"
Venters's agitated face grew coldly set and the bronze changed
Jane impulsively stepped forward. "Oh! Elder Tull!" she cried.
"You won't do that!"
Tull lifted a shaking finger toward her.
"That'll do from you. Understand, you'll not be allowed to hold
this boy to a friendship that's offensive to your Bishop. Jane
Withersteen, your father left you wealth and power. It has turned
your head. You haven't yet come to see the place of Mormon women.
We've reasoned with you, borne with you. We've patiently waited.
We've let you have your fling, which is more than I ever saw
granted to a Mormon woman. But you haven't come to your senses.
Now, once for all, you can't have any further friendship with
Venters. He's going to be whipped, and he's got to leave Utah!"
"Oh! Don't whip him! It would be dastardly!" implored Jane, with
slow certainty of her failing courage.
Tull always blunted her spirit, and she grew conscious that she
had feigned a boldness which she did not possess. He loomed up
now in different guise, not as a jealous suitor, but embodying
the mysterious despotism she had known from childhood--the power
of her creed.
"Venters, will you take your whipping here or would you rather go
out in the sage?" asked Tull. He smiled a flinty smile that was
more than inhuman, yet seemed to give out of its dark aloofness a
gleam of righteousness.
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