Chapter 18 Summary

In the morning, Mattie boils water and continues to clean the coffeehouse. She airs out the entire building and manages to make it presentably clean. After cleaning for several hours, she realizes she is in filthy clothing, crusted with the filth of the fever. She bathes herself and then reluctantly dresses herself in her mother's clothing. She then wakes her grandfather, serves him a thin soup, and continues to clean. Mattie spends the rest of the stiflingly hot day tending to the remains of the garden and manages to dig up a handful of potatoes for supper. In the evening, she decides to leave the shutters open because the slight wind cools the coffeehouse somewhat. She then falls sleep on the ground floor.

Chapter 18 Analysis

This chapter completes the transformation of Mattie from a child to an adult. She takes the situation in...