"Or how near I came to shooting him?"
"Merciful heaven!" "Well, I guess Barry won't rest till he has told the whole town what we are,—and then we'll have to face something cruel, mother. But we will face it together."
She put her arm about her mother's shoulders and they went down the narrow staircase together.
"It will not cost me a single friend, Viola," remarked Rachel grimly. "I have none to lose. But with you it will be different."
"We don't have to stay in the old town," said Viola bravely. "The world is large. We can move on. Just as we used to before we came here to live. Always moving on, we were."
Rachel shook her head. They were at the bottom of the stairs.
"I will not move on. This is where I intend to live and die. The man I lived for is up yonder in the graveyard. I will not go away and leave him now,—not after all these years. But you, my child, you must move on. You have something else to live for. I have nothing. But I can hold my head up, even here. You will not find it so easy. You will—"
"It will be as easy for me as it will for Kenneth Gwynne," broke in the girl. "Wait and see which one of us runs away first. It won't be me."
"He will not go away and leave you," said Rachel Carter.
Viola gave her a quick, startled look. They were in the kitchen, however, before she spoke. Then it was to say: