When the stranger becomes sick and Ann helps him, is she motivated by kindness or self-interest?
After bathing in the dead stream on the afternoon of May 25th, the stranger becomes sick the next day and stumbles into his tent around midday. When he does not reappear the next morning, Ann worries he might be dying. Still scared he could be a threat, Ann again says she is uncertain what to think:
I know he is sick, but I do not know how sick, and therefore I do not know what to do. It may be that he just doesn't feel very well and has decided to stay in bed. Or he may be so sick he can't get up. He may even be dying. (44)
Ann says she was not worried the night before, but now she is troubled by a dream:
I dreamed (or daydreamed) that it was my father in the tent, sick, and then that my whole family were there again, in the house. I felt so joyful it took my breath away, and I woke up. (44)
She then becomes afraid she will be alone for the rest of her life if the man dies:
I thought I had become used to being alone, and to the idea that I would always be alone, but I was wrong. Now that somebody is here, the thought of going back, the thought of the house and the valley being empty again--this time forever, I am sure of that--seems so terrible I cannot bear it.
So, even though the man is a stranger and I am afraid of him, I am worrying about his being sick, and the idea that he might die makes me feel quite desperate. (45)
Ann doesn't simply say she should help the man because he's sick and might die; and she shows no guilt here that she didn't warn him about the stream, telling herself she wasn't sure it was dangerous though she knew it was. Her main concern seems to be alone forever if the man dies. Fear of loneliness is what makes her desperate, not concern for the man's life. However, when she later explains her thinking to Loomis, she describes her motivation as merely charitable:
"I was here," I said. "I stayed in the woods." (I thought it better not to mention the cave.) "Then I saw you were sick, and I thought you needed help." (49)
What did Loomis probably think when he learned Ann knew the stream was dead but she did not warn him about it?
When Ann explained to Loomis that she saw him bathe in a stream she knew was dead, it seems he did a double take:
"I need to find out what made me sick."
"I think it is because you swam in Burden Creek," I said.
"Burden Creek?"
"The stream across the road."
"You know about that?"
"I was watching--from a distance away."
"You know about the water?"
"Nothing lives in it. I don't know just why."
"I discovered that. But not until the day I took a bath in it. So stupid to be careless, after all this time. Still, I should have tested. But that other water, in the pond, was all right. So I thought..." (50)
When Loomis asked twice, "You know...?" Ann supposes his questions to mean, "You know about my swimming in the stream?" and "You know the water is dead?" But the first question could mean more specifically, "You knew about my swimming in a dead stream?" Or he could have also been asking the same question twice and clarifying the second time: "You know about that? You know about the water?" Either way, his repetition of the question, "You know?" suggests some surprise that she knows something.
What probably surprises him? That she knew for days he was in the valley but didn't introduce herself until he was sick? That she knew he was swimming in a dead stream but didn't warn him about it (rather, she just watched him do it)? That she knew the stream was dead but didn't warn him before he went in it?
What probably surprises him? That she knew for days he was in the valley but didn't introduce herself until he was sick? That she knew he was swimming in a dead stream but didn't warn him about it (rather, she just watched him do it)? That she knew the stream was dead but didn't warn him before he went in it?
When Ann says, "Nothing lives in it [the stream]," and Loomis replies, "I discovered that. But not until the day I took a bath in it," could there be some irony and reproach in his words?