've got to feel things."

"Lassiter, what can I do?"

"Nothin', I reckon, except know what's comin' an' wait an' be game. If
you'd let me make a call on Tull, an' a long-deferred call on--"

"Hush!... Hush!" she whispered.

"Well, even that wouldn't help you any in the end."

"What does it mean? Oh, what does it mean? I am my father's daughter--a
Mormon, yet I can't see! I've not failed in religion--in duty. For years
I've given with a free and full heart. When my father died I was rich.
If I'm still rich it's because I couldn't find enough ways to become
poor. What am I, what are my possessions to set in motion such intensity
of secret oppression?"

"Jane, the mind behind it all is an empire builder."

"But, Lassiter, I would give freely--all I own to avert this--this
wretched thing. If I gave--that would leave me with faith still. Surely
my--my churchmen think of my soul? If I lose my trust in them--"

"Child, be still!" said Lassiter, with a dark dignity that had in it
something of pity. "You are a woman, fine en' big an' strong, an' your
heart matches your size. But in mind you're a child. I'll say a little
more--then I'm done. I'll never mention this again. Among many thousands
of women you're one who has bucked against your churchmen. They tried
you out, an' failed of persuasion, an' finally of threats. You meet now
the cold steel of a will as far from Christlike as the universe is wide.
You're to be broken. Your body's to be held, given to some man, made,
if possible, to bring children into the world. But your soul?... What do
they care for your soul?"

CHAPTER XIII. SOLITUDE AND STORM

In his hidden valley Venters awakened from sleep, and his ears rang
with innumerable melodies from full-throated mockingbirds, and his eyes
opened wide upon the glorious golden shaft of sunlight shining through
the great stone bridge. The circle of cliffs surrounding Surprise Valley
lay shrouded in morning mist, a dim blue low down along the terraces,
a creamy, moving cloud along the ramparts. The oak forest in the center
was a plumed and tufted oval of gold.

He saw Bess under the spruces. Upon her complete recovery of strength
she always rose with the dawn. At the moment she was feeding the
quail she had tamed. And she had begun to tame the mocking-birds. They
fluttered among the branches overhead and some left off their songs to
flit down and shyly hop near the twittering quail. Little gray and white
rabbits cr