"THE SHERIFF, TWO DEPUTIES, AND MILLER."
"I don't know," with a heavy sigh. "It's the injustice that hurts me, an' the lack o' faith in my honesty. The years I've lived here count for nothin' with them."
"I have faith in you, 'Zeki'l."
He laid his hand over hers.
"If I had you, 'Lizabeth, if I only had you to help me bear it!"
"That's what I've come for, 'Zeki'l. I'm crippled. It may be that I'll turn out to be more of a burden than a comfort to you, but I can't sit down there any longer, knowin' you are here slighted and sufferin' all alone. 'Zeki'l, have pity on me, if you've none on yourself, and let me bear this trouble with you."
He trembled before the future her words conjured up.
"Could you, would you, be willin' to bear my disgrace, share it, be shunned like a plague, have no company, no friend, but me?"
"What are friends to the one we love, or company? I'd give up all the world, 'Zeki'l, willin'ly, willin'ly, for you."
He looked into her deep, earnest eyes, realized the full truth of her words, and drew her closer to him.