Mis' Ray heard something last night, an' she came over an' told the doctor, an' he said you ought to know--" The doctor's wife paused, panting.

Then the door opened and Caleb peered in.

He bowed stiffly to the two guests; then, with apprehensive glances at his wife, slid into a chair near the door.
"Mis' Ray's Ezra told her last night," proceeded the doctor's wife, "that the night before your son died he run away unbeknown to you, an' went slidin' down hill.

The doctor says mebbe that was what killed him.

He said you'd ought to know." Deborah leaned forward; her face worked like the breaking up of an icy river.