Joseph's hands were burned but he hardly felt it. He raised the empty kettle and smashed it against Windom's head. When Windom fell, his cries subsiding, Joseph wrapped the chain around his stepfather's neck and pulled until it was half embedded in the flesh. Windom finally stopped kicking and lay still.

Joseph ran out into the mist and vomited. His palms started to burn. He began to realize what he'd done. He wanted to break down and cry, to run away, but he didn't. He forced himself toward the open door. Once inside the cottage again, he saw his mother's back moving slowly. She was alive!

After many attempts, he got her on her feet. She muttered incoherently and laughed occasionally. He put a shawl around her and guided her down the misty lanes to Giles Hazard's cottage, two miles distant. On the way she faltered several times, but his urgent pleas kept her going.

Giles came grumping to the cottage door, a candle illuminating his face. Moments later, he helped Bess to his still-warm truckle bed. He examined her, then stood back, fingering his chin.

"I'll run for a doctor," Joseph said. "Where do I find him?"

Old Giles couldn't conceal his worry. "She's too badly hurt for a doctor to do any good."

The news stunned the boy, bringing tears at last. "That can't be."

"Look at her! She's barely breathing. As for the barber who serves this district, he's illiterate. He can do nothing for her, and he'll only ask questions about the cause of her injuries."

The statement itself was a kind of question; Joseph had only blurted that Windom had hit her. "All we can do is wait," Giles concluded, rubbing an eye.

"And pray to Jesus."

Joseph said it out of desperation. Giles put a kettle on the fire. Joseph sank to his knees by the bed, folded his hands, and prayed with every bit of his being.

There was no sign that the prayer was heard. Bess Windom's breathing grew slower, feebler, although she survived until the river mist floating outside the cottage began to glow with light. Gently, Giles touched Joseph's shoulder, jogged him awake.