r.

"Ruth Jones," was the cool reply.

"How old are you?"

"Twenty."

"Where were you born?" went on the judge. He allowed time for the clerk
to record her answers.

"Panguitch, Utah."

"Were your parents Mormons?"

"Yes."

"Are you a Mormon?"

"Yes."

"Are you a married woman?"

"No."

The answer was instant, cold, final. It seemed to the truth. Almost
Shefford believed she spoke truth. The judge stroked his chin and waited
a moment, and then hesitatingly he went on.

"Have you--any children?"

"No." And the blazing eyes met the cavernous ones.

That about the children was true enough, Shefford thought, and he could
have testified to it.

"You live in the hidden village near this town?"

"Yes."

"What is the name of this village?"

"It has none."

"Did you ever hear of Fre-donia, another village far west of here?"

"Yes."

"It is in Arizona, near the Utah line. There are few men there. Is it
the same kind of village as this one in which you live?"

"Yes."

"What does Fre-donia mean? The name--has it any meaning?"

"It means free women."

The judge maintained silence for a moment, turned to whisper to his
assistants, and presently, without glancing up, said to the woman:

"That will do."

Ruth was led back to the bench, and the woman next to her brought
forward. This was a heavier person, with the figure and step of a
matured woman. Upon removing her bonnet she showed the plain face of
a woman of forty, and it was striking only in that strange, stony
aloofness noted in the older men. Here, Shefford thought, was the real
Mormon, different in a way he could not define from Ruth. This woman
seated herself in the chair and calmly faced her prosecutors. She
manifested no emotion whatever. Shefford remembered her and could not
see any change in her deportment. This trial appeared to be of little
moment to her and she took the oath as if doing so had been a habit all
her life.

"What is your name?" asked Judge Stone, glancing up from a paper he
held.

"Mary Danton."

"Family or married name?"

"My husband's name was Danton."

"Was. Is he living?"

"No."

"Where did you live when you were married to him?"

"In St. George, and later here in Stonebridge."

"You were both Mormons?"

"Yes."

"Did you have any children by him?"

"Yes."

"How many?"

"Two."

"Are they living?"

"One of them is living."

Judge Stone bent over his paper and then slowly raised his eye