Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: A Study in Scarlet

PART II. The Country of the Saints. 3. CHAPTER III. JOHN FERRIER TALKS WITH THE PROPHET. (continued)

"Wait till Jefferson comes, and we'll soon manage that. In the meantime, don't you fret yourself, my dearie, and don't get your eyes swelled up, else he'll be walking into me when he sees you. There's nothing to be afeared about, and there's no danger at all."

John Ferrier uttered these consoling remarks in a very confident tone, but she could not help observing that he paid unusual care to the fastening of the doors that night, and that he carefully cleaned and loaded the rusty old shotgun which hung upon the wall of his bedroom.

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* Heber C. Kimball, in one of his sermons, alludes to his hundred wives under this endearing epithet.