He's old Caleb Thayer's son, all the son that's left; the other one died.
There was some talk of his mother's whippin' him to death.

She died right after, but they said afterwards that she didn't, that he run away one night, an' went slidin' downhill, an' that was what killed him; he'd always had heart trouble.

I dunno; I always thought Deborah Thayer was a pretty good woman, but she was pretty set.

I guess Barney takes after her.

He was goin' with Charlotte Barnard years ago--I guess 'twas as much as nine or ten years ago, now--an' they were goin' to be married.