The Kitchen House

Martha and James come back from Philadelphia. To Lavinia’s horror, Campbell isn’t with them because he died. James explains:

“After Dory died […] Martha was overcome with fear, certain I would die, too. I was too ill to help, but I knew that Martha wasn’t herself. The baby cried for days. One morning when I no longer heard his cry, I insisted that she bring him to me. But he was already gone” (137).

James is frail after recovering from yellow fever, and Fanny becomes his nurse. Martha loses herself once again, “wander[ing] from room to room” (138). She is usually on laudanum, but when she’s awake she asks for her baby. Mama decides to let her hold Sukey to ease her pain.

Belle’s betrothed dies from yellow fever too, and she counts it as a blessing because it means she doesn’t have to leave the plantation. Rankin comes back to the plantation and begins abusing the slaves and stealing from them again. He gets away with it because James is too ill to leave his room and so is Martha. Rankin murders Jimmy, and James musters his strength to go down to the quarters and fire Rankin.