He took up the Bible last, and as he did so a memory flooded back upon him that sickened him and left him trembling.

It was the book he had given her on her seventeenth birthday, the one she had told him she was keeping when they parted that morning at Nauvoo.

He knew the truth before he opened it at the yellowed fly-leaf and read in faded ink, "From Joel to Prudence on this day when she is seventeen years old--June 2d, 1843." In a daze of feeling he turned the pages, trying to clear his mind, glancing at the chapter headings as he turned,--"Abram is Justified by Faith," "God Instructeth Isaac," "Pharaoh's Heart Is Hardened," "The Laws of Murder," "The Curses for Disobedience." He turned rapidly and at last began to run the leaves from between his thumb and finger, and then, well over in the book something dark caught his eye.

He turned the leaves back again to see what it was; but not until the book was opened flat before him and he held the page close to the light did he see what it was his eye had caught.

A wash of blood was across the page.
He stared blankly at the reddish, dark stain, as if its spell had been hypnotic.