Epsey watched from the front door as Ethan rode away. She was perplexed and somewhat concerned to see her husband do something that seemed out of character. She had overheard part of his conversation with Henry, but never expected him to attend any public meeting, particularly one that might lead to violence. Ever since she had known him, he had seemed obsessed with staying away from other people, minding his own business, and not becoming involved in any of the public issues or events that seemed important to most other men. He rarely talked to her about his brother, but had made a few gentle comments about his wish that Henry would just take care of his shoemaker’s shop, and maybe find another woman, since his wife had now been dead for almost two years. Henry seemed to be exerting a greater influence on Ethan, and she had a sense of foreboding as she saw him riding toward the mill.

When Ethan arrived, he walked back and forth across the low dam and then went under the mill house to examine the waterwheel, now standing still with closed gates diverting the normally rushing water in the mill race into the main stream. Having spent many hours up in the mill waiting for his grain to be ground, he was thoroughly familiar with the topside system of flat belts, shafts, and pulleys, but there was a latticed fence enclosing the area beneath the house, with a small locked gate. The miller wanted to be sure that hogs and other animals didn’t fall into the stream and jam the moving parts of his mill. Ethan had always been reluctant to ask permission to open the gate, but this afternoon it was open, and he stooped and entered the closed space. He felt more at ease here by himself than in the yard with the gathering crowd. He could see through openings in the fence that there were several dozen horses standing hitched in the yard, and small groups of men were talking quietly to one another. Some of the settlers seemed somewhat tense, and the customary ribald exchanges were missing. For some reason, he also felt a sense of impending trouble.