The door of the house opened directly into a room, which a single glance showed to be kitchen, dining, and sitting room, all in one. A long table was stretched nearly across the room, and at this four men and three women were sitting, eating with that haste and voraciousness characteristic of those who feel that even their mealtime is limited. Another woman was moving rapidly about the table, waiting on those seated there; while three or four half-clad and dirty children crawled about the floor. Taking a vacant place at the table, Ray helped himself from the huge dish of cabbage, pork, and potatoes, and began to eat with the same rapidity and greediness that characterized the others. "What mischief has delayed ye this time?" asked the oldest of the men, and one whose bloated visage suggested reckless dissipation. "I only stopped, pop, to stone the parson," the boy coolly answered. "Ye might have been in better business," growled his father. "Yes, such as gettin' drunk and beatin' the ole woman," Ray, in perfect mimicry of his father's tones, replied. A low oath was the only answer. "What did the parson do?" one of the women at the table, a sister of the lad, asked curiously. "Picked up his hat, put it on his head, and asked me to knock it off again," replied the lad, while he still ate greedily. "I don't believe it," said another sister. "He certainly did, and I as certainly knocked it off again," affirmed Ray. "Then what did he do?" asked one of his brothers, moving back from the table. "He told me about a man named Tell, who shot an arrow through an apple on the head of his boy, and about a fellow named David, who killed a giant with a stone. He said the last story was in the Bible, and asked me to come up to his Sunday-school and hear about it." "Of course you'll go," said the brother, with a sneer. "I promised to go, and Ray Branford keeps his word; which is more than either of his brothers can say," responded the lad, hotly. "Hoorah! our Ray will be a minister yet," shouted his youngest sister, pulling his hair as she passed by him. A general laugh followed this sally. "He is the only one out of the whole lot of which such a thing is possible," sharply answered the woman waiting at the table, and who was the wife of Ray's oldest brother. Then stopping beside the boy, she said, in a tone too low for the others to hear: "Mother is suffering dreadfully, Ray. I wish you'd go in and see her before you go back to the mill." He arose, and, crossing the room, entered a small bedroom. On the bed lay a woman; and even to the most casual observer the hacking cough and hectic flush told that her days were numbered. In a rough sort of a way, that he intended should indicate kindness, Ray asked: "How are ye to-day, mam?" "Growing weaker every moment, my son," the woman feebly answered. Then anxiously: "Didn't I hear you say that you had been stoning the minister?"