"Be you sure ?" said she.
"Ezra told me last night," interposed Mrs.Ray.

"I had a hard time gettin' it out of him; he promised Ephraim he wouldn't tell.

But somethin' he said made me suspect, an' I got it out of him.

He said Ephraim told him he run away, an' he left him there slidin' when he came home.

'Twas as much as 'leven o'clock then; I remember I give Ezra a whippin' next mornin' for stayin' out so late.