Chapter 9 Summary

Mattie helps her grandfather carry her mother into the coffeehouse where they place her in her bed. While Mrs. Cook sleeps, Mattie, Eliza, and Grandfather Cook worry and complete the day's business. At the end of the day, Mr. Rowley, a supposed medical doctor, looks in on Mrs. Cook. After a cursory examination, Mr. Rowley announces that Mrs. Cook does not have yellow fever but simply a grippe. He prescribes routine bathing and clean, cool, conditions for rest.

After Mr. Rowley departs Mattie bathes her mother every four hours in heated water mixed with black pepper and myrrh. Mrs. Cook is extremely ill and generally delirious. Mattie spends the evening tending to her mother and then falls asleep in a chair next to her mother's bed. She is awakened when her mother begins to violently vomit blood. Mattie, alone in the house, tries...