As the cemeteries fill with fever victims, fear turns to panic, and thousands flee the city. "Fever" spreads from the docks and creeps toward Mattie's home, threatening everything she holds dear. But the waterfront is abuzz with reports of disease. She wants to turn the Cook Coffeehouse into the finest business in Philadelphia, the capital of the new United States. As a wind blows across her face, she shivers and falls asleep in the garden.Fourteen-year-old Mattie Cook is ambitious, adventurous, and sick to death of listening to her mother. The night drags on and Matilda goes outside to fetch more water.Eliza is reluctant but, in the end, relents. She tells Eliza of the kinds of treatment at Bush Hill used by the French doctors. Eliza suggests finding a doctor to bleed the children, and Matilda argues against it. The supply of food and medicine begins to dwindle.The next day, Eliza and Matilda begin the hard work of nursing the sick: fanning the children, hauling well water, and washing the bedding.She finds Nathaniel's flower painting and thinks of him. Unable to sleep, Matilda paces the room.They decide to leave the windows open since Eliza is armed with a knife and Matilda has Grandfather's sword. Eliza and Matilda make a sickroom in the cool downstairs of the coffeehouse.Eliza and Matilda use a mule cart sent by Mother Smith to transport the children to the coffeehouse.
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