Eva lies longer in bed each day, her strength fading. Topsy brings Eva a bouquet of flowers, and when Marie tries to keep Topsy out of the room, Eva challenges her mother and takes the flowers. Eva tries to make her mother see that Topsy and the other slaves are children of God, but Marie isn’t interested. Eva then asks Ophelia to cut off some locks of Eva’s hair, which she distributes among the servants, telling them she will wait to see them in heaven. Eva speaks to her father, trying to get him to say he is a Christian, but although St. Clare recognizes the saintliness of his child, he has no such feeling in himself. Tom spends as much time as possible with Eva, but Mammy must steal opportunities to see her because of Marie’s demands. At last St. Clare becomes resigned to Eva’s death. Tom begins to sleep on the verandah outside Eva’s room and tells Ophelia that he expects death to come soon. When it does come, Tom says, to such a child, all who are watching will have a glimpse of heaven. That night at midnight, Ophelia sees a change come over Eva and calls for the doctor. Eva speaks once to her father; then, as she is dying, he asks her what she sees, and she answers, “O! love,—joy—, peace!”
When Eva’s body lies in state in her bedroom, Topsy tries to come in and Rosa sends her away, but St. Clare corrects this, and Topsy throws herself weeping on the floor beside the bed. Ophelia comes in, tries to comfort Topsy, and at last lifts the little girl up and takes her out. St. Clare, recognizing Eva’s influence, thinks his own life of little account. Marie’s grief is uncontrolled, and she monopolizes the servants. She believes her husband cold; Tom knows better and stays close to St. Clare. The family and servants go back to New Orleans, and St. Clare spends as much time as he can away from home in the cafes and attending to business.
As the weeks go by, St. Clare struggles to find faith and seeks solace in Eva’s Bible. He remembers his promise to Eva and begins the legal proceedings to emancipate Tom. Marie continues to be demanding of her servants; Ophelia has become gentler, especially with Topsy, toward whom she no longer feels aversion. She asks that St. Clare immediately sign Topsy over to her legally, and he agrees and gives the girl to Ophelia, who tells St. Clare that the child no more “belongs” to her than she did before; it is only that now she can protect her. She asks if St. Clare has made provisions for his servants in case of his death, and he says he has not.
In a reflective mood, St. Clare plays a piece of religious music on the piano; this surprises and touches Tom and Ophelia. St. Clare and Ophelia talk about Christianity, which he has shunned in part because he believes that most so-called Christians he has known are hypocrites. They talk again about slavery and the inevitability of emancipation, and St. Clare says that the North as well as the South must participate, when that happens, in educating the free men and women and preparing them for self-sufficiency. At that point St. Clare goes out for a walk, and Tom awaits his return. But St. Clare is carried home; he has been stabbed while trying to stop a fight between two men in a café, and he is bleeding to death. A doctor comes; the family and servants gather around in grief and terror. St. Clare begs Tom to pray, and Tom does so. At last St. Clare opens his eyes, says his mother’s name, and dies.
