He saw the stick before him in his mother's hand; he knew she was going to whip him, but he did not feel in the least disturbed or afraid.

Ezra Ray could not have faced a whipping any more courageously than Ephraim.

But he staggered as he went, and his feet met the floor with strange shocks, since he had prepared his steps for those deep abysses.
He and his mother stood together in his little bedroom.

She, when she faced him, saw how ill he looked, but she steeled herself against that.

She had seen him look as badly before; she was not to be daunted by that from her high purpose.