Chapters 8 and 9 Summary

"Homebound" Narration describes how Clare searched for Bobby all over Paris (he apparently moved out while she was shopping and reading the letter from Harry/Harriet), but eventually gave up and booked herself passage on a sea voyage back to Jamaica. On the trip, she becomes violently ill, arriving in hospital to be diagnosed with a severe infection in her uterus and to find that Harry/Harriet is now just Harriet - she castrated herself and is now living as a woman.

After a brief interlude describing Clare's hospital-room encounter with a black moth (see "Quotes," p. 170), and another describing how Harriet has finally found her calling as a nurse (see "Quotes," p. 171), narration then describes Clare and Harriet's visit to Miss Mattie's homestead, now deeded to Clare following the departure of her aunt and uncle for Florida. After exploring the...