- Miss Ophelia finds Topsy taking a flower to Eva’s corpse. The servant girl begins to moan and cry out loud, but Miss Ophelia rushes forward to silence her. That’s when Topsy says she wishes she were dead, too.
- Miss Ophelia explains that Eva has gone to heaven, so Topsy shouldn’t be sad for her.
- Topsy’s sad because Eva was the only person who loved her, and there is nobody left in the world to love her now.
- Miss Ophelia takes the miserable Topsy away from the room. As she leads her away, Miss Ophelia says that she herself will try to love Topsy.
- Based on Eva’s example, the older woman hopes that she has learned something about Christ-like love for others.
- At this moment, everything changes between Miss Ophelia and Topsy – she wins Topsy over completely.
- Selfish Marie thinks she’s the only one suffering as a result of Eva’s death, that St. Clare is heartless because he isn’t crying over their lost daughter.
- But Tom knows that St. Clare suffers far more than Marie, even though she is more vocal about it. He sees the way St. Clare walks around sadly, and sits in Eva’s room holding her open Bible.
- A few days later, the St. Clare family returns to New Orleans. Marie complains to Miss Ophelia that St. Clare is unfeeling and is already forgetting Eva.
- Mammy sees that St. Clare feels the loss of Eva deeply, saying that St. Clare is getting too thin from grief.
- Tom tries to "save" St. Clare by talking to him about Jesus Christ and telling him that Eva is with Jesus in heaven.
- St. Clare wants to believe in religion, but he struggles. Nevertheless, he perceives Tom’s real sorrow and believes Tom loves him.
- I would lay down my life for you, Tom says to St. Clare, if only you would become a Christian!
- Tom then asks St. Clare to read a Bible verse, the 11th verse of the Gospel of John, the account of Lazarus raised from the dead.
- St. Clare begins to realize that all of this is real to Tom. He asks if Tom’s faith would be shaken if St. Clare admitted that he doesn’t believe in the Bible.
- No, Tom asserts, no, it would not hurt Tom’s faith, even though "Mas’r" knows more than Tom does.
- St. Clare feels like Tom’s faith brings him closer to Eva and to the gates of heaven. He says they should talk more about this another day, but right now, he just wants to be left alone.