Chapter 5 Summary

Several days pass while Mattie works as a scullery maid in the family coffeehouse. Rumors of fever spread and dozens of people in the city die from illness. Mrs. Cook considers sending Mattie to the country to live with some friends in case the fever becomes prevalent, but Mattie does not want to go. One day Mattie is sent shopping to the market on Fourth Street. While shopping, she engages in conversation with some of the shopkeepers and learns that the fever appears to be growing ever more widespread. On the way home from market she encounters Nathaniel Benson. Mattie and Nathaniel share a common infatuation and the two young adults engage in an easy banter for several minutes. Nathaniel is apprenticed to a local painter. While they talk, the church bell begins to toll for another dead person, reminding Mattie that she...