She had prepared many baked meats for his entertainment before the evening of his arrival with Susannah, but while he was present she devoted herself wholly to his conversation.
The feast was spread in the inner kitchen.

In the square brick fireplace burning pine sticks crackled, bidding the chill of the April evening retire to its own place beyond the dark window pane.

The paint upon the walls and floor glistened but faintly to the fire and the small flames of two candles that stood among the viands upon the table.
The elder Croom sat in his place.

He was burly and ruddy, a wholesome man, very silent, very strong, a person to be feared and relied on.
Ephraim believed that force went forth from his father's presence like perfume from a flower.

There were many kinds of flowers whose perfume was too strong for Ephraim, but he felt that to be a proof of his own weakness.
Martha Croom, also of New England stock, was of a different type.