There could be no doubt that the Mormon leaders were in his mind, as they were in the mind of his congregation.  It became swiftly evident to Susannah that Finney was stirred by what he believed to be righteous indignation, and that he was as content to be ignorant concerning the doctrines and morals of the people against whom he spoke as were the rudest members of the outside rabble who now pressed with excitement to the open doors and windows.

The righteous Finney had no thought of unrestrained violence.  He spoke out of that deep well of hatred for evil that is, and ought to be, in every good man’s heart, but he had not humbled himself to gain any real insight into the mingling of good and evil.

“They are liars, and they know that they are liars,” said Finney, striking the pulpit cushion.  “The hypocrisy of their religion is proved by the lawless habits of their daily lives.  Having sold themselves to the great enemy of souls, they lie in wait for you and for your children, seeking to beguile the most tender and innocent, that they may rejoice in their destruction.”

He used only such phrases as the thought of the time warranted with regard to those who had been proved to be workers of iniquity, but to Susannah it was clear, in one brief moment, what effect his words would have when heard by, or reported to, more brutal men.  She knew now that Rigdon’s words were true.  The so-called Christian ministers, even the noblest of them, stirred up the low spirit of party persecution.

She rose suddenly, sweeping back her veil from her face.  “I will go out.”  She said the words in a clear voice.

A way was made to a back door by the side of the pulpit.  Every one looked at her.  Finney, going on with his preaching, recognised her as she began to push forward, and he faltered, as if seeing the face of one who had arisen from the dead.  The excited audience felt the tremor that passed over its leader; it was the first signal for such obvious nervous affections as frequently befell people under his preaching; before Susannah had reached the door a stalwart man fell as if dead in her path.

There was a groan and a whisper of awe all round.  This was the “falling” which was taken by many as an indubitable sign of the divine power.  Susannah had seen it often under Smith’s preaching.  She waited with indifference until he was lifted up.

Then the sea of faces around her, the powerful voice of the preacher resounding above, passed away like a dream, and were exchanged for a small room and a dim light, where two or three people were gathered round the form of the insensible man.  She escaped unnoticed through a private door into the fields, where the March wind eddied in the black night.

CHAPTER IV.

The house in which the Smiths lived was small.  Susannah crossed a field-path, led by a light in their window.  In the living room a truckle bed had already been made up.  By the fire Joseph and Emma were both occupied with two sick children.  These children, twins of about a year, had been taken out of pity at their mother’s death, and Susannah was told as she entered that they had been attacked by measles.