Ethan Frome

As Ethan loads lumber into his sleigh the next morning, he recalls the previous night’s events and wishes that he had kissed Mattie. He also thinks about how sickly and unhappy Mattie was when she first arrived in Starkfield; her parents’ death had left her impoverished, forcing her to become a stenographer, a shop clerk, and finally, “in some sense, indentured” to the Fromes (36).

Still concerned that Zeena suspects something, Ethan decides to return to the farm before taking the lumber into town. Here, he finds Zeena wearing her best dress and sitting next to a packed suitcase; she explains that she’s going to consult a new doctor in Bettsbridge and that she’ll be spending the night with a relative. Although Ethan knows the visit will probably be expensive, he’s relieved to learn that Zeena is preoccupied and eager for a night alone with Mattie. He agrees that his hired man, Jotham Powell, can drive Zeena to the train station but, feeling obliged to explain why he isn’t going himself, lies that he’s expecting an advance payment on the lumber:

As soon as the words were spoken he regretted them, not only because they were untrue—there being no prospect of his receiving cash payment from Hale—but also because he knew from experience the imprudence of letting Zeena think he was in funds on the eve of one of her therapeutic excursions (39).