would, near her uncle's house at dawn upon the next morning. He would
take her, he said, to the house where the Smiths were in Fayette, but it
was implied through all the letter that the mystic marriage which Smith
had solemnised was considered by Halsey as valid, and that if she joined
her material fortunes now to those of the persecuted sect, it would be
as his wife.

In speaking of the future he did not gloss over the persecution; he did
not even promise, as Smith had done, a sure and material reward. The
mind of the young Quaker convert was fixed upon the things that are
unseen. This was not hidden from the girl. The thought of being with him
in his faith and resignation gave her peace. Poverty and persecution
seemed as nothing compared with the torture of being surrounded by
people whose thought and actions aroused in her young heart whirlwinds
of passionate opposition. Even Ephraim, instead of rising in his
strength to condemn the outrage of yesterday, had attempted to-day to
wound or kill. Her amazement and dismay at this drove her out as it were
with a scourge.

Halsey had told her to pray, and she had tried to pray. Halsey had told
her to search the Scriptures for guidance, and she read. Text after text
came home to her heart, bidding her leave her kindred to share the
fortunes of the persecuted children of faith.




CHAPTER VIII.