cooks, and thus they have hired Eliza, an African-American woman, to prepare the meals and snacks served to customers. After breakfast, Mattie begins to work by watering the garden, a task that Polly, the scullery girl, would normally do. Mrs. Cook goes in search of Polly. After an hour or so Mattie has finished drawing well water and pouring it over...