Все приключения Шерлока Холмса. Сборник. Уровень 2

“In return for this, you promised to embrace the true faith. This you promised to do, and this you neglected.”

“And how did I neglect it?” asked Ferrier. “I give to the common fund, I visit the Temple. I…”

“Where are your wives?” asked Young.

“It is true that I am not married,” Ferrier answered. “But women are few, and there are many men who are better husbands than myself. I am not a lonely man: I have my daughter.”

“Yes, I want to talk to you about your daughter,” said the leader of the Mormons.

“She is the flower of Utah.”

John Ferrier groaned internally.

“They say that she is engaged to some Gentile. This must be the gossip of idle tongues. What is the thirteenth rule in the code of the sainted Joseph Smith? �Let every maiden of the true faith marry one of the elect; for if she weds a Gentile, she commits a grievous sin’.”

John Ferrier did not answer, but he played nervously with his riding-whip.

“The girl is young, and we don’t want to deprive her of all choice.

We Elders have many heifers, but our children must also have decent wives. Stangerson has a son, and Drebber has a son, and they will gladly welcome your daughter to their house. Let her choose between them. They are young and rich, and of the true faith. What will say you to that?”

Ferrier remained silent for some time.

“Give us time,” he said at last. “My daughter is very young-she is too young to marry.”

“She will have a month to choose,” said Young.

“At the end of that time she will give her answer.”

He was passing through the door, when he turned, with flushed face and flashing eyes.

“John Ferrier,” he thundered, “do not put your weak wills[51 - do not put your weak wills – не противься своими слабыми силёнками] against the orders of the Holy Four!”

And he went away. Ferrier heard his heavy step along the path.

Ferrier was still sitting with his elbows upon his knees, when he saw his daughter.

She was standing beside him. She heard everything.

“Oh, father, father, what shall we do?” she said.

“Don’t be afraid,” he answered. “We’ll fix it up somehow or another[52 - We’ll fix it up somehow or another. – Мы это как-нибудь уладим.]. You still like that chap, do you?”

A sob and a squeeze of his hand was her only answer.

“He’s a good lad, and he’s a Christian.