So the new preacher often called on
Milly, an' sometimes in Frank's absence. Frank was a cattle-man
between Sundays.
"Along about this time an incident come off that I couldn't get
much light on. A stranger come to town, an' was seen with the
preacher. This stranger was a big man with an eye like blue ice,
an' a beard of gold. He had money, an' he 'peered a man of
mystery, an' the town went to buzzin' when he disappeared about
the same time as a young woman known to be mightily interested in
the new preacher's religion. Then, presently, along comes a man
from somewheres in Illinois, en' he up an' spots this preacher as
a famous Mormon proselyter. That riled Frank Erne as nothin' ever
before, an' from rivals they come to be bitter enemies. An' it
ended in Frank goin' to the meetin'-house where Milly was
listenin', en' before her en' everybody else he called that
preacher--called him, well, almost as hard as Venters called Tull
here sometime back. An' Frank followed up that call with a
hosswhippin', en' he drove the proselyter out of town.
"People noticed, so 'twas said, that Milly's sweet disposition
changed. Some said it was because she would soon become a mother,
en' others said she was pinin' after the new religion. An' there
was women who said right out that she was pinin' after the
Mormon. Anyway, one mornin' Frank rode in from one of his trips,
to find Milly gone.
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