Yellow Wife

The night before Essex’s arrival, Rubin is fidgety with anticipation. Pheby tries to maintain an appearance of calm. When Essex enters the gates, she feels unprepared to handle the sight of him. She hopes Essex will see her, but he never looks up. The flogging is scheduled for Saturday, and families will come to watch the whipping.

On the day of the flogging, Rubin tells Pheby that she must wear her finest clothing and jewelry. She begs Rubin to let the children stay behind, and he reluctantly agrees. The crowd cheers as the beating begins. Essex looks up and sees Pheby in the crowd. Pheby witnesses each gruesome detail of his abuse.

After Essex is removed from the platform, families enjoy picnic lunches and music. That night, at the tavern, Pheby plays music for the enslavers who assisted in Essex’s capture and torture. When the night is finished, she slips sleeping powder into Rubin’s drink so that she can visit Essex and care for his wounds.

Pheby meets Essex in the dark jail cell where he is being held. She cares for his wounds and gives him water. He is weak and near death. Pheby feels guilty for not leaving with Essex and for the state he is in now, but he assures her that it is not her fault. She gives him a hymnal that the preacher of the church gifted to her so that he can hold it close and remember that she is there.

The next evening, Pheby gives Rubin sleeping powder again so she can visit Essex. She gives Essex food and applies more medicine to his wounds. The two share their stories of survival. As Pheby returns to the big house, she is spotted by Sissy.

Now that Essex is near, Pheby’s spirit feels renewed. She steals an envelope and paper from Rubin’s study and writes a letter to Essex’s friend in the North to help him escape Lapier’s jail. While meeting with the dressmaker to have new clothes fitted for her daughters, Pheby convinces the dressmaker to post the letter by saying it is for a birthday surprise for Rubin.

Pheby escorts Monroe to a part of the yard where Essex can see his son from the cell. Monroe notices that the prisoner has been looking at his mother. Later, Sissy confronts Pheby about what she saw. Sissy says she will stay quiet so long as Pheby is willing to tutor her son. Pheby refuses and claims that she has done nothing wrong. That night, when Pheby returns to her room, the envelope with the letter for Essex is sitting on her bed pillow, indicating that the dressmaker had given it to Rubin.

When Pheby wakes in the morning, July tells her that Rubin left in the night with her daughters and Monroe. Rubin told no one where he was going, only that he left work for Pheby to complete. Pheby is overcome with worry for her children and what will happen to her son. Pheby is reminded that no matter how comfortable she may have felt in her position, it could all be taken away from her with ease: “My children and I belonged to Rubin Lapier. We were his property. He could do with us as he pleased” (222). She visits Elsie and tells her that she was right—Lapier was the devil and she should have been more cautious.

While she waits to find out what has happened to her children, Pheby writes in her journal: “The pages swelled with my note keeping. So many names collected, so many lives affected” (226). At the front of the diary is a collection of her mother’s wisdom, and Pheby feels grounded by her mother’s influence. She visits Essex and is overwhelmed by the filthiness of his cell. The couple talk about their struggles, as well as their survival. Pheby tells Essex that if something happens to her children, she will blame him. When she leaves the cell, she sees a black cat run across her path.