“But the people that gather to such meetings as Mr. Finney holds are for the most part awaked, for the time at least, to a higher Christian life.  It cannot be they who have used the vile language that you repeat.”

She almost felt the disagreeable heat of Rigdon’s breath as he threw out in answer stories of coarse and brutal insult which had been heaped upon himself and Smith.  The large animal nature of this man always annoyed her.  There was much of breath in his words, much of physical sensation always clinging to his thoughts.  At present, however, she was not inclined to judge him too hardly; although visibly unstrung, unwise in his sweeping condemnation, coarse in his anger, and somewhat grandiloquent in his pose, there was still much of real heroism in his mental attitude.  Braced by the fiercest party spirit, he stood staunch in his loyalty to Smith and the cause, with no thought of yielding an inch of ground to the oppressors.

“I do not believe,” repeated Susannah sturdily, “that it is the more religious of the Gentiles who have said and done these things.  I have come here to-night to hear and to speak with Mr. Finney, whom I know to be a very godly and patient man.”

“Why has he come here?” demanded Rigdon.  “He who by his preaching can gather thousands in populous places, why should he ride across this thinly settled parcel of land, preaching to mere handfuls, if it is not to denounce us?  And he has not the courage to go nearer to the place where the Saints are gathered in numbers.  He will teach his hearers first to ravage the few sheep that are scattered in the wilderness, that by that they may gain courage even to attack the fold.”

Susannah drew upon herself their anger, and so strong was Rigdon’s physical nature that even his transient anger seemed to embody itself in some sensible influence that went out from him and preyed upon her nervous force.

The night had fallen.  A bell, the rare possession of the largest meeting-house, had already begun to ring for Finney’s preaching.  Susannah went out on foot.  The Rigdons, as also the Smiths, were living some way from the village.  She had now a mile of dark road to traverse.

Closely veiled, Susannah stepped onward eagerly.  She felt like a child going home.  The scene which she had left showed up vividly the elements of Mormon life that were most repulsive to her, the broad assumptions of ignorance, the fierce beliefs born of isolation, and the growth by indulgence of such animal characteristics as were not kept under by a literal morality or enforced by privations.  She was going to see a man who could speak with the voice of the sober past, whose tones would bring back to her the intellectual delicacies of Ephraim’s conversation, the broad, pure vision of life which he beheld, and the dignified religion of his people.

The meeting-house was of moderate size.  It was already filled when Susannah entered, but she was able to press down one of the passage-ways between the pews and seat herself near the front, where temporary benches were being rapidly set up.