- Tom receives his letter from George and Aunt Chloe and is overjoyed by the contents.
- Tom’s friendship with Eva grows. He loves her and they share in each other’s faith. They spend many hours together, Eva reading the Bible out loud to Tom.
- One night, as they read the Bible together, Eva and Tom start talking about heaven.
- Eva says something startling: "I’m going there," she tells him, and when Tom asks, "Where?" she points to the sky and says, "I’m going there." Foreshadowing, much?
- Miss Ophelia interrupts them by calling to Eva to come in from the cold. She has started to get worried about Eva’s cough. Miss Ophelia tries to explain her fear to St. Clare, but he laughs it off. Yet he does begin to notice all the signs of little Eva’s failing health.
- One day, Eva asks her mother why they don’t teach their servants to read.
- Marie laughs at her. "It’s no use for them to read," she explains. What do they need it for? It doesn’t help them do their work better.
- Eva insists that the servants ought to be able to read the Bible; it would teach them God’s will and bring them comfort.
- Marie tells her daughter that she has other things to think about and moves to another subject: she takes some jewels out and shows them to the little girl, saying that Eva will have them when Eva "comes out" (that is, when she is received into society as a young woman ready to be courted).
- Eva looks at the jewels and says she wishes she could use them the way she wants. If she could, Eva would sell the jewels and buy a place in the "free states" where all their servants could live. She would hire teachers to teach them to read and write.
- Eva insists that it’s very hard on servants that they aren’t educated, and that it’s simply wrong..
- Marie says that all Eva’s talking is giving her a headache.
- Eva goes away, but after that, she begins to teach Mammy how to read.