- Warning: it will be several chapters before we pick up where we left off in the last chapter with Pudd'nhead waiting for the twins to come hang out with him.
- We backtrack to find out what's been going on with Roxy all this time. It turns out that she's been wildly successful at her chambermaiding venture on the steamboat and was eventually promoted to head chambermaid. Go, Roxy!
- Eventually, though, she came down with rheumatism (a weakening of the joints) and decided to resign since she'd saved up enough money to live comfortably.
- Or so she'd thought. Unfortunately, the bank where she'd kept her savings went belly up and she lost all her money. She decides to return to Dawson's Landing.
- Roxy's first stop? To see Tom at Judge Driscoll's place. Surely, she thinks, Tom will remember her fondly as his childhood nurse (and hopefully toss a few bucks her way).
- Roxy goes to Judge Driscoll's house and hangs out with some of her old pals and regales them all with her tales from the sea. They tell her that Tom is in St. Louis and that he spends a lot of time there.
- Determined to make this reunion with Tom happen, Roxy comes back every day after that. One day she talks to Chambers about Tom and finds out that the Judge gives him fifty bucks a month (a huge amount for the time) and that Tom gambles it all away.
- Chambers also tells her that Driscoll had to pay two hundred bucks (a super huge amount for the time) to pay off Tom's gambling debts. He was so peeved that he disinherited him and took him out of his will.
- Oh, no! Roxy realizes her plan to get some money out of Tom is quickly going down the tubes.
- Roxy starts to flip out, but Chambers eases her mind by telling her that Driscoll eventually put Tom back in the will.
- A few days later, Roxy returns to Driscoll's. Tom is back from his trip—time for the big reunion with her long-lost son.
- Chambers tells Tom that Roxy wants to see him. Tom is really perturbed that Chambers would even dare to "disturb [him] with the social attentions of n*****s" (8.35) so he kicks Chambers three times. Real nice, Tom.
- Tom shouts at Chambers to send Roxy in. She enters, acting super sweet to him.
- And Tom's just as nice to her, right? Ha! He tells her to make it snappy and just tell him what she wants from him.
- Roxy's pretty disappointed at his reaction. She tells him that she's been having a rough time and would appreciate a dollar.
- Tom is having none of that and tells her to Get Out Now. She continues to try to appeal to his sympathy (um, good luck with that, Roxy).
- Tom refuses to help her.
- Suddenly Roxy goes from friendly to furious. She informs Tom that she's given him his chance and that soon he'll be down on his knees begging for another chance from her.
- Huh? Tom doesn't know exactly what she's talking about, but he doesn't like the sound of it. At all.
- Tom asks her what she means and she tells him that she's going to go to Driscoll and tell him everything she knows.
- Oh, great. Tom thinks she's somehow found out that he's in debt again (an interesting tidbit for us readers, btw) and figures that he's got to keep her quiet.
- Tom holds out a dollar to her, but she doesn't take it. Instead, Roxy tells him that she knows something about him that will do more than get him excluded from the will.
- Whoa. Tom nervously asks her what she's talking about, but she just says that delivering the information to Driscoll will earn her five dollars.
- As Roxy predicted, Tom drops to his knees and begs her to tell him what she knows. She savors the moment and then tells him to get up.
- Tom begs her not to tell his uncle. He'll even give her the five dollars she wants!
- Ha! Roxy tells him that he's going to be giving her a lot more than five measly bucks. But that she'll tell him somewhere else: the haunted house, an old abandoned place where Roxy's been staying.
- Roxy tells him to give her the dollar bill he held out earlier and some whiskey for the road. He gives her the money and whiskey and she leaves.