d say, Angel; I know that you are good; I know
that our people, although they have many faults, are trying to do right,
and I believe that the people in other sects around us are far more
wicked, but--Mr. Finney is not like that."

"Dear heart, thou knowest well that there is no goodness but that which
comes from above, and although this Mr. Finney may have a show of
goodness, as thou or I might have in his place, yet what avail can his
preaching be if God be not with him? So what show of goodness he has
only aideth the devil; for how can it be possible, when two armies are
encamped one against another, that God can fight upon both sides? Is
Christ divided?"

A loud knock came to the outer door; Elder Halsey was late in getting to
his work; men were waiting for him. He let the sound of the raps die
away before he answered them; his searching look was upon her face,
hungering for some assurance that his words had met and slain her
doubts. Then he was forced to leave her.

It was easy for Susannah to obtain a horse to go to the village of
Hiram. When the day of Finney's preaching came, after her husband had
gone to his afternoon work, she rode out of Kirtland.

Since she had made up her mind to disobey she had said nothing further
to Angel. Why inflict upon him the painful attempt to hinder her which
his conscience would demand?

The last snow-wreath had faded, but there was not as yet a bud or blade
of perfect green. The valley of the Chagrin lay almost hueless in the
cold sunshine. A light wind was blowing over its levels of standing
weeds, and whispering in the bare arms of the huge nut-trees upon its
bluffs.

When the sun began to sink, Susannah had reached the low rolling ground
that surrounds Hiram. The landscape here had a less distinctive
character, and there was no vapour in the sky to make the sunset
beautiful. She was weary of her horse's rough trot, and still more so of
its slow plodding, but she felt excitement. She had conquered those
forces, part of her womanhood, which urged compliance with her husband's
desire and her own desire to abide by the homely routine whatever it
might be. The thing that she had done seemed so large that her
imagination told her that the event must justify it.

She had no thought of concealment. She knew only the two families in the
village of Hiram. Her plan was to go first to the Rigdons and ask for
refreshment, thence to the meeting, and after that to ask for the
night