But Emma was obstinately evasive.  She seemed almost like one possessed by a hardened spirit, not her own.  On the afternoon of that same day she bustled cheerfully into Susannah’s room asking the loan of what money she had to meet a temporary call.

Susannah never had the slightest reason to suspect Emma’s good faith and good nature.  She gave her money without a thought.

CHAPTER II.

The parlour which Joseph Smith had provided for Susannah was large and high.  On its Brussels carpet immense vases of flowers and peacock’s feathers sprawled; stiff and gaudy furniture was ranged round the painted walls; stiff window curtains fell from stiff borders of tasteless upholstery.  Susannah, long ignorant of anything but deal and rag carpets, knew hardly more than Smith how to criticise, and her taste was only above his in the fact that she did not admire.

Smith came to reason with the rebellious woman.

Susannah no sooner saw him than she knew that he had come braced to try the conclusion with her.  He sat himself before her in silence.  His waistcoat was white, his neck-cloth white, his collar starched and high; his thick light hair was carefully oiled according to the fashion of the day, and brushed with curling locks upon the sides of the brow.  At this critical hour Susannah observed him more narrowly than ever before.  His smooth-shaven face, in spite of all his prosperity, was not so stout now as she had seen it in more troublous years; the accentuated arch of the eyebrows was more distinct, the beak line of the nose cut more finely.  She noted certain lines of thickness about the nape of the neck and the jaw which in former years had always spoken to her of the self-indulgence of which she now accused him; yet she could not see that they were more accentuated.  She had been schooling her heart to remember that Smith had been her husband’s friend; Angel Halsey had loved him, had daily prayed for his faults and failings, and thanked God for his every virtue and success.  Through the medium of these memories now Susannah looked upon him with the clearness of insight which the more divine attitude of mind will always give, the insight which penetrates through the evil and is focussed only on the good.

The prophet’s breath came quickly, making his words a little thick.  “Emmar tells me that you have some thoughts of wanting to leave us.”

“You know that very well, for I have told you so myself.  I want you to give me money for my journey.  If I can I will repay it, as you well know; if not, I will take it instead of all this finery you offer.”

He had folded a newspaper in his hand, and now he unfolded it.  She was surprised to see that his hands trembled slightly as he did so, for she had seen him act in many a tragic scene with iron nerve.

“’Tain’t often that the Gentile newspapers have a word of justice to say about us,” he observed.  “This is a number of the St. Louis Atlas.  It seems there’s one man on it can speak the truth.”  He gave forth the name of the newspaper as if expecting her to be duly impressed by its importance, and she looked at the outspread sheet amazed.