As the incident of the flume just now showed, he knew little indeed, for he had done exactly the opposite of what he meant to do.

It was possible that Carmen would also do exactly the opposite of what she meant to do in her own crisis.
Her test was to come.

Would she, after all, go off with the master-carpenter, leaving behind her the pretty, clever, volatile Zoe ...

Zoe--ah, where was Zoe?
Carmen became anxious about Zoe, she knew not why.

Was it the revival of the maternal instinct?
She was told that Zoe had gone off on her pony to take a basket of good things to a poor old woman down the river three miles away.