Colonel Markin held the pearls up in the moonlight.
"They must have cost something to buy," he said.
Laura was silent.
"And so they're a trouble to you. Have you taken them to the Lord in prayer?"
"Oh, many times."
"Couldn't seem to hear any answer?"
"The only answer I could hear was, 'So long as you have them I will not speak with you.'"
"That seems pretty plain and clear. And yet," said the Colonel, fondling the turquoises, "nobody can say there's any harm in such things, especially if you don't, wear them."
"Colonel, they are my great temptation. I don't know that I wouldn't wear them. And when I wear them I can think of nothing sacred, nothing holy. When they were given to me I used—I used to get up in the night to look at them."
"Shall I lay it before the Almighty? That bracelet's got a remarkably good clasp."