"Exactly what Herbert has been wishing for," exclaimed Claire, "knowing so well that Mr. Durant and the Mormon gospel doctrines have made a deep impression on us, he has been very anxious to converse with this missionary." "Yes," answered Sutherland, "if all I have heard from you is correct, then I am surprised that this peculiar people are despised to such an extent. The principles you have explained to me, as received from him, are logical and good, and Mr. Brown tells me they have had such an influence with him, that nothing short of a visit to Salt Lake City will satisfy the longing he has to study the Mormon question as he desires; and as for Claire, why she has gone over her Bible and marked the passages quoted by the Elder, until the Sacred Book looks like a Chinese record." "And better than that," exclaimed his young wife, "I have committed the most of them to memory, and should he desire an assistant, I can surprise not only him but all of you with my knowledge of those principles. I realize how much happiness God has given me in this world, and how much I should endeavor to please Him, and have therefore devoted more time to reading His word than ever before, and, strange to say, I have found passages quoted by Mr. Durant whenever I have read, and the verses marked in my Bible seem to lead to something else that he has said. His testimony is so deeply rooted in my heart that I almost believe his people will yet be my people, and his faith will be my faith." "Why, Claire," said her mother, "if you are not careful, you will be a Mormon before you are aware." "And should you become one," said her husband, "think of your many friends, and the opinions they will have of you." "Well, I haven't joined the Mormons yet," said Claire; "but if I do, it will be because I believe them to be right; and if I have your good will, Herbert, and that of papa and mamma, what care I for the opinions of others?" "Well said," answered Herbert, with a smile; "but we will see if we cannot 'corner' your missionary, get him into an argumentative jail, if you please, from which it will be difficult or impossible for him to escape. Should he be able to make the gospel he teaches as plain and as reasonable as the doctrines that are set forth in the tracts which he left here, I can see no reason why any earnest, sincere searcher after knowledge cannot adopt that gospel as a living truth." It was agreed, thereupon, that when the promised telegram from Durant should be received, giving the date of his arrival, the neighbors were to be invited, and the large dining room would be turned into an informal meeting place where the principles of the gospel, as believed in by the Mormons, could be further explained. This was accordingly done. CHAPTER X. THE MISSIONARY'S RETURN.