She turned and fled swiftly into the house. They heard her go racing up the stairs,—then a door open and slam shut again.
"She would be very happy to-night, Kenneth, if it were not for one thing," said Rachel. "I still stand in the way. She cannot give herself to you except at a cost to me. There can be nothing between you until I stand before the world and say there is no reason why you should not be married to each other. Do you wonder that she does not know her own heart?"
"And I would not deserve her love and trust if I were to ask you to pay that price, Rachel Carter," said he steadily.
"Good-bye, Kenneth," she said, after a moment. She held out her hand. "Will you take my hand,—just this once, boy?"
He did not hesitate. He grasped the hard, toil-worn hand firmly in his.
"We can never be friends, Rachel Carter,—but, as God is my witness, I am no longer your enemy," he said, with feeling. "Good-bye."
He was half-way down to the gate when she called to him:
"Wait, Kenneth. Moll has something for you."
He turned back and met Moll Hawk as she came swiftly toward him.
"Here's somethin' fer you to carry in your pocket, Mr. Gwynne," said the girl in her hoarse, low-pitched voice. "No harm c'n ever come to you as long as you got this with you,—in your pocket er anywheres. Hit's a charm an old Injin chief give my Pap when he wuz with the tribe, long before I wuz born. Pap lost it the day before he wuz tooken up by the sheriff, er else he never would ha' had setch bad luck. I found it day before yesterday when I wuz down to the cabin, seein' about movin' our hogs an' chickens an' hosses over to Mis' Gwyn's barn. The only reason the Injun give it to Pap wuz because he wuz over a hundred years old an' didn't want to warn off death no longer. Hit's just a little round stone with somethin' fer all the world like eyes an' nose an' mouth on one side of it,—jest as if hit had been carved out, only hit wuzn't. Hit's jest natural. Hit keeps off sickness an' death an' bad luck, Mr. Gwynne. Pap knowed he wuz goin' to ketch the devil the minute he found out he lost it. I tole Miss Violy I wanted fer you to have it with you while you wuz off fightin' the Injuns, an' she said she'd love me to her dyin' day if I would give you the loan of it. Mebby you don't believe in charms an' signs an' all setch, but it can't hurt you to carry it an'—an' hit's best to be on the safe side. Please keep it, Mr. Gwynne."