But the little boy, in his night clothes, looking out of the window of
his room into the moonlit and shadowed street, saw only his mother
standing there below.

His attention was called suddenly away from the window by loud
sobbing. He hurried to the door, but did not dare open it. He listened
until the sobbing ceased. Then he returned to the window, to find the
street empty and deserted. His mother had evidently gone away.

He shivered. He folded his arms tightly, as if hugging himself to keep
warm. Then he brought his chair from the door to the table, sat down
and listened. In the room below he heard his father walking up and
down with regular step. The house was completely silent but for
Hosea's footfalls.

Jezreel drew his legs up under him on the chair. He was tired and
rested his head upon his arms on the table. The silence and the
monotony of the regular heavy walking in the room under him, made him
drowsy. His little heart ached, though he could not explain why. He
tried hard to keep awake, but finally fell asleep, there at the table.
At one time he shivered, when the street door of the house shut again
with a bang; but he did not wake up.

Below, a great big, powerful man had been keeping up a continuous
march up and down the room. He was brooding over the events that had
just preceded and thinking over the years of his married life.

When Hosea first met Gomer, she lived in her father's home in one of
the poorest sections of Samaria. Diblaim, Gomer's father, was a poor
man and could not give his daughter the advantages other girls in