In OpenCV's haar cascade files, what are the "left" and "right" values, and how does this refer to the "threshold" value? Thanks!

Just for reference, here's the structure of the files:

<haarcascade_frontalface_alt type_id="opencv-haar-classifier">
  <size>20 20</size>
  <stages>
    <_>
      <!-- stage 0 -->
      <trees>
        <_>
          <!-- tree 0 -->
          <_>
            <!-- root node -->
            <feature>
              <rects>
                <_>3 7 14 4 -1.</_>
                <_>3 9 14 2 2.</_></rects>
              <tilted>0</tilted></feature>
            <threshold>4.0141958743333817e-003</threshold>
            <left_val>0.0337941907346249</left_val>
            <right_val>0.8378106951713562</right_val></_></_>
        <_>