He was the only boy in the village who slept that night.

We others all lay awake, repenting.

We had not needed the information, delivered from the pulpit that evening, that Lem's was a case of special judgment--we knew that, already.

There was a ferocious thunder-storm, that night, and it raged continuously until near dawn.

The winds blew, the windows rattled, the rain swept along the roof in pelting sheets, and at the briefest of intervals the inky blackness of the night vanished, the houses over the way glared out white and blinding for a quivering instant, then the solid darkness shut down again and a splitting peal of thunder followed, which seemed to rend everything in the neighborhood to shreds and splinters.