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Show CHAPTER XII BATHSHEBA AT the close of the ball, with so many ladies scrambling for their bonnets and mantillas and so few escorts to assist them, there was much confusion. Cora was one of the last to emerge from the ladies' cloak room. Chilcott, tired of waiting for her, had gone off with Amanda and his bride. "Oh, Brother Ford," she said. "May I ask you to take me out to Brother Chilcott's carriage? He will be waiting for me. The careless attendants misplaced my mantilla." She seemed in great haste to leave the hall, yet held back fastidiously when I would have elbowed a way for her through the thinning crowd about the door. At last we reached the sidewalk. The many guests of the ball were scattering in groups up and down the street, and carriages were rolling away in quick succession. I told Cora that I could see nothing of Chilcott's landau. Her clasp on my arm tightened. " The last test! " she whispered, tense with emotion. " He has driven away without me! It is the last! He has gone without me! Never again shall I-" "No-wait," I interrupted. "Those look like his bays coming back up the street. It is his carriage." She looked down and stood silent, tapping her dainty toe on the frozen ground. The carriage swung around into the dry gutter before us. I sprang to open the door for her, but she did not move. "Well? " demanded Chilcott with brutal harshness. " Haven't you delayed us long enough? Get n6 THE MORMON LION II7 in, and don't be all night about it. You have Amanda to thank for not having to hoof it home. Next time you will- if you get to come at all." The unfortunate lady stepped forward and put up her foot. Chilcott grasped her arm in his big fist and jerked her into her seat. " Shut the door, Dave, and get up with the driver," he directed. " Hop lively. We'll get chilled." "Thanks. It's warmer walking," I replied, and I turned my back on him. The carriage whirled away down the street, leaving me to follow with my bitter reflections. Here was a sample of a polygamous household where the husband ruled. Common gossip, as well as the disclosures of the weekly Sunday confessions in the Tabernacle, had informed me as to the all too prevalent wrangling and slovenliness in those households where the common husband failed to dominate. Nor was there always peace and quiet even in the family of stern disciplinarians. Brigham himself had publicly censured the ladies of the Lion House for their b1ckerings and dissensions. The thought of his crafty, sensuous face brought back in full force all my dread and horror of what the future might hold for Lucy. Great as were the odds, I knew that I had a fair chance as against Chilcott. But I was now only too well aware of the power of the Prophet, to doubt that anything short of death could prevent him from sealing the girl to himself if he so willed. Even her marriage to myself would be no certain safeguard. Mr. Senby had whispered to me more than one revolting account of pretty wives whose husbands had been sent on missions to the far ends of the earth. But " hope springs eternal in the human breast." I found some slight reassurance in the fancy which the Prophet had seemed to take to me, and more in the fact that Lucy's heart and mind were absolutely pure. Her lovelmess held no trace of allurement. |
