was he thinking?  Surely he knew of my relation to Zoe.  I caught out of his expression the prejudice of the time against the social equality that I was maintaining in standing by Zoe and having her with me.  I had not shirked my heritage.  Perhaps Douglas admired me too much to speak what was in his mind; or perhaps he was too much of the politician to trench upon ground so personal.  At all events, we were silent for a moment.  And then Douglas called to Lamborn.  It was time to go.  Lamborn rose to his feet, swaying a little as he did so, and came to where we sat.  He looked me over in a scrutinizing way, then shot forth his hand for me to take it.  It was an awkward act and out of place!  Yet I felt compelled to give him my hand.  And with good-bys they bestrode their horses and were gone.  I began to have ominous reflections.

I went to the hut and asked Zoe what Lamborn had been saying to her.  She laughed and seemed reluctant to tell me.  I pressed her then; and she said that he had followed her through the house and tried to kiss her; that she had come around to the front door so as to be in sight of Douglas and me; then that Lamborn had taken the fiddle down and had begun to play it.

All the possibilities of Lamborn’s attitude dawned on me instantly.  How dearly might I pay in some way for my father’s desire to be rich!  If Douglas had taken his initial hurt in life from his uncle’s failure to educate him, I had begun the weaving of my destiny with these threads which my father had bequeathed to me.  What would my complications be if Zoe eloped with a wild fellow like Lamborn, bringing his personality into the texture of my affairs; the matter of this land, and Zoe’s interest in it?  I could sense ahead an unending difficulty, an ever deepening annoyance, or even tragedy.  Had I gone too far in dividing the estate with Zoe?  For the first time the presence of the negro in the state, the complications that it created, were forced upon me concretely and with impressive effect.  My heart registered a vague apprehension.  I warned Zoe against Lamborn, and decided that he should not come about me again.

The work on my house was now progressing rapidly.  I wished to move into it on my birthday, June 18th.  I watched its completion day by day, and in addition I had much to do around the farm.  I had made a start with a few calves toward raising cattle.  In every way I was forging ahead as fast as I could.  But my greatest delight was the house.  I wanted to make it as beautiful as possible, and I did not need to spare expense.  I decided to go to St. Louis for curtains and chairs, for beds and lounges, chests and bureaus.  When the last of May came I set out for the city.

CHAPTER XIV