er some time Susannah perceived that she was, as it were, holding
court. In their carriages the other women sat comparatively neglected.
It was in vain that she tried to put a quick end to this curious and
undesirable state of things. Smith continued to bring to her side all
those whom he delighted to honour.

And this was only one of several fetes which took place in rapid
succession, to all of which Susannah was by some persuasion taken. At
each she found herself an object of public attention. She was told that
this occurred because she was a stranger, or out of respect to her
husband's memory, and she placed more trust at first in these statements
than a less modest or more worldly-wise woman would have done.

Soon her credulity ceased. She despised her own beauty because it was
made a gazing stock. An article in the Nauvoo newspaper, officially
inspired, spoke of her as a "Venus in appearance and an angel at heart."
She was elsewhere publicly mentioned as the "Venus of Nauvoo."

It was indeed a strange experience, a strange time and place for the
social _debut_ of this beautiful woman. Smith had calculated well when
in her youth he had told her that her beauty would not diminish but
increase until her prime was past, but she very modestly inferred that
she might have passed, as heretofore, without much notice, if an
agitation concerning her had not urged to admiration a band of men who
were fast growing luxurious and pleasure-loving, and she knew that Smith
was the author of that agitation.

It appeared to Susannah more dignified to ignore than to upbraid. She
secretly laughed, she secretly cried with vexation, but she desired to
leave the place without betraying her recognition of the homage offered.

She sought to discuss her plan for departure with Emma, but Emma's
manner had changed to her. It was not jealousy so much as constraint
that she showed, as if secretly persuaded into unusual reticence.
Susannah then asked Smith for such a sum of money as he should consider
to be a right acknowledgment of the property Halsey had given to the
Church. At this Smith looked greatly aggrieved, and withdrew muttering
that he would consider her request.

The only sign of this consideration which she immediately received was a
gift of showily-bound books, and a rich shawl which he had fetched from
New York.

Susannah's career as the queen of Nauvoo society came to a swift end,
for she determinedly retired into seclusion