r Minkley, good old saint, comin' up the steps and I
went to open the door with alacrity and my left hand, my right hand
wuz in the dough, I wuz makin' fried cakes, and I shook hands with him
the same, and I sez:

"How glad I am to see you this morning, Brother Minkley," little
thinkin' what wuz to come.

He took off his hat and overcoat and hung 'em up in the hall and
looked in the glass in the hall rack with his mild, benevolent eyes,
and brushed his thin, gray hair up on the bald spot over his benign
forward, and follered me into the settin' room, and I sez, "Here is
she that wuz sister Arvilly Lanfear."

And the good old soul advanced with a warm, meller smile on his face,
and sez:

"How do you do, Sister Arvilly."

But Arvilly's eyes snapped worse than ever; she never noticed his
outstretched hand, and she sez, "Don't you sister me."

"Why! why!" sez he, "what is the matter?" His welcomin' hand dropped
weakly by his side, and bein' dretful confused and by the side of
himself, he sez:

"I hain't seen you before sence you--you----"

"Deserted from the army," sez she, finishin' the sentence for him.
"Yes, I deserted, I am proud to say; I never had a right before under
this nation's laws and I took that right; I deserted and they couldn't
help themselves; mebby them men see how it would feel to grin and bear
for once, just as wimmen have to all the time."

Brother Minkley had by this time begun to find and recover himself,
and he sez with real good nature, "I meant to say, dear sister, that I
hadn't seen you before since you lost your husband."

"Since you murdered him," sez she.

"I--I murder a man?" He looked pale and trembled like a popple leaf.

"Yes, you and all other good men who stood by like Pilate, consentin'
to his death," Arvilly went on.

Elder Minkley looked too dazed and agitated to speak, and Arvilly
continued: "Do you pretend to say, Elder Minkley, that there is an
evil law on the face of the earth that the Church of Christ couldn't
overthrow if it chose to do so?"

He sez, "The power of the Church is great, Sister Arvilly, but
no-license laws don't stop drinking; liquor is sold somehow; folks
that want it will get it."

"What a argument!" sez Arvilly, liftin' her eyes to heaven. "But you
hain't answered my question," sez she, short as pie crust, mince pie
crust, "Is there an evil law existing to-day that the Church of Christ
could not overthrow if it tried to?"

"Well, no," he adm