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MAIN–GROUP MAIN–GROUP
siL40215_fm_i-xxxv.indd 1
ELEMENTS Periodic Table of the Elements ELEMENTS
1A 8A
(1) (18)
1 2
Metals (main-group)
1 H 4 Atomic number He
2A Metals (transition) 3A 4A 5A 6A 7A
1.008 (2) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) 4.003
Be Atomic symbol Metals (inner transition)
3 4 Metalloids 5 6 7 8 9 10
9.012 Atomic mass (amu)
2 Li Be Nonmetals B C N O F Ne
6.941 9.012 10.81 12.01 14.01 16.00 19.00 20.18
11 12 TRANSITION ELEMENTS 13 14 15 16 17 18
3 Na Mg 3B 4B 5B 6B 7B 8B 1B 2B Al Si P S Cl Ar
22.99 24.31 (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) 26.98 28.09 30.97 32.06 35.45 39.95
19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36
4 K Ca Sc Ti V Cr Mn Fe Co Ni Cu Zn Ga Ge As Se Br Kr
Period
39.10 40.08 44.96 47.87 50.94 52.00 54.94 55.85 58.93 58.69 63.55 65.38 69.72 72.63 74.92 78.97 79.90 83.80
37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54
5 Rb Sr Y Zr Nb Mo Tc Ru Rh Pd Ag Cd In Sn Sb Te I Xe
85.47 87.62 88.91 91.22 92.91 95.96 (98) 101.1 102.9 106.4 107.9 112.4 114.8 118.7 121.8 127.6 126.9 131.3
55 56 57 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86
6 Cs Ba La Hf Ta W Re Os Ir Pt Au Hg Tl Pb Bi Po At Rn
132.9 137.3 138.9 178.5 180.9 183.8 186.2 190.2 192.2 195.1 197.0 200.6 204.4 207.2 209.0 (209) (210) (222)
87 88 89 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118
7 Fr Ra Ac Rf Db Sg Bh Hs Mt Ds Rg Cn Nh Fl Mc Lv Ts Og
(223) (226) (227) (265) (268) (271) (270) (277) (276) (281) (280) (285) (284) (289) (288) (293) (294) (294)
10/11/19 1:04 PM
The Elements
Atomic Atomic Atomic Atomic
Name Symbol Number Mass* Name Symbol Number Mass*
Actinium Ac 89 (227) Mendelevium Md 101 (256)
Aluminum Al 13 26.98 Mercury Hg 80 200.6
Americium Am 95 (243) Molybdenum Mo 42 95.94
Antimony Sb 51 121.8 Moscovium Mc 115 (288)
Argon Ar 18 39.95 Neodymium Nd 60 144.2
Arsenic As 33 74.92 Neon Ne 10 20.18
Astatine At 85 (210) Neptunium Np 93 (244)
Barium Ba 56 137.3 Nickel Ni 28 58.70
Berkelium Bk 97 (247) Nihonium Nh 113 (284)
Beryllium Be 4 9.012 Niobium Nb 41 92.91
Bismuth Bi 83 209.0 Nitrogen N 7 14.01
Bohrium Bh 107 (267) Nobelium No 102 (253)
Boron B 5 10.81 Oganesson Og 118 (294)
Bromine Br 35 79.90 Osmium Os 76 190.2
Cadmium Cd 48 112.4 Oxygen O 8 16.00
Calcium Ca 20 40.08 Palladium Pd 46 106.4
Californium Cf 98 (249) Phosphorus P 15 30.97
Carbon C 6 12.01 Platinum Pt 78 195.1
Cerium Ce 58 140.1 Plutonium Pu 94 (242)
Cesium Cs 55 132.9 Polonium Po 84 (209)
Chlorine Cl 17 35.45 Potassium K 19 39.10
Chromium Cr 24 52.00 Praseodymium Pr 59 140.9
Cobalt Co 27 58.93 Promethium Pm 61 (145)
Copernicium Cn 112 (285) Protactinium Pa 91 (231)
Copper Cu 29 63.55 Radium Ra 88 (226)
Curium Cm 96 (247) Radon Rn 86 (222)
Darmstadtium Ds 110 (281) Rhenium Re 75 186.2
Dubnium Db 105 (262) Rhodium Rh 45 102.9
Dysprosium Dy 66 162.5 Roentgenium Rg 111 (272)
Einsteinium Es 99 (254) Rubidium Rb 37 85.47
Erbium Er 68 167.3 Ruthenium Ru 44 101.1
Europium Eu 63 152.0 Rutherfordium Rf 104 (263)
Fermium Fm 100 (253) Samarium Sm 62 150.4
Flevorium Fl 114 (289) Scandium Sc 21 44.96
Fluorine F 9 19.00 Seaborgium Sg 106 (266)
Francium Fr 87 (223) Selenium Se 34 78.97
Gadolinium Gd 64 157.3 Silicon Si 14 28.09
Gallium Ga 31 69.72 Silver Ag 47 107.9
Germanium Ge 32 72.61 Sodium Na 11 22.99
Gold Au 79 197.0 Strontium Sr 38 87.62
Hafnium Hf 72 178.5 Sulfur S 16 32.07
Hassium Hs 108 (277) Tantalum Ta 73 180.9
Helium He 2 4.003 Technetium Tc 43 (98)
Holmium Ho 67 164.9 Tellurium Te 52 127.6
Hydrogen H 1 1.008 Tennessine Ts 117 (294)
Indium In 49 114.8 Terbium Tb 65 158.9
Iodine I 53 126.9 Thallium Tl 81 204.4
Iridium Ir 77 192.2 Thorium Th 90 232.0
Iron Fe 26 55.85 Thulium Tm 69 168.9
Krypton Kr 36 83.80 Tin Sn 50 118.7
Lanthanum La 57 138.9 Titanium Ti 22 47.88
Lawrencium Lr 103 (257) Tungsten W 74 183.9
Lead Pb 82 207.2 Uranium U 92 238.0
Lithium Li 3 6.941 Vanadium V 23 50.94
Livermorium Lv 116 (293) Xenon Xe 54 131.3
Lutetium Lu 71 175.0 Ytterbium Yb 70 173.0
Magnesium Mg 12 24.31 Yttrium Y 39 88.91
Manganese Mn 25 54.94 Zinc Zn 30 65.41
Meitnerium Mt 109 (268) Zirconium Zr 40 91.22
*All atomic masses are given to four significant figures. Values in parentheses represent the mass number of the most stable isotope.
The Internet addresses listed in the text were accurate at the time of publication. The inclusion
of a website does not indicate an endorsement by the authors or McGraw-Hill Education, and
McGraw-Hill Education does not guarantee the accuracy of the information presented at these sites.
mheducation.com/highered
vi
Photodisc/Getty Images
1.1 Some Fundamental Definitions 3 Some Important SI Units in Chemistry 13 Significant Figures: Calculations and
The States of Matter 4 Units and Conversion Factors in Rounding Off 28
The Properties of Matter and Its Calculations 15 Precision, Accuracy, and Instrument
Changes 4 A Systematic Approach to Solving Calibration 30
The Central Theme in Chemistry 8 Chemistry Problems 18 CHAPTER REVIEW GUIDE 31
The Importance of Energy in the Study Temperature Scales 23
PROBLEMS 35
of Matter 8 Extensive and Intensive Properties 25
1.2 The Scientific Approach: Developing 1.4 Uncertainty in Measurement:
a Model 10 Significant Figures 26
1.3 Measurement and Chemical Problem Determining Which Digits Are
Solving 12 Significant 27
General Features of SI Units 12
2.1 Elements, Compounds, and Mixtures: Atomic Number, Mass Number, and The Simplest Organic Compounds:
An Atomic Overview 42 Atomic Symbol 54 Straight-Chain Alkanes 73
2.2 The Observations That Led to an Isotopes 55 Molecular Masses from Chemical
Atomic View of Matter 44 Atomic Masses of the Elements 55 Formulas 74
Mass Conservation 44 2.6 Elements: A First Look at the Representing Molecules with Formulas
Definite Composition 45 Periodic Table 59 and Models 76
Multiple Proportions 47 2.7 Compounds: Introduction 2.9 Mixtures: Classification
2.3 Dalton’s Atomic Theory 48 to Bonding 62 and Separation 78
Postulates of the Atomic Theory 48 The Formation of Ionic Compounds 62 An Overview of the Components
How the Theory Explains the The Formation of Covalent of Matter 79
Mass Laws 48 Substances 64 CHAPTER REVIEW GUIDE 81
2.4 The Observations That Led to the 2.8 Compounds: Formulas, Names, PROBLEMS 83
Nuclear Atom Model 50 and Masses 65
Discovery of the Electron and Its Binary Ionic Compounds 65
Properties 50 Compounds That Contain
Discovery of the Atomic Nucleus 52 Polyatomic Ions 69
2.5 The Atomic Theory Today 53 Acid Names from Anion Names 71
Structure of the Atom 53 Binary Covalent Compounds 72
vii
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3.1 The Mole 93 Chemical Formulas and Molecular Reactions That Occur in a Sequence 117
Defining the Mole 93 Structures; Isomers 107 Reactions That Involve a Limiting
Determining Molar Mass 94 3.3 Writing and Balancing Chemical Reactant 118
Converting Between Amount, Mass, and Equations 108 Theoretical, Actual, and Percent
Number of Chemical Entities 95 Reaction Yields 124
The Importance of Mass Percent 99 3.4 Calculating Quantities of Reactant
and Product 113 CHAPTER REVIEW GUIDE 127
3.2 Determining the Formula of Stoichiometrically Equivalent Molar PROBLEMS 132
an Unknown Compound 102 Ratios from the Balanced
Empirical Formulas 102 Equation 113
Molecular Formulas 103
4.1 Solution Concentration and the Role Stoichiometry of Precipitation Using Oxidation Numbers to Monitor
of Water as a Solvent 143 Reactions 159 Electron Charge 173
The Polar Nature of Water 144 4.3 Acid-Base Reactions 162 Stoichiometry of Redox Reactions:
Ionic Compounds in Water 144 The Key Event: Formation of H2O from Redox Titrations 177
Covalent Compounds in Water 148 H+ and OH− 165 4.5 Elements in Redox Reactions 179
Expressing Concentration in Terms Proton Transfer in Acid-Base Combination Redox Reactions 179
of Molarity 148 Reactions 165 Decomposition Redox Reactions 180
Amount-Mass-Number Conversions Stoichiometry of Acid-Base Reactions: Displacement Redox Reactions and
Involving Solutions 149 Acid-Base Titrations 169 Activity Series 182
Preparing and Diluting Molar Combustion Reactions 184
Solutions 150 4.4 Oxidation-Reduction (Redox)
Reactions 172 4.6 The Reversibility of Reactions
4.2 Precipitation Reactions 154 The Key Event: Movement of Electrons and the Equilibrium State 186
The Key Event: Formation of a Solid Between Reactants 172 CHAPTER REVIEW GUIDE 188
from Dissolved Ions 154 Some Essential Redox Terminology 173
Predicting Whether a Precipitate PROBLEMS 194
Will Form 156
6.1 Forms of Energy and Their 6.2 Enthalpy: Changes at Constant 6.5 Hess’s Law: Finding ΔH
Interconversion 255 Pressure 263 of Any Reaction 274
Defining the System and Its The Meaning of Enthalpy 263 6.6 Standard Enthalpies of
Surroundings 256 Comparing ΔE and ΔH 264 Reaction (ΔH°rxn) 276
Energy Change (ΔE): Energy Transfer to Exothermic and Endothermic Formation Equations and Their Standard
or from a System 256 Processes 264 Enthalpy Changes 277
Heat and Work: Two Forms of Energy 6.3 Calorimetry: Measuring the Heat Determining ΔH°rxn from ΔH°f Values for
Transfer 257 of a Chemical or Physical Change 266 Reactants and Products 278
The Law of Energy Conservation 259 Specific Heat Capacity 266
Units of Energy 260 CHEMICAL CONNECTIONS TO
The Two Major Types of ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE:
State Functions and the Path Calorimetry 268
Independence of the Energy THE FUTURE OF ENERGY USE 280
Change 261 6.4 Stoichiometry of Thermochemical CHAPTER REVIEW GUIDE 284
Calculating Pressure-Volume Work Equations 272
PROBLEMS 287
(PV Work) 262
7.1 The Nature of Light 295 TOOLS OF THE LABORATORY: Quantum Numbers of an Atomic
The Wave Nature of Light 296 SPECTROMETRY IN CHEMICAL Orbital 316
The Particle Nature of Light 299 ANALYSIS 308 Quantum Numbers and Energy
7.2 Atomic Spectra 302 7.3 The Wave-Particle Duality of Matter Levels 317
Line Spectra and the Rydberg and Energy 310 Shapes of Atomic Orbitals 319
Equation 302 The Wave Nature of Electrons and the The Special Case of Energy Levels in
The Bohr Model of the Hydrogen Particle Nature of Photons 310 the Hydrogen Atom 322
Atom 303 Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle 313 CHAPTER REVIEW GUIDE 323
The Energy Levels of the Hydrogen 7.4 The Quantum-Mechanical Model PROBLEMS 325
Atom 305 of the Atom 314
The Atomic Orbital and the Probable
Location of the Electron 314
8.1 Characteristics of Many-Electron Building Up Period 4: The First Transition Trends in Ionization Energy 347
Atoms 332 Series 338 Trends in Electron Affinity 351
The Electron-Spin Quantum Number 332 General Principles of Electron 8.4 Atomic Properties and Chemical
The Exclusion Principle 333 Configurations 340 Reactivity 352
Electrostatic Effects and Energy-Level Intervening Series: Transition and Inner Trends in Metallic Behavior 352
Splitting 333 Transition Elements 341 Properties of Monatomic Ions 354
8.2 The Quantum-Mechanical Model and Similar Electron Configurations Within
CHAPTER REVIEW GUIDE 361
the Periodic Table 335 Groups 342
PROBLEMS 362
Building Up Period 1 336 8.3 Trends in Three Atomic
Building Up Period 2 336 Properties 344
Building Up Period 3 338 Trends in Atomic Size 345
10.1 Depicting Molecules and Ions with Molecular Shapes with Three Electron 10.3 Molecular Shape and Molecular
Lewis Structures 405 Groups (Trigonal Planar Polarity 429
Applying the Octet Rule to Write Arrangement) 420 Bond Polarity, Bond Angle, and Dipole
Lewis Structures 405 Molecular Shapes with Four Electron Moment 429
Resonance: Delocalized Electron-Pair Groups (Tetrahedral The Effect of Molecular Polarity on
Bonding 410 Arrangement) 421 Behavior 431
Formal Charge: Selecting the More Molecular Shapes with Five Electron
Groups (Trigonal Bipyramidal CHEMICAL CONNECTIONS TO
Important Resonance Structure 411
Arrangement) 422 SENSORY PHYSIOLOGY: MOLECULAR
Lewis Structures for Exceptions to
SHAPE, BIOLOGICAL RECEPTORS, AND
the Octet Rule 414 Molecular Shapes with Six Electron
THE SENSE OF SMELL 432
10.2 Valence-Shell Electron-Pair Repulsion Groups (Octahedral
Arrangement) 423 CHAPTER REVIEW GUIDE 433
(VSEPR) Theory 418
Electron-Group Arrangements and Using VSEPR Theory to Determine PROBLEMS 437
Molecular Shapes 418 Molecular Shape 424
The Molecular Shape with Two Electron Molecular Shapes with More Than One
Groups (Linear Arrangement) 419 Central Atom 427
11.1 Valence Bond (VB) Theory and 11.3 Molecular Orbital (MO) Theory and CHAPTER REVIEW GUIDE 464
Orbital Hybridization 443 Electron Delocalization 455 PROBLEMS 466
The Central Themes of VB Theory 443 The Central Themes of MO Theory 456
Types of Hybrid Orbitals 444 Homonuclear Diatomic Molecules of
11.2 Modes of Orbital Overlap and the Period 2 Elements 458
Types of Covalent Bonds 452 Two Heteronuclear Diatomic Molecules:
Orbital Overlap in Single and Multiple HF and NO 462
Bonds 452 Two Polyatomic Molecules: Benzene and
Orbital Overlap and Rotation Within Ozone 463
a Molecule 455
12.1 An Overview of Physical States Dipole-Dipole Forces 487 TOOLS OF THE LABORATORY: X-RAY
and Phase Changes 471 The Hydrogen Bond 487 DIFFRACTION ANALYSIS AND SCANNING
A Kinetic-Molecular View of the Three Polarizability and Induced Dipole TUNNELING MICROSCOPY 504
States 472 Forces 489 Types and Properties of Crystalline
Types of Phase Changes and Their Dispersion (London) Forces 490 Solids 505
Enthalpies 473 12.4 Properties of the Liquid State 492 Amorphous Solids 508
12.2 Quantitative Aspects of Phase Surface Tension 492 Bonding in Solids: Molecular Orbital
Changes 475 Capillarity 493 Band Theory 509
Heat Involved in Phase Changes 475 Viscosity 494 12.7 Advanced Materials 511
The Equilibrium Nature of Phase 12.5 The Uniqueness of Water 495 Electronic Materials 511
Changes 479 Solvent Properties of Water 495 Liquid Crystals 513
Phase Diagrams: Effect of Pressure and Thermal Properties of Water 495 Ceramic Materials 515
Temperature on Physical State 483 Surface Properties of Water 496 Polymeric Materials 517
12.3 Types of Intermolecular Forces 485 The Unusual Density of Solid Water 496 Nanotechnology: Designing Materials
How Close Can Molecules Approach Atom by Atom 522
12.6 The Solid State: Structure, Properties,
Each Other? 485 and Bonding 497 CHAPTER REVIEW GUIDE 524
Ion-Dipole Forces 486 Structural Features of Solids 497 PROBLEMS 527
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13.1 Types of Solutions: Intermolecular The Heat of Hydration: Dissolving Ionic Using Colligative Properties to Find
Forces and Solubility 535 Solids in Water 547 Solute Molar Mass 566
Intermolecular Forces in Solution 536 The Solution Process and the Change in Volatile Nonelectrolyte Solutions 567
Liquid Solutions and the Role of Entropy 550 Strong Electrolyte Solutions 567
Molecular Polarity 537 13.4 Solubility as an Equilibrium Applications of Colligative
Gas Solutions and Solid Solutions 539 Process 552 Properties 570
13.2 Intermolecular Forces and Biological Effect of Temperature on Solubility 552 13.7 The Structure and Properties
Macromolecules 541 Effect of Pressure on Solubility 553 of Colloids 571
The Structures of Proteins 541 13.5 Concentration Terms 555 CHEMICAL CONNECTIONS TO
Dual Polarity in Soaps, Membranes, Molarity and Molality 555 ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING:
and Antibiotics 543 Parts of Solute by Parts of Solution 557 SOLUTIONS AND COLLOIDS IN WATER
The Structure of DNA 544 Interconverting Concentration PURIFICATION 573
13.3 Why Substances Dissolve: Breaking Terms 559 CHAPTER REVIEW GUIDE 575
Down the Solution Process 546 13.6 Colligative Properties of Solutions 560
The Heat of Solution and Its PROBLEMS 579
Nonvolatile Nonelectrolyte
Components 546 Solutions 561
14.1 Hydrogen, the Simplest Atom 589 Highlights of Boron Chemistry 601 How the Oxygen and Nitrogen Families
Where Hydrogen Fits in the Periodic Diagonal Relationships: Beryllium Compare Chemically 618
Table 589 and Aluminum 602 Highlights of Oxygen Chemistry:
Highlights of Hydrogen Chemistry 590 14.6 Group 4A(14): The Carbon Range of Oxide Properties 619
14.2 Trends Across the Periodic Table: Family 602 Highlights of Sulfur Chemistry 619
The Period 2 Elements 591 How Type of Bonding Affects Physical 14.9 Group 7A(17): The Halogens 621
14.3 Group 1A(1): The Alkali Metals 594 Properties 604 Physical Behavior of the Halogens 621
Why the Alkali Metals Are Unusual How Bonding Changes in This Group’s Why the Halogens Are
Physically 594 Compounds 605 So Reactive 621
Why the Alkali Metals Are Highlights of Carbon Chemistry 606 Highlights of Halogen Chemistry 623
So Reactive 596 Highlights of Silicon Chemistry 607 14.10 Group 8A(18): The Noble
Diagonal Relationships: Boron Gases 626
14.4 Group 2A(2): The Alkaline Earth and Silicon 608
Metals 597 How the Noble Gases and Alkali
How the Alkaline Earth and Alkali Metals 14.7 Group 5A(15): The Nitrogen Metals Contrast Physically 626
Compare Physically 597 Family 608 How Noble Gases Can Form
How the Alkaline Earth and Alkali Metals The Wide Range of Physical Compounds 626
Compare Chemically 597 Behavior 610 CHAPTER REVIEW GUIDE 628
Diagonal Relationships: Lithium and Patterns in Chemical Behavior 610
PROBLEMS 629
Magnesium 599 Highlights of Nitrogen Chemistry 612
Highlights of Phosphorus Chemistry 614
14.5 Group 3A(13): The Boron Family 599
How the Transition Elements Influence 14.8 Group 6A(16): The Oxygen
This Group’s Properties 599 Family 616
Features That First Appear in This How the Oxygen and Nitrogen Families
Group’s Chemical Properties 601 Compare Physically 616
lynx/iconotec.com/Glow Images
15.1 The Special Nature of Carbon and Restricted Rotation and Geometric Functional Groups with Double
the Characteristics of Organic (cis-trans) Isomerism 649 Bonds 663
Molecules 637 Alkynes: Hydrocarbons with Triple Functional Groups with Both Single
The Structural Complexity of Organic Bonds 650 and Double Bonds 666
Molecules 638 Aromatic Hydrocarbons: Cyclic Functional Groups with Triple Bonds 670
The Chemical Diversity of Organic Molecules with Delocalized π 15.5 The Monomer-Polymer Theme I:
Molecules 638 Electrons 651 Synthetic Macromolecules 672
15.2 The Structures and Classes of Variations on a Theme: Catenated Addition Polymers 672
Hydrocarbons 640 Inorganic Hydrides 652 Condensation Polymers 673
Carbon Skeletons and Hydrogen TOOLS OF THE LABORATORY: 15.6 The Monomer-Polymer Theme II:
Skins 640 NUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE Biological Macromolecules 674
Alkanes: Hydrocarbons with Only (NMR) SPECTROSCOPY 653 Sugars and Polysaccharides 674
Single Bonds 643 15.3 Some Important Classes of Organic Amino Acids and Proteins 676
Dispersion Forces and the Physical Reactions 655 Nucleotides and Nucleic Acids 678
Properties of Alkanes 645 Types of Organic Reactions 655
Constitutional Isomerism 645 CHEMICAL CONNECTIONS TO
The Redox Process in Organic GENETICS AND FORENSICS:
Chiral Molecules and Optical Reactions 657
Isomerism 646 DNA SEQUENCING AND
Alkenes: Hydrocarbons with Double 15.4 Properties and Reactivities of FINGERPRINTING 683
Bonds 648 Common Functional Groups 658 CHAPTER REVIEW GUIDE 685
Functional Groups with Only Single
PROBLEMS 687
Bonds 658
16.1 Focusing on Reaction Rate 695 Integrated Rate Law and Reaction 16.7 Catalysis: Speeding Up a Reaction 733
16.2 Expressing the Reaction Rate 698 Half-Life for Zero-Order The Basis of Catalytic Action 733
Average, Instantaneous, and Initial Reactions 718 Homogeneous Catalysis 734
Reaction Rates 698 Determining Reaction Orders from an Heterogeneous Catalysis 735
Expressing Rate in Terms of Reactant Integrated Rate Law 718 Kinetics and Function of Biological
and Product Concentrations 700 16.5 Theories of Chemical Kinetics 720 Catalysts 736
16.3 The Rate Law and Its Collision Theory: Basis of the CHEMICAL CONNECTIONS TO
Components 702 Rate Law 720 ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE: DEPLETION
Some Laboratory Methods for Transition State Theory: What the OF EARTH’S OZONE LAYER 738
Determining the Initial Rate 703 Activation Energy Is Used For 722
CHAPTER REVIEW GUIDE 739
Determining Reaction Orders 703 The Effect of Temperature on Rate 724
PROBLEMS 743
Determining the Rate Constant 708 16.6 Reaction Mechanisms: The Steps
16.4 Integrated Rate Laws: Concentration from Reactant to Product 727
Changes over Time 712 Elementary Reactions and
Integrated Rate Laws and Reaction Molecularity 727
Half-Life for First-Order The Rate-Determining Step of a Reaction
Reactions 712 Mechanism 728
Integrated Rate Law and Reaction Correlating the Mechanism with
Half-Life for Second-Order the Rate Law 729
Reactions 716
Andriy Bezuglov/123RF
17.1 The Equilibrium State and 17.5 How to Solve Equilibrium The Effect of a Change in
the Equilibrium Constant 753 Problems 767 Temperature 782
17.2 The Reaction Quotient and Using Quantities to Find the Equilibrium The Lack of Effect of a Catalyst 785
the Equilibrium Constant 756 Constant 767 Applying Le Châtelier’s Principle to
The Changing Value of the Reaction Using the Equilibrium Constant to Find the Synthesis of Ammonia 787
Quotient 756 Quantities 770 CHEMICAL CONNECTIONS TO
Writing the Reaction Quotient in Its Problems Involving Mixtures of Reactants CELLULAR METABOLISM: DESIGN
Various Forms 757 and Products 775 AND CONTROL OF A METABOLIC
17.3 Expressing Equilibria with Pressure 17.6 Reaction Conditions and Equilibrium: PATHWAY 788
Terms: Relation Between Kc Le Châtelier’s Principle 777 CHAPTER REVIEW GUIDE 790
and Kp 763 The Effect of a Change in
Concentration 777 PROBLEMS 793
17.4 Comparing Q and K to Determine The Effect of a Change in Pressure
Reaction Direction 764 (Volume) 780
18.1 Release of H+ or OH− and the 18.5 Weak Acids and Their Equilibria 18.8 Acid-Base Properties of Salt
Arrhenius Acid-Base Definition 804 Calculations 815 Solutions 833
18.2 Proton Transfer and the Brønsted- The Acid Dissociation Constant (Ka) 815 Salts That Yield Neutral Solutions 833
Lowry Acid-Base Definition 805 Finding Ka, Given Concentrations 818 Salts That Yield Acidic Solutions 833
Conjugate Acid-Base Pairs 806 Finding Concentrations, Given Ka 819 Salts That Yield Basic Solutions 834
Relative Acid-Base Strength and the The Effect of Concentration on the Extent Salts of Weakly Acidic Cations and
Net Direction of Reaction 807 of Acid Dissociation 821 Weakly Basic Anions 835
The Behavior of Polyprotic Acids 822 Salts of Amphiprotic Anions 835
18.3 Autoionization of Water and
the pH Scale 809 18.6 Molecular Properties and Acid 18.9 Generalizing the Brønsted-Lowry
The Equilibrium Nature of Autoionization: Strength 825 Concept: The Leveling Effect 837
The Ion-Product Constant for Acid Strength of Nonmetal Hydrides 825 18.10 Electron-Pair Donation and the
Water (Kw) 810 Acid Strength of Oxoacids 825 Lewis Acid-Base Definition 838
Expressing the Hydronium Ion Acidity of Hydrated Metal Ions 826 Molecules as Lewis Acids 838
Concentration: The pH Scale 811 18.7 Weak Bases and Their Relation to Metal Cations as Lewis Acids 839
18.4 Strong Acids and Bases and Weak Acids 827 An Overview of Acid-Base
pH Calculations 813 Molecules as Weak Bases: Ammonia Definitions 840
Strong Acids 813 and the Amines 828 CHAPTER REVIEW GUIDE 841
Strong Bases 814 Anions of Weak Acids as
PROBLEMS 844
Calculating pH for Strong Acids Weak Bases 830
and Bases 814 The Relation Between Ka and Kb of a
Conjugate Acid-Base Pair 830
19.1 Equilibria of Acid-Base Buffers 853 Titration Curves for Polyprotic Acids 874 Separating Ions by Selective
What a Buffer Is and How It Works: The Amino Acids as Biological Polyprotic Precipitation and Simultaneous
Common-Ion Effect 853 Acids 875 Equilibria 886
The Henderson-Hasselbalch 19.3 Equilibria of Slightly Soluble Ionic CHEMICAL CONNECTIONS TO
Equation 858 Compounds 876 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE:
Buffer Capacity and Buffer Range 859 The Ion-Product Expression (Qsp) and the THE ACID-RAIN PROBLEM 888
Preparing a Buffer 861 Solubility-Product Constant (Ksp) 876 19.4 Equilibria Involving Complex Ions 890
19.2 Acid-Base Titration Curves 863 Calculations Involving the Solubility- Formation of Complex Ions 890
Strong Acid–Strong Base Titration Product Constant 877 Complex Ions and the Solubility
Curves 863 Effect of a Common Ion on Solubility 880 of Precipitates 891
Weak Acid–Strong Base Effect of pH on Solubility 882 Complex Ions of Amphoteric
Titration Curves 866 Applying Ionic Equilibria to the Formation Hydroxides 893
Weak Base–Strong Acid Titration of a Limestone Cave 883
Curves 870 Predicting the Formation of a CHAPTER REVIEW GUIDE 895
Monitoring pH with Acid-Base Precipitate: Qsp vs. Ksp 884 PROBLEMS 899
Indicators 872
20.1 The Second Law of Thermodynamics: 20.2 Calculating the Change in Entropy of The Free Energy Change and the Work a
Predicting Spontaneous Change 907 a Reaction 918 System Can Do 927
The First Law of Thermodynamics Entropy Changes in the System: Standard The Effect of Temperature on Reaction
Does Not Predict Spontaneous Entropy of Reaction (ΔS°rxn) 918 Spontaneity 928
Change 908 Entropy Changes in the Surroundings: Coupling of Reactions to Drive a
The Sign of ΔH Does Not Predict The Other Part of the Total 920 Nonspontaneous Change 932
Spontaneous Change 908 The Entropy Change and the Equilibrium CHEMICAL CONNECTIONS TO
Freedom of Particle Motion and State 922 BIOLOGICAL ENERGETICS:
Dispersal of Kinetic Energy 909 Spontaneous Exothermic and THE UNIVERSAL ROLE OF ATP 933
Entropy and the Number of Endothermic Changes 923
Microstates 910 20.4 Free Energy, Equilibrium, and
20.3 Entropy, Free Energy, and Work 924 Reaction Direction 934
Entropy and the Second Law of Free Energy Change and Reaction
Thermodynamics 913 Spontaneity 924 CHAPTER REVIEW GUIDE 940
Standard Molar Entropies and the Calculating Standard Free Energy PROBLEMS 943
Third Law 913 Changes 925
Predicting Relative S ° of a System 914
Scharfsinn/Shutterstock
21.1 Redox Reactions and Electrochemical Using E°half-cell Values to Write 21.7 Electrolytic Cells: Using Electrical
Cells 951 Spontaneous Redox Reactions 967 Energy to Drive Nonspontaneous
A Quick Review of Oxidation-Reduction Explaining the Activity Series of Reactions 986
Concepts 951 the Metals 970 Construction and Operation of an
Half-Reaction Method for Balancing 21.4 Free Energy and Electrical Work 971 Electrolytic Cell 986
Redox Reactions 952 Standard Cell Potential and the Predicting the Products of
An Overview of Electrochemical Equilibrium Constant 971 Electrolysis 988
Cells 955 The Effect of Concentration on Cell Stoichiometry of Electrolysis: The
21.2 Voltaic Cells: Using Spontaneous Potential 974 Relation Between Amounts of
Reactions to Generate Electrical Following Changes in Potential During Charge and Products 992
Energy 957 Cell Operation 975 CHEMICAL CONNECTIONS TO
Construction and Operation of a Concentration Cells 976 BIOLOGICAL ENERGETICS: CELLULAR
Voltaic Cell 957 21.5 Electrochemical Processes ELECTROCHEMISTRY AND THE
Notation for a Voltaic Cell 960 in Batteries 980 PRODUCTION OF ATP 994
Why Does a Voltaic Cell Work? 961 Primary (Nonrechargeable) Batteries 980 CHAPTER REVIEW GUIDE 996
21.3 Cell Potential: Output of a Voltaic Secondary (Rechargeable) Batteries 981 PROBLEMS 999
Cell 962 Fuel Cells 982
Standard Cell Potential (E°cell) 962 21.6 Corrosion: An Environmental
Relative Strengths of Oxidizing and Voltaic Cell 984
Reducing Agents 965 The Corrosion of Iron 984
Protecting Against the Corrosion
of Iron 985
22.1 How the Elements Occur in 22.3 Metallurgy: Extracting a Metal Mining the Sea for Magnesium 1033
Nature 1009 from Its Ore 1020 The Sources and Uses of
Earth’s Structure and the Abundance of Pretreating the Ore 1021 Hydrogen 1034
the Elements 1009 Converting Mineral to Element 1022 22.5 Chemical Manufacturing: Two Case
Sources of the Elements 1013 Refining and Alloying the Element 1024 Studies 1037
22.2 The Cycling of Elements Through 22.4 Tapping the Crust: Isolation and Uses Sulfuric Acid, the Most Important
the Environment 1014 of Selected Elements 1026 Chemical 1037
The Carbon Cycle 1014 Producing the Alkali Metals: Sodium The Chlor-Alkali Process 1040
The Nitrogen Cycle 1016 and Potassium 1026 CHAPTER REVIEW GUIDE 1041
The Phosphorus Cycle 1017 The Indispensable Three: Iron, Copper,
PROBLEMS 1042
and Aluminum 1027
Pets in frames/Shutterstock
23.1 Properties of the Transition 23.3 Coordination Compounds 1058 CHEMICAL CONNECTIONS TO
Elements 1049 Complex Ions: Coordination Numbers, NUTRITIONAL SCIENCE: TRANSITION
Electron Configurations of the Transition Geometries, and Ligands 1058 METALS AS ESSENTIAL DIETARY TRACE
Metals and Their Ions 1050 Formulas and Names of Coordination ELEMENTS 1076
Atomic and Physical Properties of Compounds 1060 CHAPTER REVIEW GUIDE 1078
the Transition Elements 1052 Isomerism in Coordination
PROBLEMS 1080
Chemical Properties of the Transition Compounds 1064
Elements 1054 23.4 Theoretical Basis for the Bonding and
23.2 The Inner Transition Elements 1056 Properties of Complex Ions 1067
The Lanthanides 1056 Applying Valence Bond Theory to
The Actinides 1057 Complex Ions 1067
Crystal Field Theory 1069
24.1 Radioactive Decay and Nuclear 24.3 Nuclear Transmutation: Induced 24.6 The Interconversion of Mass and
Stability 1087 Changes in Nuclei 1104 Energy 1115
Comparing Chemical and Nuclear Early Transmutation Experiments; The Mass Difference Between a Nucleus
Change 1088 Nuclear Shorthand Notation 1104 and Its Nucleons 1116
The Components of the Nucleus: Particle Accelerators and the Nuclear Binding Energy and Binding
Terms and Notation 1088 Transuranium Elements 1105 Energy per Nucleon 1117
The Discovery of Radioactivity and 24.4 Ionization: Effects of Nuclear 24.7 Applications of Fission
the Types of Emissions 1089 Radiation on Matter 1107 and Fusion 1119
Modes of Radioactive Decay; Balancing Effects of Ionizing Radiation on Living The Process of Nuclear Fission 1119
Nuclear Equations 1089 Tissue 1108 The Promise of Nuclear Fusion 1123
Nuclear Stability and the Mode Background Sources of Ionizing
of Decay 1093 CHEMICAL CONNECTIONS TO
Radiation 1110 COSMOLOGY: ORIGIN OF THE
24.2 The Kinetics of Radioactive Assessing the Risk from Ionizing ELEMENTS IN THE STARS 1124
Decay 1097 Radiation 1111
Detection and Measurement of CHAPTER REVIEW GUIDE 1126
24.5 Applications of Radioisotopes 1112
Radioactivity 1097 Radioactive Tracers 1112 PROBLEMS 1129
The Rate of Radioactive Decay 1098 Additional Applications of Ionizing
Radioisotopic Dating 1102 Radiation 1114
17.2 Finding K for Reactions Multiplied by a Common Factor, 19.12 Separating Ions by Selective Precipitation 887
Reversed, or Written as an Overall Process 761 19.13 Calculating the Concentration of a Complex Ion 891
17.3 Converting Between Kc and Kp 764 19.14 Calculating the Effect of Complex-Ion Formation
17.4 Using Molecular Scenes to Determine Reaction on Solubility 892
Direction 765
17.5 Using Concentrations to Determine Reaction Direction 766 Chapter 20
17.6 Calculating Kc from Concentration Data 769 20.1 Predicting Relative Entropy Values 917
17.7 Determining Equilibrium Concentrations from Kc 770 20.2 Calculating the Standard Entropy of Reaction,
17.8 Determining Equilibrium Concentrations from Initial ΔS°rxn 919
Concentrations and Kc 770 20.3 Determining Reaction Spontaneity 921
17.9 Making a Simplifying Assumption to Calculate Equilibrium 20.4 Calculating ΔG°rxn from Enthalpy and Entropy Values 925
Concentrations 773 20.5 Calculating ΔG°rxn from ΔG°f Values 926
17.10 Predicting Reaction Direction and Calculating Equilibrium 20.6 Using Molecular Scenes to Determine the Signs of ΔH, ΔS,
Concentrations 775 and ΔG 929
17.11 Predicting the Effect of a Change in Concentration 20.7 Determining the Effect of Temperature on ΔG 930
on the Equilibrium Position 779 20.8 Finding the Temperature at Which a Reaction Becomes
17.12 Predicting the Effect of a Change in Volume (Pressure) Spontaneous 931
on the Equilibrium Position 781 20.9 Exploring the Relationship Between ΔG° and K 935
17.13 Predicting the Effect of a Change in Temperature 20.10 Using Molecular Scenes to Find ΔG for a Reaction
on the Equilibrium Position 783 at Nonstandard Conditions 936
17.14 Calculating the Change in Kc with a Change in 20.11 Calculating ΔG at Nonstandard Conditions 938
Temperature 784 Chapter 21
17.15 Determining Equilibrium Parameters from Molecular 21.1 Balancing a Redox Reaction in Basic Solution 954
Scenes 785 21.2 Describing a Voltaic Cell with a Diagram and
Chapter 18 Notation 960
18.1 Identifying Conjugate Acid-Base Pairs 806 21.3 Using E°half-cell Values to Find E°cell 963
18.2 Predicting the Net Direction of an Acid-Base Reaction 807 21.4 Calculating an Unknown E°half-cell from E°cell 965
18.3 Using Molecular Scenes to Predict the Net Direction 21.5 Writing Spontaneous Redox Reactions and Ranking
of an Acid-Base Reaction 809 Oxidizing and Reducing Agents by Strength 968
18.4 Calculating [H3O+] or [OH−] in Aqueous Solution 811 21.6 Calculating K and ΔG° from E°cell 973
18.5 Calculating [H3O+], pH, [OH−], and pOH for Strong Acids 21.7 Using the Nernst Equation to Calculate Ecell 974
and Bases 814 21.8 Calculating the Potential of a Concentration Cell 978
18.6 Finding Ka of a Weak Acid from the Solution pH 818 21.9 Predicting the Electrolysis Products of a Molten Salt
18.7 Determining Concentration and pH from Ka and Mixture 989
Initial [HA] 820 21.10 Predicting the Electrolysis Products of Aqueous Salt
18.8 Finding the Percent Dissociation of a Weak Acid 821 Solutions 991
18.9 Calculating Equilibrium Concentrations for a 21.11 Applying the Relationship Among Current, Time,
Polyprotic Acid 823 and Amount of Substance 993
18.10 Determining pH from Kb and Initial [B] 829 Chapter 23
18.11 Determining the pH of a Solution of A− 831 23.1 Writing Electron Configurations of Transition Metal
18.12 Predicting Relative Acidity of Salt Solutions from Reactions Atoms and Ions 1052
of the Ions with Water 834 23.2 Finding the Number of Unpaired Electrons 1057
18.13 Predicting the Relative Acidity of a Salt Solution from 23.3 Finding the Coordination Number and Charge of the Central
Ka and Kb of the Ions 835 Metal Ion in a Coordination Compound 1061
18.14 Identifying Lewis Acids and Bases 840 23.4 Writing Names and Formulas of Coordination
Compounds 1063
Chapter 19 23.5 Determining the Type of Stereoisomerism 1067
19.1 Calculating the Effect of Added H3O+ or OH− on 23.6 Ranking Crystal Field Splitting Energies (Δ) for Complex Ions
Buffer pH 856 of a Metal 1073
19.2 Using Molecular Scenes to Examine Buffers 860 23.7 Identifying High-Spin and Low-Spin Complex Ions 1074
19.3 Preparing a Buffer 862
19.4 Finding the pH During a Weak Acid–Strong Base Chapter 24
Titration 868 24.1 Writing Equations for Nuclear Reactions 1092
19.5 Writing Ion-Product Expressions 877 24.2 Predicting Nuclear Stability 1094
19.6 Determining Ksp from Solubility 878 24.3 Predicting the Mode of Nuclear Decay 1096
19.7 Determining Solubility from Ksp 879 24.4 Calculating the Specific Activity and the Decay Constant of a
19.8 Calculating the Effect of a Common Ion on Solubility 881 Radioactive Nuclide 1099
19.9 Predicting the Effect on Solubility of Adding Strong Acid 883 24.5 Finding the Number of Radioactive Nuclei 1101
19.10 Predicting Whether a Precipitate Will Form 884 24.6 Applying Radiocarbon Dating 1103
19.11 Using Molecular Scenes to Predict Whether a Precipitate 24.7 Writing Equations for Transmutation Reactions 1107
Will Form 885 24.8 Calculating the Binding Energy per Nucleon 1117
She ran out of the house at dusk, her fiddle in her hand, fiddle and
bow clutched in her fingers. She went rapidly down the street,
thinking that she would walk toward the pool, toward the fields,
toward some point far beyond the town. She would hurl fiddle-
playing into the tops of tall trees and hurl it again into the darkening
sky. The ripples of the water would be black and the plowed fields
would be black where the dusk had sunk into the autumn furrows.
Before the livery stable she saw Stiggins, who stood listlessly, his
hands in his pockets, swaying unevenly from one foot to the other.
The wind that would have blown the dark water of the pool was
shifting the straws and trash of the stable about before Stig’s feet,
making a shallow drift in the dirt and refuse.
“Come on with me, Stig,” she said. “Come and go with me where I
go.”
He shuffled uncertainly, hearing her words slowly. “Come on now,
Stiggins,” she said.
She turned about and went toward Hill Street, Stiggins following
after her a few steps. It was the hour when the street-lights were
not yet lit and the people who passed were gray undistinguished
motions drifting unevenly through the fog of the first-dark. Now and
then as she went she called to Stiggins and was assured that he was
following by his shuffling uneven steps that quickened at each cry.
She went to Lethe’s cabin and knocked at the door, and at Americy’s
call she went inside, passing swiftly over the threshold. Stig
remained on the doorstep staring, but after a moment he crouched
in the doorway. Americy brought a chair to the middle of the floor
and offered it without a greeting. Then she went to sit on the bed,
her accustomed place, and Lethe turned slightly about from the
table, where food had been eaten. A few crusts of bread lay on a
plate, but the other dishes were empty. Lethe was sullen, sitting
turned away from the door, and when Theodosia was seated she
moved slightly and spoke with contempt, speaking softly.
“You come here and all the town will be a-talken. You want the
town to be a-talken about you-all? What you want t’start up
everybody a-talken about you for?”
“What’s to talk about now?”
Stig began to mumble half-articulate words, looking at the floor
with a strange smile about his eyes. “A leetle scrop to eat, a leetle
leavens. All I want is a leetle mess to eat. The pickens on a ham
bone is good, the pickens on a ham bone. Have you-all got e’er ham
bone around? All I want....”
Theodosia took her fiddle to her chin and began to play Americy’s
tune, touching the bow lightly to the strings. The eyes in Stig’s face
were bent down slightly at the corners, wearily drooped, but his lips
smiled at the music. Theodosia remembered at that moment that
Lethe had once had a child. “They buried Lethe’s baby today,” some
voice was remembered saying. “Another death on Hill Street.” A child
epidemic had been sweeping over the town. Remembering the infant
she looked at Lethe with a searching gaze, the dead child and
Lethe’s grief in her mind, wondering at the nature of this grief and
searching Lethe’s face anew for some remnant of it.
“Skeeter Shoots, he’s got a thing like that-there to play on,” Stig
said, speaking suddenly in a flare of words, half shouting. “Only he
plays his’n on his mouth, plays it with his spit.” He began to hum
aloud and to sing unmusical sounds, his hands crumpled at his lips.
“Plays on it with his spit in his mouth,” he said. “Goes like this-here.”
“What you bring Stig here for?” Lethe said. “Did I tell you to bring
Stig here?”
He began to tell of some confused happening which was related to
the mouth harp in his mind. A rat had been killed in the corn room,
a half-starved rat that had been shut into a tank for many days. He
talked, catching at his breath, gleeful over the story, waving his
hands. “We kill ol’ rat in corn room,” he said. “We brain ol’ rat one
day in corn room.”
“What’s he want?” Lethe asked.
“He don’ want e’er thing,” Americy said, speaking gently. “Leave
him be.”
“There was a rat, ol’ rat,” Stig began afresh. “Got shut in water-
tank. Tin water-tank, not got no water in it. You ought to ’a’ seen ol’
rat! Skeeter Shoots he says to me, ‘Look at that-there rat, God
knows, shut inside that-there tank. Been shut up three weeks since
that-there rat got shut up since tank was open last. Skeeter Shoots
says.”
Lethe turned back to the table, her elbows on the board, her
knees crossed. Her body was bent slightly forward as if she were
deeply fatigued.
“What’d you bring him here for?” she asked. “What’s he here for
now?”
“What is it you know about him?” Theodosia asked sharply,
turning suddenly on Lethe, unafraid in her sudden surprise.
“I know enough. I ain’t been borned so long ago for nothing.”
“A ham bone,” Stig began to whimper. “Ham-meat is right good
now. Ham.”
“You can take him on away when you’ve done whatever you come
for.”
“We all say, ‘Whoopee! come see ol’ rat.’ So weak in his legs he
can’t walk on his feet. Crawl on his belly. Slow, go like a snail-bug.
See ol’ rat go up stable. Ol’ rat. ‘Take ker, ol’ rat!’ We all watch ol’ rat
go towarge corn room. Slow, slow, towarge corn room.” He made
slow creeping gestures with his fingers on the floor.
“I know enough. Was I borned last week? For God’s sake!”
“You hate me, Lethe,” Theodosia said after a little, speaking
through Stig’s garbled recitative that continued. “You hate me. What
makes you hate me? What did I ever do to you?”
“Was I borned last week? Don’t you reckon I know your tricks? Is
he anybody to me?”
Americy began to play one of her tunes, laboring with the chords
and humming softly, half whispering, and Theodosia watched the
fingers on the strings or she plucked her own strings to make
harmonious chords with the tune. The music set Stig’s eyes in a
dance and renewed his memory of the scene in the corn room. His
voice was lifted to a higher pitch.
“We all says ‘Whoopee! Come see ol’ rat.’ Crawl on his belly. Go a
leetle piece, stop, go a leetle piece. Three weeks in that-there tank
and ne’er a bite inside him.”
“For God’s sake!” Lethe said. She turned wearily toward the table
again. “Oh, for God’s sake!”
“Ol’ rat,” Stig said. “Rat go crawl, crawl down towarge corn room.
We all walk behind ol’ rat and see ol’ rat go crawl down towarge corn
room. Skeeter Shoots says ‘Come see ol’ rat.’ Says, ‘Naw, don’t kill
yet. Watch ’im crawl down towarge corn room.’ Take ol’ rat, I reckon,
hour. I go water Rose and hitch up Beckie. Come back. ‘Ain’t ol’ rat
got there yet?’”
“To let Minnie Harter take your man away. For God’s sake! You’re
easy. To let Min Harter get ahead on you. The lame slut.” Lethe
spoke with great passion, turning half about and staring at
Theodosia, eyeing her form up and down.
“What you know about that?” Theodosia asked. She turned back
to Americy’s playing again. “What do you know about that?”
“Plays a tune right outen his spit,” Stig said.
“Oh, God’s pity on us all,” Americy said. She was rocking herself
forward and back.
“What’s God got to do about this?” Theodosia asked. She turned
on Americy, her words like an outcry. Americy stopped her rocking
and sat stilled, afraid before the rush of the question.
“What’s God got to do? I do’ know,” Americy said. And then she
whispered, “Oh, God ’a’ pity.”
“Where is any God?”
“A ham bone to gnaw on’s all I want. My spit wants a ham bone to
lick,” Stig said.
“Oh, I d’know,” Americy said, speaking to both of them. “Oh, I got
no ham bone.” Her face was bent low and her voice was low.
“Ol’ rat go crawl, crawl, so weak he can’t go.”
Theodosia looked at the small flame in the lamp behind the dull
burnt chimney, her eyes on the little apple of light that throbbed
unevenly there. She was thinking of the light as a small flower in
bloom, and she traced its essence to Americy’s face and then to
Stig’s forehead where it shone against his brow. The shadows beside
Americy’s nostrils made hollows in the long, blank brown of her face,
her two dark eyes bent over the guitar in a stupid anxiety to
accomplish a chord she had known a few days before. There was a
step outside on the roadway, and presently steps were moving away
from the house. Somebody had been looking in at the window.
Theodosia stirred a little in her chair and her own part in the room
troubled her, in the house. “What am I here? What to them?” she
was asking herself. She sat in the stiff chair, in the middle of the
floor, facing Americy, feeling Lethe’s hate. “Her hate pushes me
back, but it does not push me out at the door,” she was thinking.
She began to play some melody on the fiddle, a melody which she
broke and distorted, rubbing the bow softly over the gut, making a
thin, distracted music, unjointed, without logic. Lethe turned away
and sat toward the table, and Stig had begun to tell his story again.
Lethe’s hate did not forbid her, but rather it pricked the air with
some fertile pollen and prepared every moment a newer menace,
and to each moment the fiddle responded with soft demonic music,
ill-flavored, crooked, sinister. She brought her playing to crashing
discords, softly played, a disturbance working upward through half-
tones, and Lethe turned about, her head and shoulders facing the
fiddle, and said:
“To let Min Harter take your man. God’s sake. Right afore your
own eyes. Would I stand that-there, me? Min lame and you got two
good legs yourself.”
“You hate me hard, don’t you, Lethe,” Theodosia said, speaking
sharply. She tried to turn back to Americy’s song.
“Or let Flo Agnew. Some said it was Flo Agnew got your goat.
God’s sake! You a tame one.” Lethe’s words were bitter to her own
taste now, turned back upon herself, as if she were defending
herself.
“Where’s Ross now?” Americy asked, speaking softly, afraid of
Lethe’s passion. Her tone was slightly knowing, as if she gave a
taunt in defense of Theodosia. Softly spoken, “Where’s Ross by
now?”
“He works now of a night at the brick-yard, works all night at the
brick-kiln.”
“It was said Ross was sweet on Lou at the lodge supper a Sat’day,
sweet as pie on Lou, was said.” Americy spoke to herself, in a
dream, and she began to rock to and fro again. “That’s what was
said a Sunday at the church.”
“If he spends one quarter on her,” Lethe said, laying down her
hard oath with slow, careful words, “If he spends one quarter on her
or walks in the dark once beside her, I’ll ... I’ll cut her body open
with a hog knife. One time, and I’ll do it, so help me God.”
Stig was telling his story, making small tracks with his fingers on
the bare floor, his mouth dripping in his eagerness to relate the
happenings. Theodosia looked at Lethe continually now and she saw
her hate arise to an intense power and she knew, seeing her, the
force of hate where it mounted, direct, willing, uncurbed by self-
searching. Looking intently at Lethe she merged for the instant with
her and felt the sting of hate where it spread over her own face and
her breast.
“That’s what was said,” Americy whispered, staring at the floor.
“Sweet on Ross, Lou was, and him sweet back on her, was said.”
“One time, and I’ll cut her open with a hog knife. She knows I will.
She better know.” A cry.
“Crawl, crawl, crawl down stable. Climb step. Can’t climb last step.
Too steep. Skeeter Shoots, he says, ‘I help ol’ rat up last step.’ Sets
ol’ rat down on top. ‘See?’ Skeet says. ‘Here’s corn room.’ We kill ol’
rat inside corn room.”
“Americy, have you got a soul, a spirit?” Theodosia asked. “Did
you inherit one? Did you?”
“I saw the glory o’ the Lord one time,” Americy said, half singing.
“I saw the Lamb o’ God. Oh, my Jesus!”
Theodosia arose quickly from her chair and stood by the door, her
hand having flung open the door. “Stig, have you got a soul? Inside
you somewhere? Inside?” She knew that she was persisting cruelly.
She leaned over him where he sat by the frame of the door.
“I got a hungry belly insides me. I got a tape-snake wants a ham
bone to gnaw,” Stig said. “I mean what I say.”
She was leaning over him, looking at him intently, seeing his large
heavy face from above and watching its changing shadows, looking
at his dirty brown coat and his frayed breeches that bulged into the
light where his knees were raised. He seemed to be chewing at
something, his lips working in and out. Her eyes centered to his
hands that drifted about over his thighs and cupped together beyond
his knees.
“Hold out your hands, Stig,” she said, “hold out your hand. Your
hand.”
His hand, broad in the palm, flexible, sensitive to the boards of the
floor, was stretched, palm downward, beyond his foot, or it crept
over the floor; it turned upward and moved back and forth before
her. The long reach of the thumb and the span of the thumb and the
fingers assailed her, and the hand fiddled a moment on the air. Then
it crumpled together, bones and muscles flexed, and withdrew to the
shadow under his knee. “The fiddle hand,” she said, standing
straight beside the door now. “You got the fiddle hand, Stig,” she
whispered. “You got it.”
“I got a hungry belly insides me, that’s what I got. I already told
you-all now. I got a hungry gut.”
She ran out the door, making a clatter on the steps, flinging the
gate back after her. The lights were lit along the streets and lanes
now and people were stirring about. The town seemed of one
essence, every detail flattened to the mass, and she walked as if she
walked alone, arrogant, stepping upon the closely conglomerated
matter of voices, stones, shadows, faces, acquaintance, history.
Singularly marked, standing above the stones on which she stepped,
above the earth on which she walked, she came down the street and
entered her gate, detached from her own entrance, standing above
the click of the latch, above the segments of light that lay as broken
rectangles on the gallery floor.
“You can’t tell. A man lives a long time. Goes through a heap from
first to last.”
They sat in the dining-room waiting; there were many hours of
waiting now. Horace talked incessantly, as if the summary of a life
being enacted on the bed in the front room loosed his tongue and
brought his own experience to a period, to a momentary full-stop.
Or he talked of the old man and he was touched often with grief.
Theodosia sat half-drowsed now, for she had slept but little of late.
The words came as a continued recitative as Horace talked.
“The old man was a good soldier. Nobody could say any dirt of the
old man. Proud of his lineage and rightly so. He loved the fine things
of the mind, you might say, and pursued classical learnen. Faithful to
his ideal, honest with all men, proud, gentle, tender as a woman.
Why, Father was a traveler far and wide. In his youth he spent
several years in travel—and a right smart of money too, I reckon.
Few men of his generation were more widely read, more richly
informed. I know what I say. In his youth he was an omnivorous
reader, optimistic, salubrious, and among his colleagues there was
none better fitted to lead and counsel the young. Faithful to his
highest conceptions, an inspiration to the youth of his circle, he was
intelligent, honest, proud, and as tender as a woman.”
He would grow tired and slip into his more negligent mood. “Did I
ever tell you about the time the old man put up Leslie Robinson for
Governor? He put out, I reckon, five thousand dollars to nominate
Les Robinson. It’s a pity the old man ever turned his talent to
politics, even for so short a time as it took to roll Les Robinson up
into a spit-ball and throw him up on the roof of the convention hall.
It’s all in the count. But Father believed in Les Robinson’s genius,
wanted to see him win, and he had some notion to get something
for himself out of it, I reckon. It’s no use now to waste breath on old
measures. All the west counties got in line, and then somebody got
all the mountains in a handful. It was a frame-up on Les. The owls
of iniquity will howl. No use to go into it now. Money melts in politics
like sugar in hot water. Nobody knows where’t goes. The most
hearty desire to render succor, service, unselfish devotion to the
common cause of myself and my country. I promise, if elected, to
emulate the great heroes of our great commonwealth in word and
act, to uphold the constitutions of the state and of the nation, to
honor the law and the right, and to protect the home as the
sanctuary of mankind.”
He was personally reminiscent now, his feet on a high hassock.
“You remember, don’t you, Theodosia, the time I ran for the state
senate?... It’s queer how it is, but your own brat that you begot
yourself grows up and looks you full in the face and asks you with a
sharp shoulder-blade, ‘What made you ever do that durned fool
thing for?’ I’ve known you, Theodosia, ever since you were no bigger
than my two hands, and earlier. Ronnie Robinson says, ‘Le’s make
this one a toast,’ and then Mike O’Connor says, ‘We’ll drink to the
health of the unborn.’ The time I acted Santy Claus in the church. I
never told in your hearen about that, did I, Dosia?
“Folks there in the church thought here’s a good time to get
Horace interested in church work, I reckon. Charlotte played the
organ there part of the time. I recollect they asked me to act Santy
Claus. ‘Who ever saw a Santy Claus six foot and over?’ I says, but
they’d got their heads set to’t. Mike O’Connor says, ‘God’s sake,
Horace!’ when he heard I was to be the Santy Claus. Christmas Eve
at night, it was to be. Rosie Granger made the costume for me to
wear, a red coat, boots with fur sewed on the top. A white beard all
over my mouth. ‘I drink to the health of the unborn,’ Mike O’Connor
says.”
She saw that he was repaying her for being a shoulder-blade to
his pride. “I drink to the health of the unborn,” he repeated the
saying. He was repaying her for all her scorn of him. “Tom Molloy
says, ‘God’s sake, he won’t stay sober.’ I recollect after I got on my
costume we all sat down in Tom Molloy’s room to wait till the church
was ready, all the singen down and the tableau over, up the street
from the church, in the old hotel. Miss Esther What’s-her-name
down-stairs promised to call me when it was my time to go on, and
we all sat down to a little cards, Tom Molloy, Mike O’Connor, and
Ronnie Robinson, uncle to Ruth, he was. Sat down to a few hands of
poker. Ronnie poured out the spirits and he poured big measures,
and I sat there all dolled up for Santy Claus. ‘Christmas comes but
once a year,’ Ronnie said, and then Mike stood up and, solemnly, he
meant every word of it too, says, ‘We’ll drink to the health of the
unborn.’ Charlotte was not goen out then. She was, you might say,
in a delicate condition, and God’s sake! It was you yourself,
Theodosia, that was curled up inside her asleep like a little kitten.
God’s sake! Mike stood up, solemnly, too, meant every word he said,
and out comes, ‘We’ll drink to the health of the unborn.’ Don’t you
ever forget that about Mike. Then Ronnie in his turn, ‘I drink to the
health of the unbegotten.’ I swear to God he did. After we’d drunk to
the health of the unbegotten twice or three times Tom was so drunk
he was beside himself and he says, ‘It’ll never do. It’ll never do on
earth. He can’t stand up on his feet, let alone walk around a
Christmas tree and hand out pretties,’ and we all sat down again to a
little cards to steady our nerves.
“Tinkle, tinkle, merry bells. I remember the night as well, cold
outside, the fire big in the grate, fireworks up the street where the
boys were out, good cheer, good friends, and a world new-born. I
recall I held two queens and was drawen for a third when up calls
Miss Esther and says it’s time to go over, says they’re on the last
piece, she can tell by the singen, and says they’ve already begun to
light the candles on the tree. Then Tom says, ‘He can’t do it. He’s
drunk. God’s sake, there’ll be a holy show if we let him get loose,’
and I called down to tell ’em to wait till I draw another queen, to
keep the song on foot till I draw one time more. Well, we went over,
and Ronnie laughed so hard he said he was in a paroxysm, and Mike
says, ‘A what?’ Mike always was a good friend of mine. I recollect
Tom was all in a tremble and he says, ‘It’ll be a holy show.’ Thought
I couldn’t do it.”
A pity for him came into her mind and a hatred, cruel and bitter,
for these men, his friends, some of them dead or gone somewhere.
She remembered them now; they were scattered away from the
town, or some of them were dead. She pushed her hair back from
her forehead and sank into the hollows of the chair, her face turned
toward him and away from the fire. She pitied him for a moment
before he spoke again, but when he spoke her pity was lost,
dispelled. “I handed out these little gauze sacks with candy showen
through to fifty chaps. ‘I drink to the health of the unborn,’ Mike
says. Old Mike. I handed out these little gauze sacks and I handed a
good precept along with each one. I made a first-rate Santy Claus. ‘I
drink to the health of the unbegotten,’ Ronnie says, over at the hotel
before we set out for the church.”
She could see him as she sat. He ran his fingers through his hair,
full of the pride of memory. He had forgotten her then. His blond
hair stood over his head, ready always for his fingers when they
responded to his pride, and she pitied again, seeing the bare spots
above his temples. His great body was untouched by fatigue, was
full of vitality. He could talk all night, she thought. He was speaking
further, half slyly, making an end each instant and renewing himself.
“There’s more I could tell if I was of a mind to, but I won’t. After it
was over we decided to take a walk in the cold to sort of clear up
our heads. We took a walk after it was over, a long walk, took a
walk....” His voice seemed delayed, the words slowly pushed apart to
let clearer pictures stand between.
She was waiting on a street that was thronged with people, all of
them hushed to await some event that gathered itself together and
approached far up the street. “The street-parade,” a voice said.
There was a wide promenade left for the procession which was
coming far up the way, all the people standing back and all very still.
The procession was near at hand then, was passing by. It was made
up of women, long strange creatures, not old but haggard, spent,
thin, labored. Their long lank garments hung to their ankles, but
their meager thin forms could be seen through the dejected attire
they wore. They walked in an irregular procession, more than a
hundred although they were uncounted. It was a terror to see them.
They converged toward something, focused toward some
following object or person although their faces were set forward and
they marched on. Their steps plodded on the pavement. They
centered back in a fan-shape of interest toward some other, some
focus. Then there was a great blare of sudden music and, the
women being finished, the object was at hand. It was the figure of a
man, made of human flesh. He stood at ease on a dais or float and
moved forward with the blare of music without effort. The women
were gone now, their backs visible as they walked down the way of
the procession, but the man was at hand in the midst of a great
burst of horn music. He was more than life-size, was of heroic
proportions, moving easily along on the float as if he were propelled
by some unseen force engendered by the multitude of women. He
was one, one man, heroic in size, bursting with strength and life,
made of flesh like a man. He stood erect, his limbs apart, in a lewd
pose. He was naked. On his body were marks then; on his chest
they began, as small warts sprinkled over his breast, but lower, on
his upper abdomen, they were larger and were shaped like small
teats. They became larger as they descended over his abdomen and
became more alive, each one more living than the last. They were
rigid with life and were pointed forward toward the women.
Her own self stood at her elbow. She turned quickly about, toward
her self, and she knew a deep wish, an ardent prayer that her self
had not seen this last. Her self had not seen, was watching the
women as they were going far down the street. The great fanfare of
horns became suddenly remote and the float had passed by. Her self
had not seen it. She was glad with a great thankful prayer. She
found then, suddenly, that she had waked from sleep, that she was
in the room with Horace, who was still speaking. His voice gathered
itself back, closing the wide opening that had stood between his
words. “Silent Night and one thing and another,” the words said,
gathering together into sense. “It was Mike proposed to take a walk,
and we sang a long while out by the Johntown forks of the road.”
Her dream rolled back before her conscious eyes, vivid in memory
now. The terrible drama of it stood it before her eyes as a passing
design. Her picturing mind went back to it, detail by detail,
fascinated and frightened. She put it together and took it apart,
dwelling on each terrible picture, and saw the dreary women in
procession, laboring forward, and then the man infinitely furnished,
and then herself guarding her self from the sight. She went back to
the beginning and stated it anew, bringing the pageant into play
slowly. The women marched in their long drab garments, walking
without music, laboring forward. The man then, and the blare of
horns.
She walked to the opened door and looked at Anthony where he
lay stretched out to die, covered as she had covered him. He was
sleeping profoundly, his breath continuing. The evening was early as
yet; later she would look for others to come, Frank and a friend or
two of Horace’s. She went back to her seat by the fire, and Horace
was still speaking.
“Then I recollect we set-to to finish up the job Mike proposed for
us, to walk down every street and alley in town. ‘We’ll slight not
one,’ Mike said. ‘No alley or by-way so humble it would be said we
wouldn’t walk on it,’ Mike said. That’s how I ever got in the alley
back of the jail, I reckon. ‘I drink to the health of the unborn,’ Mike
said, up in Tom’s room before we went over to the Christmas tree,
and had you in mind, you understand. Mike was always a good
friend of mine. I’ve been richly endowed with friendship all my life,
good friends as any you’ll ever see any man have.... That my father
should ’a’ come you might say to poverty in his old age, to actual
poverty. Those sneaken, low-down, three-times-damned hounds that
got his property. I’ll do something about it yet. Put up Les Robinson
for governor and all the low-down sharks in the state got the pickens
of his purse. They’re not done with me yet, not by a jugful. That my
father, Anthony Bell, should.... The old man adored you, always from
the start. I could see it, you no bigger than two years old. Believed
in you. ‘She’s got a rare musical talent,’ he said. Used to get warmed
up over it, you no bigger than that high. What’ll become of us now,
we two the only ones left? We’ll have to console each other, get near
together. The world, it’ll be a lonesome place for me and you without
the old man.”
Theodosia was distraught when he began to weep. She walked to
the inner door again, but when she returned his head was in his
hands, his body bowed forward. Retelling all that he had said of
Anthony he cried aloud, “A fine old man. I’ll be a bereft man now,”
turning his mind toward self-pity. “Come to your father’s arms,
Dosia. My heart, it’s broken. Come kiss your poor old father.”
She kept in her place. “I’ll stay where I am,” she said.
She had moved to a chair toward the table, toward her
grandfather’s door, and sat erect. The large heavy sideboard reached
beyond her, too near, as if she were crowded into its shadow, as if
she were something living that was being expelled from the dark,
dead mass of the furniture, pushed outward into a quivering point of
pain. She stared at the dim pattern in the carpet, or she moved and
stood before the sideboard, her arms folded together. Her tears were
gone now and she gathered herself together in the act of folding her
arms. Expelled from the entire room, from all the history of the
place, she turned about without guidance and stood near the wall.
“You poor child. Come to my arms,” he said, coming near to her.
“Your hands off me. I’ll stay where I am.” She felt herself to be
diminished to a point of denial, concentrated to negation, and his
grief continued.
“Over your grandfather’s dead body, around his deathbed, you
wouldn’t kiss your own father. She’s hard, a hard girl....”
His tears dwindled to a close, lingering while she, feeling a
summons, walked toward the inner door. She stood beside Anthony’s
bed listening to his long, slow breathing, each breath fixed into a
space of quiet. She opened the window to give him fresh cold air for
his labored inhalations. One or two came, friends of Horace, and
later Frank came. Theodosia sat by the bed alone, but now and then
one of the men from the parlor would come to stay with her for a
little. At midnight the night-lamp which Anthony liked to have near
at hand burned out and she called Siver to carry it away and renew
the oil. When he returned with it rubbed clean and restored, he set
it on the table and stood beside the bed, charmed by the enactment
there, and presently it appeared that Anthony would not breathe
again, that one of the slowly breathed sobs that had quietly shaken
his body had been his last breath. They, Theodosia and Siver, stood
beside the bed, she making her farewell of the beloved cadaver.
Siver found two silver pieces from his pocket and held them in his
hand, uncertainly, or he showed them to her, and they seemed for
the moment appropriate, as if they gave some sign or made some
charm. Then Siver made as if he would lay them across Anthony’s
eyelids and she consented. When he had done this she adjusted the
coins with her own hands, and thus they closed his eyes. Then she
called the men from the parlor.
After the funeral Horace went to Paducah to attend court. Mr. Reed
called on Theodosia, his blank kindly face looking at her from across
the parlor while she settled to her chair. He seemed weary of his
mission before he had begun, knowing the end from the beginning.
Anthony had made a will seven years earlier making her his sole
heir. The formality of unfolding papers and citing memoranda was
scarcely necessary, for there was nothing left. He might at any
moment have forgotten to proceed, to have summed all with a sigh.
He told her how she might stay certain creditors and hold the
house for a short time. “Until you can look about you a little,” he
said. He had taken his hat from the table and had placed the
memoranda on the piano. She might rent a part of the house,
retaining a part of it for herself, he suggested. “Until you get used to
things and can look about you a little.” She had already floated far
from the hour and the interview in her apathy, in the numbness
following the acceptance of the disclosures. He would give her any
advice he could, he said; she might always apply to him. Apply for
what? she wondered, and she closed the house door, looking intently
at the door-frame, at the latch, at the baseboard and the floor,
seeing them for the first time, seeing them as her possessions.
Horace did not return from Paducah. Time passed. He wrote once
hurriedly asking her to send his clothing, or again, much later, he
expressed affection and said that he had entered a law firm. In his
final letter he said, “My practice needs new life and this city offers a
splendid field. I shall start life anew. I shall grow younger every day
in this new field. The broad river spreads out before me as I pen
these lines.”
She walked through the house day after day, her house,
experiencing ownership, making certain her knowledge of the place
through which she had moved since first she could remember. She
saw the stairway intently each time she mounted it, and saw the
cabinets where the Indian hatchets and flints lay. She owned the
house with a deep passion, possessed it, brick laid on brick in the
chimney, the sagging floor of the upper gallery, the upper chambers.
She had rented a part of it to a small family, retaining the parlor and
the chamber above, and she had her meals at the renters’ table.
Frank looked at her complacently now across the space of the
parlor. She saw the deeply subordinated admiration in his eyes which
had their advice from his life design. He would sit at ease in his chair
beside the lamp, Albert’s place, and listen to her playing, more at
ease now that Albert and Conway were gone. His large, rugged,
unbalanced face induced a thought of solid strength, of simplicity.
“You could work him out by a formula,” she thought, as she saw him
appropriate her music to his hour of relaxation. He had an office in
the court square of the town and his talk was of wills, deeds, farms,
contracts, or foreclosures, unless he remembered to quote from his
favorite poets. He remembered the poets often. As a formula he sat
now, out before the walls of the parlor, detached from her
determination to keep her house, her inheritance.
The house was lost, but she was determined to regain it. It was
hers by the deeply imbedded elements of memory, hers by all the
fragrant, richly toned ideas that had grown with her own growth.
She looked now at her first memory of the earth and saw in it its
enhanced qualities as they had come to her first-seeing. She knew
that she had been born at the farm, Linden Hill, but that she had
been brought to the town house a few months after her birth, when
Linden Hill had passed to other hands. She saw, as if it were a
super-drama where time and event are enlarged, herself at play as a
little child at the foot of the large rough stone chimney in the east
wall, and she knew the soil there intimately with her eyes and with
her fingertips, for in the drama she had dug into it with a small
spade and had shaped it with her hands. A few herbs such as sorrel
and dwarf mint grew there, and a little beyond, away from the damp
of the wall, were the first clover blossoms. She saw her hand
prodding into the earth to find out its way, her head bent low to see
and to smell the crumpled soil. Her mind was fixed now to regain the
visible sign of the old play, to keep the trail that led back to her first-
knowledge.
She saw how the great trunk of the elm tree came out of the
earth, deeply wrinkled and gray or black, as the light fell. Among the
floating festoons of leaves overhead, a sharp sudden cry,
remembered, so real and vivid as to be cruelly felt, had struck her
with a quick and joyous pleasure which was like a recognition—and
she had heard her first bird-song. “At these points I am attached to
the earth,” she thought, looking at her moving hands, her feet, her
memories, at the sorrel and ivy of memory. Aunt Bet had gone to
another place without regret or outcry, and Siver was gone. She
taught her class with fervor. “I perceive the earth, myself imbedded
into it, attached to it at all points,” she thought, “sinking at each
moment into it.”
It was late when she reached her room, near midnight. She sat on
the edge of her bed staring at the wall, looking with horror at what
she had left in Lethe’s cabin. Lethe had gone somewhere in the dark
with the knife in her strong hand, and she would plunge the knife
into hated flesh. Her hand would feel the dull resistance of human
bone and it would rain up and down, stabbing deeper with each
blow, letting out the blood, tearing through flesh until her hate had
eased itself. She looked at the two, Lethe and Americy, and their two
ways met and became one horror that dazed her mind and drowsed
her eyes so that, moving back from it, she sank quickly into a deep
sleep. She lay in the heart of evil and slept all the night, lying as if
she had been drugged, uncovered to the cool air that came in at the
open windows. She lay on the outside of the bed, as she had first
fallen, deeply shut into sleep, and the chill damp air that came with
a dense fog at dawn did not appraise her of anything, nor did the
ringing of the morning angelus.
Late in the morning she stirred slightly and was aware of herself
as the residue of disaster, the leavings of tragedy, the nothing of the
evil hereafter. A faint cry for pity hushed itself on her lips. Then she
began to chill in the cold and she slowly aroused herself to sit on the
side of the bed. Her body was shaking in curious rhythms that built
upward toward a climax and subsided only to arise again, a
compound rhythm of quivering flesh. She reached for a warm
dressing-gown and covered herself in the bed, but the chill
persisted. Later the woman who had rented the house came
bringing some food.
“I thought you might be sick,” she said. “I do believe you got a
chill.”
She set the tray she had brought on the table and began to build
a fire in the grate, talking meanwhile about her morning work,
suggesting remedies for the cold she said Theodosia had caught.
There had been a tragedy in the town during the night, she said. A
man had been killed—Ross. She asked Theodosia if she knew a
black man named Ross. He had been killed the night before. When
she had told this news Theodosia cried out that she had killed him,
and the woman was frightened as she came away from the fireplace
and stood over the bed.
“You must be real sick,” she said. “Is your throat sore maybe?
What hurts you?”
“Oh, I killed him,” Theodosia cried out again. She could feel the
strange rhythms tearing her body in orderly stabs of pain. “I stabbed
his throat with a harness knife. I cut his throat.”
“You never did no such thing. You’re clean out of your head. I
better send for Dr. Muir.”
“I stabbed his throat with a harness knife.”
“How do you know it was a harness knife? How comes it you know
so much about it?”
“I did it,” Theodosia said. She sank back to the bed then.
“It’s curious you know how it happened. But it was a black
woman, Lethe, stabbed him. Everybody knows it.”
“Lethe stabbed Lou, but I killed Ross. I cut his throat open.”
“Lethe tells how it happened. She’s in jail now. She’s confessed
and there’s no question about who did it. She did it. She went after
Lou, seems like, but when Ross defended Lou she killed him. Out at
the brick-yard it happened, about midnight they say. Lethe’s in jail
now and she’ll maybe go to prison for ten years or so. Ross was her
husband, but he went off after Lou, and so the court will likely give
her a light sentence, they say. Ten years or fifteen, but that’s not
light, goodness knows. Anyway she won’t hang, or is not likely, they
say.”
“I did it,” Theodosia cried out again, sitting up in bed again. “I’ll
go to prison ten years, fifteen maybe. Hang maybe. I don’t want to
be hung. But I did it....”
The strength of the chill multiplied and the rhythms flowed in a
strange complexity, short rhythms fitted into the long flow of the
heavier beat. Later the fever came and she was still again.
A month later Theodosia sat for a little while each day in the sunshine
on the south side of her room. Dr. Muir had come every day to listen
to her breathing through a stethoscope. She had let life bring her
back to life if it would, lending little aid herself to the return. Her
fiddle had been shut securely into its case.
She would have to rest for a long while, Dr. Muir said, and she
would have to live in the country and have much rich food. She was
shut into some remote death although breath came and went in her
throat. The doctor’s suggestions became a law that moved over her,
having its way without protest. Abundant food regularly taken, more
than was desired—it came to her bed. Presently it would be owed
for, but now it was merely there, to be eaten, the last caloric
measure. She would not be playing the fiddle, Dr. Muir said, not for