Page 57 (1/1)

"You've done a headstrong thing to hire this man Lassiter," Tull went on, severely "He came to Cottonwoods with evil intent"

"I had to have so him my rider may turn out best in the end for the Mormons of Cottonwoods"

"You mean to stay his hand?"

"I do--if I can"

"A wo with a man That would be well, and would atone in some measure for the errors you have made"

He bowed and passed on Jane resuhts She resented Elder Tull's cold, impassive manner that looked down upon her as one who had incurred his just displeasure Otherwise he would have been the same calm, dark-browed, impenetrable man she had known for ten years In fact, except when he had revealed his passion in theof Venters, she had never drea preacher He stood out now a strange, secretive ht better of him if he had picked up the threads of their quarrel where they had parted Was Tull what he appeared to be? The question flung itself involuntarily over Jane Withersteen's inhibitive habit of faith without question And she refused to answer it Tull could not fight in the open Venters had said, Lassiter had said, that her Elder shirked fight and worked in the dark Just now in this nored the fact that he had sued, exhorted, demanded that she marry him He made no mention of Venters His ed, but who overlooked the frailties of a woman Beyond question he see brought to bear upon her, absolutely guiltless of any connection with secret power over riders, with night journeys, with rustlers and staain of unjust suspicions But it was convinceh an obstinate faith

She shuddered as she accepted it, and that shudder was the nucleus of a terrible revolt

Jane turned into one of the wide lanes leading froe, shady yard Here were sweet-s in happy confusion And like these fresh green things were the dozens of babies, tots, toddlers, noisy urchins, laughing girls, a whole multitude of children of one faeny, was a Mor house where they lived was old, solid, picturesque the lower part built of logs, the upper of rough clapboards, with vines growing up the outside stone chimneys There were lass proudly curtained in white As this house had four mistresses, it likewise had four separate sections, not one of which communicated with another, and all had to be entered from the outside