Scarlet fever

Scarlet fever is an eight-week illness in Eveline Hutchins’s story, bringing enforced isolation at a moment when she cannot stop thinking about Dirk. The confinement is both a physical ordeal and, unexpectedly, a relief from the emotional strain of her separation from him.

Circumstances and Confinement

After her mother and sisters hurry her to Santa Fe, Eveline hates the hot, dusty place and remains absorbed in thoughts of Dirk. She tells people she believes in free love and spends long hours in bed reading and imagining him beside her. The narrative then describes her contracting scarlet fever and having to remain in the hospital’s isolation wing for eight weeks; it does not specify where that hospital is or describe her symptoms.

Effects on Eveline

Eveline regards the enforced bed rest as a kind of relief, though the account does not suggest that the illness resolves her longing for Dirk. During the confinement, people send her flowers, and she reads books on design and interior decorating and makes watercolors. Scarlet fever thus temporarily redirects her time toward reading and artistic work, while marking a pause in the restless period that began with her removal to Santa Fe.