Wilt thou take it as a peace-offering from my hands and wear it
always?" She bent toward him and, with worshiping hands, he put aside
the loosened braids and clasped the necklace about her throat.
"There are ten rings," he continued. "Let them be named thus," telling
them off with his fingers, "This first of all--Hope--it shall be thy
stay; this--Faith--it shall comfort thee; this--Good Works--it shall
publish thee; this--Sacrifice--it shall win thee many victories;
this--Chastity--it shall be thy name; the next--Wisdom--it shall guide
thee; after it--Steadfastness--it shall keep thee in all these things;
Truth--it shall brood upon thy lips; Beauty--it shall not perish; this,
the last, is Love, of which there is naught to be said. It speaketh
for itself."
Their eyes met at his last words and for a moment dwelt. Then Rachel
looked away.
"Are the fastenings secure?" she asked.
"Firm as the virtues in a good woman's soul."
"They will hold. I would not lose one of them."
A long silence fell. The curious activity of desert-life, interrupted
for the time by the presence of the fugitives, resumed its tenor and
droned on about them. The rasping grasshopper, the darting lizard, the
scorpion creeping among the rocks, a high-flying bird, a small,
skulking, wild beast put sound and movement in the desolation of the
region.
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