East of Eden: Chapter 40 Summary & Analysis

After her meeting with Cal, Kate calms herself by touching a small vial she keeps hanging on a chain around her neck. Inside the vial is a lethal dose of morphine; it brings her comfort. She thinks back to the time shortly after she had collected Charles’ inheritance. An old employee of Faye’s, named Ethyl, had come to see her. She told Kate she’d found bottles buried in the yard after Faye passed away. Kate gave her 100 dollars and sent her away.

Later that day Ethyl is arrested—a man has complained that she stole about 100 dollars from him. She is found guilty, but she insists to the judge that she has been framed. She asks to speak to him alone, but the judge sends her away, and sentences her to be driven out of town.

For a long time Kate doesn’t think of Ethyl, but slowly the idea that she is out there begins to make Kate nervous. She sends her henchman Joe out to find Ethyl at all costs. He agrees, and secretly wonders why an old whore is so important to Kate. When Cal begins to follow Kate she is wracked with fear, but now that she knows who he is, she sleeps easily.