Cries from Elisha, who is overcome by God's power, interrupt Gabriel's reverie. For a moment, Gabriel fears that the cries come from John. Then he becomes angry that his own sons are not present and have never been saved. One son (Royal) is long dead, and the other (Roy) is at home, wounded and angry with his father. Because Royal was a bastard, Gabriel thinks, it is understandable that he should be lost to sin, but his second son, Roy, was conceived in marriage and, therefore, should be saved. Gabriel is sure that Roy is not being punished for Gabriel's sins, so he concludes that Roy is being punished because of sins for which Roy's mother, Elizabeth, has not fully repented.
After Gabriel's marriage to Elizabeth, Elizabeth insisted that they not treat John differently than any of their other children, but Gabriel believes that there is a difference between John, a child who is not biologically his, and the children he sired. In Gabriel's eyes, John is the child of a "weak, proud woman and some careless boy," while Roy is the son God had promised Gabriel to carry on his name and to do the Lord's work. Gabriel has repented the death of Ester, the mother of his first son (Royal), and the death of Royal himself as a young man.
Ester moved into town soon after Gabriel's marriage to Deborah and worked for the same family that Gabriel worked for. She had many boyfriends and, like her mother and stepfather, rarely went to church. One afternoon, Gabriel invited Ester to hear him preach. Ester arrived at the church with her mother. After preaching a sermon that was remembered for years to come, Gabriel called for sinners to come forth and be saved. When Ester did not rise, Gabriel was filled with rage. Not long afterwards, Gabriel and Ester had an affair that lasted for only nine days before Gabriel ended it. By this time, however, Ester was pregnant.
