These were some of the things that Reverdy hinted at.

If I prosecuted Lamborn, the countercharge would be made that I had been intimate with Zoe myself.

If she had a child I would be proclaimed its father, especially if I raised an issue, and tried to fix the paternity upon Lamborn.

If I went to see the state's attorney and asked him to act, there was danger that he would not wish to do so, because the present state's attorney was about to lose the office.

He would not wish to start a social hostility that would react upon himself.