A Study in Scarlet Part II

Chapter 3

John Ferrier Talks With The Prophet

Three weeks had passed since Jefferson Hope

and his comrades had departed from Salt Lake City.

John Ferrier's heart was sore within him when he

thought of the young man's return, and of the im-

pending loss of his adopted child. Yet her bright

and happy face reconciled him to the arrangement

more than any argument could have done. He

had always determined, deep down in his resolute

heart, that nothing would ever induce him to allow

his daughter to wed a Mormon. Such a marriage

he regarded as no marriage at all, but as a shame

and a disgrace. Whatever he might think of the

Mormon doctrines, upon that one point he was

inflexible. He had to seal his mouth on the subject,

however, for to express an unorthodox opinion was

a dangerous matter in those days in the Land of

the Saints.

Yes, a dangerous matter-so dangerous that

even the most saintly dared only whisper their re-

ligious opinions with bated breath, lest something

which fell from their lips might be misconstrued,

and bring down a swift retribution upon them. The

victims of persecution had now turned persecu-

tors on their own account, and persecutors of the

most terrible description. Not the Inquisition of

Seville, nor the German Vehmgericht, nor the Se-

cret Societies of Italy, were ever able to put a more

formidable machinery in motion than that which

cast a cloud over the State of Utah.

Its invisibility, and the mystery which was at-

tached to it, made this organization doubly terrible.

It appeared to be omniscient and omnipotent, and

yet was neither seen nor heard. The man who held

out against the Church vanished away, and none

knew whither he had gone or what had befallen

him. His wife and his children awaited him at

home, but no father ever returned to tell them how

he had fared at the hands of his secret judges. A

rash word or a hasty act was followed by annihi-

lation, and yet none knew what the nature might

be of this terrible power which was suspended

over them. No wonder that men went about in

fear and trembling, and that even in the heart of

the wilderness they dared not whisper the doubts