“I hain’t seen you before sence you––you–––”
“Deserted from the army,” sez she, finishin’ the sentence for him. “Yes, I deserted, I am proud to say; I never had a right before under this nation’s laws and I took that right; I deserted and they couldn’t help themselves; mebby them men see how it would feel to grin and bear for once, just as wimmen have to all the time.”
Brother Minkley had by this time begun to find and recover himself, and he sez with real good nature, “I meant to say, dear sister, that I hadn’t seen you before since you lost your husband.”
“Since you murdered him,” sez she.
“I––I murder a man?” He looked pale and trembled like a popple leaf.
“Yes, you and all other good men who stood by like Pilate, consentin’ to his death,” Arvilly went on.
Elder Minkley looked too dazed and agitated to speak, and Arvilly continued: “Do you pretend to say, Elder Minkley, that there is an evil law on the face of the earth 345 that the Church of Christ couldn’t overthrow if it chose to do so?”
He sez, “The power of the Church is great, Sister Arvilly, but no-license laws don’t stop drinking; liquor is sold somehow; folks that want it will get it.”
“What a argument!” sez Arvilly, liftin’ her eyes to heaven. “But you hain’t answered my question,” sez she, short as pie crust, mince pie crust, “Is there an evil law existing to-day that the Church of Christ could not overthrow if it tried to?”
“Well, no,” he admitted, “I believe that the Church of Christ is invincible.”