"Then I have not lost your love, Rick?"
"I love you always."
"But—your faith?" she urged. "One is worthless to me without the other."
"Do you say that my love is worthless, Barbara?"
"If it is given without your trust, it is the setting without the jewel. Trust me, Rick—or, leave me!"
"I trust you, my love," he replied, catching her hands and holding them fast and close in his strong clasp. "Who could look in those eyes of yours and doubt that you're true and pure as truth itself? But, my darling, you've been foolish—with a woman's noble folly! Rash and reckless—with an angel's courage! You have ventured too much—in such a cause. These matters are not for women. Our Vigilante justice may be rough and ready, but it fits the time and place. Anyhow, we keep the neighbourhood so that the worst class of characters give it a wide berth. You should not have crossed its path, my Barbara. It was not safe for you; and for all that you have hazarded, he is not safe; they'll get him yet."
"No, they will not; you will not betray him?"
"No. To betray him would be betraying you! Not for his sake, but for yours, I'll hold my tongue. But what will he do? He cannot stay here."
"He need not. He can have my brother's horse, my brother's overcoat and hat. He can take the trail up the gully under cover of the night, or with the first streak of dawn."
"But your brother? Tom Thorne's a pretty hard citizen; what will he say?"