hitest of horses are truly
at my disposal. But there is one discrepancy between your vision and the
fact--I will not wear the silk robes, nor welcome the pilgrims with the
assurance that they have here reached the City of God. I will not
because I cannot. I refuse to accept from the hand of God such paltry
things as money and display, or even the honest affluence of our people,
as compensation for the fire and blood through which we have waded. If
there be a God who is the shepherd of those who seek him, this is not
the sort of table that he spreads, this is not the cup which he causes
to run over"--she had begun lightly, but her voice became more earnest.
"Mr. Smith, we have walked through the shadow of death together; if you
would be exalted in the presence of your enemies, have done with your
childish delight in such toys."

Smith moved uneasily on his velvet-covered chair, and it, being of a
rather cheap sort, creaked under his bulk.

"What says it in the end of the Book of Job, Sister Halsey? and what
compensation did the Lord give for the sore temptations with which he
had allowed the devil to tempt his servant? As I read, it was fourteen
thousand sheep and six thousand camels, and--"

She gave him credit for knowing the passage by heart; she had the
rudeness to interrupt. She rose and stood before him. All the long
latent defiance which her heart had treasured against him found vent in
her tone, "Very well, Mr. Smith, if that satisfied Job, it will not
satisfy me."

Smith, cast out of all his shrewd calculations as to what would win
this woman, fell back upon the inner genius of that priestcraft which so
often surpassed his conscious intelligence.

"_What would satisfy you?_" It was a simple question, and he asked it
with overwhelming force. "By the hand of trust and affection which your
husband gave me; by the memory of the beautiful babe that he brought
first to me for my blessing (and I laid my hand on its little warm head
and blessed it); by these I claim the right to ask, Sister Halsey, what
is it that in Nauvoo or in any other city would satisfy you?"

She was humiliated in her own eyes. Alas! she had strong evidence that
Ephraim's affection, on which she had staked all earthly hope of
happiness, had in some way failed. Now under Smith's eye all courage to
hold the unrealised ideal was lost; as the fixed stars twinkle, so her
faith went out for the moment of his interrogation. Her head sank in a
sham