Chapter 4 Summary

Ethan daydreams about the coming evening. Ethan has been a loner. He sings and whistles as he drives over to see Hale to deliver the lumber. He feels his life changing for the better with Mattie in it. Ethan thinks back on his relationship with his mother. As she aged, she withdrew into herself and was not talkative with Ethan. When he asked her why she didn't talk, she said it was because she was busy listening and pointed in the direction of the family graveyard. After his mother died, Ethan knew society would frown on Zeena staying unless they were married. He could not face living alone. Zeena was his logical choice. Ethan still dreams of becoming an engineer. However, Zeena started having her "sickly" spells within a year of the marriage, and Ethan cannot find a buyer for the farm.

Ethan...