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Show 130 THE MORMON LION have seen and heard! You are truly a woman, Lucy, -a woman with the unquestioning trust of a little child." " I- I do not like the way he looked at me," she murmured, and she gazed downwards, her face burning with a painful blush. " Yet, worse come to worse, dear," I groaned, "better him than my cousin's husband. Remember that. Better even destroy yourself than fall into the power of Bill Chilcott." She looked up at me, shuddering. " Then youyou cannot save-- You will let them--" "No," I replied. "I will do my utmost. You know that. I only wished to make sure that, in case all else fails-- Better Brigham than- the other. The lion is a beast, but he is not a tiger." 1 · She began to weep. " Oh, why---<:ould I not-not have died- with them! " " It is hard. But I have first spoken of the worst, dear. I could not mislead you into a false security. Your uncle can do little to defend you. He is under suspicion of apostasy. He has no influence. Should I also lose standing with Brigham-- But we will not think of that. Remember that I am your lawful guardian. According to the Church covenants, my consent is required as well as your own. They cannot force you to be sealed, against your will and mine.'' " Then why-why frighten me so? "she sobbed. " Because you must be made to realize that they are devils. "l "Oh-h! "I She cowered and looked upwards as if expecting a thunderbolt to crash down upon my heretical head. "If the!.' are not devils, at least their god is Satan I" I cried. ' If Joseph did not lie when he said he was inspired, then his mspiration was of the Devil- as he himself admitted regarding at least one revelation." "Oh! it cannot be true-it cannot!" she moaned. THE MORMON LION I3I " Do you believe in Brigham's Adam-god? " I questioned. " I- I-- It was not in the t eachings ther, gave us at home. I fear that it is more than I-- ' "So! That is one thing you doubt. And how of J oseph's last and chief doctrine? Down in the inmost deep of your heart can you- can any womanbelieve that it is holy or sacred or divine for one man to have more than one wife ? " " Yet did not A braham and the other holy patriarchs keep the celestial law? " she argued. "Did J esus? " I queried. "Do you believe that He practised plurality ? " "No," she admitted. "I cannot believe that." "Yet the successor of Joseph says that He did. Brigham, the President of the Church- its Prophet, Seer, Revelator- he says that J esus was and is a polygamist." ' You- you compel me to doubt! Oh, Brother David, do not take my faith from me! " "No one, Lucy, can take away your faith in aU that is good and pure and holy- your faith in God, the kind Father of all mankind, whom J esus came to reveal. Fanaticism is not true religion. They call this hideous outburst of madness the Reformation! This whole people is frenzied with the exhortations of the false Prophet and his fanatical tools ! " " David! David! Oh, it is fearful to hear you! Even Uncle Norton--" " He is older than I, and therefore he is more cautious. Should you repeat to the Catechizers what I have said, I would be cut off- from life." "Never!- they can never, never make me tell!" she cried, clasping her hands on her violently beating heart. "Lucy," I said," you do love me, dear. In spite of my heretical words,you still cling to your trust in me." " How can I help but trust you, when mother and father--" |