Fever, 1793

Matilda lives with her mother and grandfather above the family coffeehouse. She lives in Philadelphia and has no additional siblings. She also has an orange cat named Silas who enjoys catching mice, and a parrot named King George her grandfather won.

Matilda's father built the coffeehouse when Matilda was four. It was located just off the corner of Seventh and High Streets. At first they didn't get many customers, but business improved after General Washington's new house was built just two blocks away. Her father died two months after the shop opened.

Polly was an old friend of Matilda's, and a serving girl at the coffeehouse. the presume she had caught Yellow Fever. She had been sewing by candlelight after dinner and then collapsed. She died peacefully in her own bed.

Mattie and her grandfather are walking home when they see a man dump a frail body on the coffeehouse doorstep. the body belongs to her still-living mother. They carry her to the bedroom and call a physician who tells them falsely that she does not have the fever. They let her sleep and bathe her every four hours hoping that would cure her.

After her mother falls ill, Mattie and her grandfather take a wagon with a man, a woman, and an infant to the country to stay with a friend of her mother's. When trying to pass the border to another city, they are stopped to be checked for the fever.The doctor at the border assumes Grandfather has the fever after he has a very bad coughing fit. The two are tossed out of the wagon without their stuff.

Mattie wakes up in a strange hospital with many fever victims beside her. Her nurse, Mrs. Flagg, helps her recover by making sure she is fed and drinks plenty of fluids. while Mattie is still in the hospital Grandfather goes back to the house to find Mattie's mother but instead finds the house locked up tight. they figure she has gone to find them at the Ludingtons'.

With little Nell in her arms Mattie walks some more looking for anyone she knew. Soon she finds their old cook, Eliza. Eliza takes Mattie and Nell back to her home and feeds them both even though they only had enough food for four servings. Mattie meets Mother Smith, who cooks and takes care of the children, William and Robert, while Joseph recovers, and Eliza works. Nell and the boys are close in age, and get along well.

after her grandfather was buried, Mattie walked around the almost deserted town looking for anyone she, or her mother, knew. During this unnerving walk she found a china doll with a broken head laying outside an open door. She saw a young female child sitting, crying on the ground. The child, Nell, said to Mattie that her mother was "broken."

Mattie wakes to the freezing ground in the garden. The first frost to begin to kill off the fever has arrived. Eliza and Mattie work together to put the furniture and bedding out in the cold to get rid of the germs. The children nap outside to cool down the fever and they all enjoy the cold.

Before initially leaving her home she received a painting and no from Nathaniel Benson. The note told her that he would be staying locked up with the Peale family until the fever had gone. She had not seen Nathaniel since then, and had worried about him. The morning that the market opened up she saw him. They talked for a while, and then started going on daily walks together.