"Then," said Lizzī, "I can't sit there till you read that and know I don't shame my mother's place."
"Why, Lizzī!" Gret began in protest, but Lizzī interrupted:
"Read it; you have trusted me, and I'll trust you."
Gret took the marriage-certificate, read it, and returned it without a word. A soft smile was the only indication of joy at Lizzī's vindication.
"I have good reason for wantin' nobody else to know it' Gret. Now sit down to breakfast."
CHAPTER XIII.
AN OATH.
"It's not worth the paper it's written on, except to show us our sister is pure."
Levi addressed his father and brothers in the school-room on the Sunday following his mother's funeral. He referred to the marriage-certificate which Lizzī guarded so carefully.
Hunch Blair lay close to the floor, under a desk which protected him from discovery. During the day he had heard Levi tell Cassi to come to the school-house in the evening. Suspecting something interesting, he got there before the McAnays.