“True, sir, I have learned as much.”
“My own daughter has taught me a lesson.”
“And Joan has made a man of me.”
They met together under the cedar, Joan and Gabriel, Judith and her father. It seemed that they had communion in that hour and that the same spirit inspired them all.
John Strong reached out his hands to Judith and the other two.
“Come, lassies and lads,” he said, with a grim yet merry light in his gray eyes, “take hands and let us make our vow.”
“What shall we vow?” asked Judith, holding her father’s arm.
“To stand against slander.”
“Against slander,” said they all.
“Till death us do part.”