Show IlL THE ANGEL OF THE FOUR CORNERS IIII By < 3i ocrt Parlcer Author of Pierre ana Ilia People TheTrail of the I Sword Etc Copyright 1805 by Gilbert Parker THE DANCE OF THE I LITTLE WOLF What i the good said Babette to playno fiddle no mu theres no one t fddleno Sicwhat is the goed Truly replied Antoine HerE it is New Years Dav snow three feet deep the house ers so hot you cant breathe tobac of cold pair of feet waiting lots of pork plenty ot cider behind the door and no music Well its droll tbat Pshaw Ill stand on a tub and whistle Babette laughed Look at Alphonse Watch how he shakes his black head and his eyes dance so Ah poor man He would give his head for Marie but she sits wih gve half dozen gallants beside her and she flashes her big brown eyes over at Alphonse and they drive him mad MOIL Dleu You think ho care for him with his purty eyes ani black hair No feet the no You see You hear her fet tap floor She long to dane like us all and Alphonse he long for her So rejoined Antoine I do not understand un-derstand that Marie Why ist all get on Their knees to her and she care for no man You think that asked Babette Ts you are only a man with a manse mans-e es You think because she not care for you she care for nobody Thats like a man He is so vain When a woman care not for him he Is so happy when cre siie car not for anyone else Well Im glad Im not a man Antoine bristled up Come come Babette You trnk I care for Marie No only for you You are the one great woman in the world Bauette laughed merrily her little white teeth Hashing She tapped him on the arm Oh you foolish foolish A man can ncvtr see when it is a woman He thinks her great when she is very little He thinks he understands himself and he knows nothing There is Marie What do you know You think her all coquette iou think Im better Mon Dieu I I vere in the same way as Marie Id belike be-like her Antoine ran his fingers through his hair knotted his forehead and smiled in a droll way By the holy I do not understand he said Who is there Marie loves You can see she play the game with them all uJt there is no one She has them Jacques Jac-ques Adrien Jules Alphonse and the lest comme c They are on their shins and she put her little foot on them all Vvhat does she care Ah Babette what she care Theres no one Babette suodenly became grave and her eyes > watched Antoine with a wondering kind of sadness She was younger than he yet she was wiser for every good woman wo-man is wiser than any man She won ciered why he did not know that when love first stirs In a womans heart she begins to be wise when in a mans he begins to be foolish for the one becomes unselfish and the other vain After a moment she said with a serious little twist of the head Antoine I do not know who tis but theres some one Marie loves Do you think Im a woman and not know the look of love in another There Is some one somewhere and i is all unhappy know that Do you think i it was all right she would play with tlnm like thatso cold so heartless No I bm she must do som Ming A woman will no mad unless Poor Marie Perhaps Per-haps he loved her and should not Perhaps Per-haps something prevents Well it is all the same She is a you see Antoine was a little nervous facing Babettes seriousness He had not the care of life only the shanties In the winter win-ter the river in sumner the little farm ing in the autumn an courting Babette in n happy irresponsible fashion all the time But take i seriously life love W tCh how his feet tap the floor impatiently Impa-tiently He Is wild for the dance I was New Years Day the time of festivity beyond all others in a French Canadian home and the young people of the parish were gathered ready to dane until the morning but to the house of a Maries father old Vigord the fiddler had not come For the last hour there had been nothing but Vigard Vigard Why doesnt Vigord eie Everyone seemed trovbled save Marie She did not I worry Perhaps that was because she i had been a year at school in Quebec City therefore had got a kind of manner was playing the selfpossessed lady or that If she could not enjoy herself in one way she could in another There was something some-thing In her different from the other girls n the room You felt that you did rot know her as you knozv them All that they thouirht or were flashed In their brown eyes on their red careless lips and in the loose softr ss of their hair Tmt in Maries strong chin dark coquettish coquet-tish eyes and strong brow there hid something wich had little to do with the life moving at the moment Perhaps as Babftte had said thtre was a man somewhere some-where In the world whose love or lank of loe had given her wisdom but she said herself that she was only a trifler That he cared for nothing ave to enjoy herself Antonio to relieve the situation which was becoming strained started a song That did very well for a little I was a pretty fantasy of love and wild life dashed with t spice of deviltry but i con lost its effect for the spirits which 1 raised sent a mad sprightliness into the feet of all which ouly the rasp of a fiddle or the breath of a concertina could ppnease or command At last tall Medallion Me-dallion whose ways were those of the Messed of this world and who had his fingers on all the little comedies and tragedies edies of the parish stood up in the middle of the floor and proposed a game Ev Tvono was still for a moment for Mei dalhm had great resources and whimsical whimsic-al ideas His was the gift of making men and women laugh not so much of himself him-self as ft themselves Besides he had a heart Protestant though he was even the cure trusted him and the little Chemist worshipped him See my children he said with his V sharp eyes twinkling since Vigord is late lets have something agen his coming com-ing Give him a half hour longer then i he isnt here Ill play the fiddle myself my-self Lets have now The Dance of the Little Wolf Il whistle Well whoever at the end shall stand alone in the center cen-ter must tell a very fine story I must be of love I must be like a play and i must be treAt tre-At this everyone laughed Msieu Medallion was so droll they said The Dance of the Little Wolf and then a true story of love Certainly Msieu Medal lion was amusing They all came to their feet eager for the dance keen to see on whom the mantle of romance would fall Hand IN hand with tripping step they wound in and out of the room Medallion standing Uedalbn stldln Ir the center of the floor having changed his whistling to a singsong kind of chant The long waving loving line linking like chains curving into circles parting join ing again first slowly then faster now suddenly in a pretty column back and forth tie men together then the women flashing eyes waving black hair the warm breath of youth filling the room with an ecstacy wherein every little care and alarm of life was swallowed up and at last there came a sudden moment of confusion the hurlyburly of laughter and sweet affright of contentment as the hazard of the dance grew Presently all parted and Marie stood alone in the al Cfn ter of the floor with Antonio on one side not far and Alphonse on the other There W3 laughter and a storm of clapping Marie Marie they all cried tley al crld The story the true ove story Antoine ran his fingers through his hair shook the little gold rings In his ears and grinned at Marie then at Ba bete Alphonse was nervous and his eyes had a kind of wild hunger a he looked at Marie I Marie glanced around the room smiling r naively gave Alphonso a quick sidelong glance of torturing coquetry and then caught Medallions eyes He was looking at her with a whimsical suggestive smile She flashed one back All at once something some-thing defiant swept over her facea wave of emotion which seemed to lift her all at once into an atmosphere apart c from them all independent of them all Some inherent dramatic strain in her mastered her for a moment She was alive to her fingertips She stenped back a little way from Alphonse and Antoine They draw away on either sidE but Medallion folded his arms and watched her from under his bushy brows steadily kindly The story the story Marie they S CJI el The moment before Marie was lost to everything around her now she was v back again conscious of her presence a but still i the atmosphere where herb her-b Inspiration Ttfas born A smile to bril liant to airy played on her lies Her voice had a < feverish lightness Her eyes 1 > p i > i I though were burning with a look hard to read I I will tell you a wonderful beautiful dreadful story she said Once upon a timeat this they all laughed Once upon a time she repeated re-peated very lightly there was a girl and she thought herself beautiful She used to dream of a great prince who would come one day geat tell her that his I houses his lands and all the riches of his kingdom were for her She only lived in a cottage In a village but that didnt cottge vlaebut matter She rode in a tiny cariole and she had only a little Indian pony to take market but that her t mass and to tat didnt matter She was a woman and a woman is like a bird she has wings and she files where she will in the dreams of the night and in wl quick hours of the day when her hands work and her tongue is busy A man may stopp but ma tonge a woman always soars till a man breaks her heart And so this girl watched for her prince and when the mist was sweet and flashed In the violet light of summer upon the river he did not come that way and when the fields were white with snow In winter win-ter felds all the world was waiting like the girl he did not come that way And since he did not come to her she would go to him So one morning she filled a bag with meat and honey and dried fruits and she put on her thickest mittens and her little fur cap and her great coat of dogskin fur and a woolen cloud about her throatunder > vhich was I the little brooch given her by her mother which she would wear before the prince when she found him that he should see she was born for the fine things of this world She had braided a hand with a bow and arrow on one moccasin and a hand with a sword upon the other She started forth all alone She traveled on starte through thick woods and the wild hills and over plains and te his when the winds blew hard she laughed back at them and when at night something some-thing cried in the trees like spirits begging II beg-ging her to speak to them sang the song of the Scarlet Hunter and the chant of the White Swan for she had no fear The birds are not afraid till a shot from the hunters gun or an arrow from his bow strikes into the heart She paused and stood looking straight before her repeating the phrase still again a though having learned the tale by heart she had forgotten something some-thing But she was merely lost for a moment in scenes which were flashing before her mind having for the time passed beyond her audience to the world where in despair ones own soul flees and the Angel of the Four Corners can show us no right of way as we travel Some girl in the crowd giggled nervously nervous-ly Another she knew not why gave a quick gasping sob Babette who was next her said You goose its only astor a-stor This brought Marie back She took up the too thread again lightly but plaintively to tooBy and by she came to a city I stood high on a great h11 I had splendid splen-did houses churches and palaces and beneath there flowed a fine wide river Every stone of that city was made of gold and every drop of that river was eer a sweet white wine Whenever the girl looked at the city she knew it was s Whenever she looked at the river she knew that it was so And when she looked in the eyes of her prince she knew it was so for they were all gold and wine also and she could have lived just ever and ever looking at those eyes Ill the Scarlet Hunter blindfolded her and led her out on the lonely Trail of the White Valley from which no man returns re-turns Yes she had found her prince I does not matter where she saw him first in a palace or a house or a church for she saw him that was enough She was only a poor peasant girl but he was a great man so wise s splendid splen-did so kind He said that she was beautiful beau-tiful and she believed him he said that he loved her and she trusted but when she threw herself on his breast and cried that she would never leave him there came into his face a strange pitiful piti-ful look That look broke her heart for ffll l ldo f t 1hSh it couldnt beit couldnt be She was only a foolish peasant girl or she would have known that a prince could never be her husband Yet she knew that he loved her Then there came a sad terrible day when all of the great men of the kingdom king-dom came together and decide that she must go away or tttte prince would lose his kingdom a well prnce her What could she do She could not wait about the palace gates She could not defy all the great men who were so strong and who cculd make happy or destroy as they wished What could she do But she saw him once again I was at the sw altar of a great church Oh a church like none any of you ever saw with a beautiful Calvary above the altar and angels with large flaming wings and a thousand candles burning and such wonderful won-derful sweet music I was so she saw him and that was their goodby She looked into his eyes and they had these the-se look a when she first heard him tell his love and she got up on her feet and called out t him but he raised his hand at her as though to say Ko nevernever The strange searching pathos of her voice filled the room like the eerie music nf a violin and Medallion felt his face flush and his fingers tingle for he was reading the story of a girls life in the allegory Perhaps only he and one other understood and that other was the simple sim-ple Babette She pinched Antoines arm Cant you understand she said Antoine shifted from one leg to the other ran his fingers through his hair and said only Its a good story very good Bien she could go on the stage Ah Once when I was in Montreal I saw a play Viola that w a good play Well she could act in such a play that Marie Babette sighed shrugged her shoulders lifted her eyes and caught Medallions and each knew of what the other was thinking Marie now almost breathlessly hurried hur-ried her story re S the poor girl came back over the plains and over gr hills to her little cottage home But she was never the same again She laughed when others laughed and she was gay and she danced danc-ed and everybody said that she had good times in the world But ouo you think that she had Because when she thought of the City now i was no longer of gold and when she thought of ih nglndh gJ the river it was black and 8h and when she remembered the man she saw the great rulers of his kingdom frowning frown-ing at her and the hand of her prince raised a if it said No never never When she finished there was silence for a moment so deep that only the breathing breath-ing of her audience was heard They could not read the thing They took her story literally and It did not seem so strange to them for they were a simple people but they were romantic too having In their veins nor did they know this the feeling of an antique time So they applauded heartily grandly They called Bravo and said there was no one in the parish not in ten parishes who could tell 2 fine true love story like Marie And Alphonse looked at her with his hungry eyes a though t say were he that prince he would have followed her from that city and have lost his kingdomand his soulfor her The ComIng of the Fiddler The dance of the Little Wolf had been a success and now Medallion bustled In and out among them breaking them up into groups while they kept calling for another dance As he passed Marie he whispered to her Well done Mamselle well done But you must find another prince toute suite prnce Se shook her head at him laughing in a plaintive kind of way but said nothing noth-ing ingJust then there was a bustle at the door Vigord Is i Vigord some cried but the crowd parted making way for a tall young man with a handsome cleanshaven face warm keen dark eyes and a strong brow above them as though looking tor someone Ha carried under one arm a violin Everyone Ev-eryone knew the old battered box I was Vigords It was not Vigord Why its Vigords its Vigords fiddle fid-dle said Antoine Yes its Vigords fiddle said the young man still looking round Vigor is down at the house of Big Babiche He was taken sick I saw him there and told him I would fetch the fiddle and play for youand here I am He tossed his hand up in a gay free fashion Just then ho saw a face looking out at him from behind half a dozen others oth-ers a pale half frightened bewildered face with th eyes full of an anxious questioning and a smile too struggling for life about the lips just such a smile a might falter at the lips of a condemned condemn-ed man who thought he saw the bearer of a reprieve God give even the poor the laborious I and the foolish of this world whose rains are set to she un der gray skies moments of wisdom and 1 l II of feeling so deep that all the rest of I I their lives In days and months and years are a nothing beside them a a guarantee i guaran-tee that at the end AS at the beginning all souls are the same and the rest i according t the Angel of the Four Corners life Cor-ners who wards the thousand paths of Something In the young mans look warned her and she dropped her eyes while he came on the crowd still gathering gather-ing around him You H play for us then you will play for us they cried i Yes Ill play for you he answered his eyes wide open and shining like two black diamonds But see he continued contin-ued I mut have the prettiest girl in grl the parish to supper and at every fourth dance she must sit beside me while I play He laughed as he said it and tossed 11 his fingers again In an airy gallant I fashion I was strange too this buoyant buoy-ant manner for in spite of his flashing eyes and smiling lips there was a grave ascetic expression behind all something of melancholy too in the turn of his straight manly body Medallion standing apart watched him I calon He had not seen that first glance at Marie nor Mares glance in I return but he felt there vas something strange and uncommon in the man He I had the bearing of a gentleman and his I voice was that of education and refinement refine-ment The girls simpered and whispered among themselves and the men turned with one consent to Marie Well it must be Marie said Antoine Wel the prettiest girl in the parish I Yes Marie Marie Mid others Alphonse hal a mind to speak but he dared not contradict Antoine and he also saw that Marie would be handed over to this handsome stranger Good said the stranger then let It be larlenot looking toward her ing That is he added if Marie Is will ig ingNow Now they made way for her to come forward and said Here here she la Marie came down slowly not looking at the stranger and his eyes did not dwell upon her face They rose no higher than her neck where she wore a little cross of gold gld Good he said again good Then a she came nearer he continued in an offhand way My name is Camille Cam-ille larie She did no more than whisper th3 words Monsieur Camille and held out her hand still not raising her eyes to his face He took her hand and clasped it As he did so a sound almost like a moan broke softly from her lips There was so much noise and chattering that perhaps per-haps no one noticed It except Babotto and Medallion but they were watching watching All at once Marie broke away with a wild little laugh Chut she said a she danced in among the other girls changed all in an instant hell be tired of me before the things overl Yes said Medallion under his breath either as he was before Yet Im not s sure Medallion was only speculating Ten minutes afterwards Monsieur Camille Cam-ille was seated on a little nlatform at the end of the room raised about six inches from the floor playing for the dancers Marie was dancing with Al phonse You think hes handsome asked Al phonse furtively Oh hes so vain she said Look at the way he switches the bow And listen how he calls off the dances dan-ces continued Alphonse delighted not half so good a Vigord and such airs such airs Whos he anyhow We dont know Likely some scallawag from Quebec Perhaps hes a prince said the girl laughing Prince Bosh Wheres his moustache mous-tache Alphonse stroked his own carelessly care-lessly ope arm around Maries waist Why hes shaved like a priest Something peculiar flashed Into Maries eyes and she looked for a moment inquiringly in-quiringly at Alphonse Yes just like a priest she said The dance went on Monsieur Camilles clear resosant voice rang out over the heads of the dancers Ladles chain there you go right and left balance t part ners promenade all And so on the words bending and inflecting to the music like a song with here and there a laughing laugh-Ing phrase thrown in at a stumbling to some habitant or a pretty compliment blushing girl whose eyes as well as her feet danced a reply to the master of the revels Never was such music heard in the parish of Pontiac Vigords sun had gone out in the darkness Monsieur Camilles w at high noon Already Camies had Medallion made friends with the fiddler fid-dler and had become at once Monsieur Camilles lieutenant in the jocund game For Medallion had no vanity and he knew a man of parts when he found him and loved the man for the parts In the third dance rarie took her place on a chair beside Monsieur Camille The crowd gave a little cheer for herfor them bothbefore the dance began and then they were all hard at it heel and toe knee and elbow warm shoulder to warm shoulder enjoyment panting through the room Suddenly Monsieur Camille voice was heard as he paused at the beginning of a set Its my turn to talk Wholl call off the dance Will you ho added looking at Medallion Medallion nodded and took up the parable par-able The music was riotous and Medallions Medal-lions voice abundantly cheerful as he danced with Babette And now behind the Joyous riot there I passed a little drama Do you wonder whY Ive come Marie Ma-rie said the Master of the Revels I Why have you come she asked I Have you forgotten my name he urged reproachfully I Why shouldnt I Thats so thats so he answered I You told me to forget I she addPd Thats true he agreed sorrowfully There was n pause in which nothing was said between them and then In an awed shrinking kind of voice she added Are youa priestnow His voice in reply had a kind of disdainful dis-dainful recklessness Do you think Id be here I I was He drew the bow I across the E string with a vigor more raw than Slept I How should T know she answered answere Am I my brothers keeper I He winced and the how rasped on theE the-E string so that the dancers looked up I t r i i I He Got to His Feet In His Excitement wonderingly but Monsieur Camilles head was only nodding to u m the dancing went on the same Still her arrow had gone home for he remembered when in the shadow of the great cathe aral in Quebec one Christmas Eve he bid bade her forget him as Camille her lover and think of him only as Camilla Kn other who was vowed to become a priest Sorrow and pain had sharpened her mind as only these things can sharpen the mind of a woman This was not the simple lovirfg girl from a country village vil-lage who had stolen his heart while he studied In Laval seminary This was a little woman grown oh so bitterly wise And when a woman grows bitter and wise the bravest should be humble for she needs neither the help of gods or of men to aid her tongue When do you bocomo a priest she asked with slow inquisition A fortnight he said is the time fixed Then as I said why do you come she asked sharply Cant you understand ho replied with a strong rush of feeling A priest should be about his Fathers justness not a dance she replied scornfully scorn-fully Marie Marie arent you glad to see me he said running all this risk as I lo He had his eyes on the little cross at her throat He had once given it to her I have mv own confessor she replied the < ood Father Fabre I dont need mother Her fingers felt for the cross then suddenly dropped it She got to her feet Marie Marie he whispered But with a laugh she sprang down from the little platform among the dancers and caught Medallions arm With rollicking laughter Medallion swung both her and Babette through the flirting changes of a cotillion I Betvrcen the Fires An hour went by Meanwhile Marie was gay but Medallion noticed that her hand was now hot now cold as they swung through the changes and that her eyes had 2 hard kind of brilliance It brilance was not given him to read the heart I this romance he would not try to probe I the thing he merely watched and waited wait-ed He had known Marie since she was only big enough to lean her chin on his knee and many a time since she had grown up he and old Garon the avocate had talkea of her and wondered what since ho had heard a voice with that sound in itlife was grave and far from sentimental in the seminary His youth the old Adam came to swelling life in him He put It all in the words I wouldnt have asked you if you loved me yet Marie unless I was sure you knew that I loved you He drew his bow caressingly ressingly along the D string so that a sweet aching joyfulness seemed infused into the dance and that Ive risked everything ev-erything t come and tell you so A low sound half delight half pain lfsg eJl lir came from her But she turned her head away There was silence for a moment Wont you speak What arc you thinking Dont turn your te3r away he continued yo Slowly her face came toward him her eyes shining her cheeks pale her lips slow and moving gently but the words dropping like metal You are true t9 nothing she said Neither to the churchnor to me I1 t I 1 1 I I I i i t ct4i 1 i I r vpai 2 i c 1L49 r c EnnN kI I i F I 1 ALPIIOXSEI THEN SPRUNG UP AXD DISSAPEAHED IX TIE WOODS her life would be for it seemed to them I both that there was no man in the parish who could make her happythat year in Quebec had changed her so had given her larger ideas of life and men He had talked much with her from time to time and she had always seemed glad of that She thought him wise ana he had wondered at some deep searching things she had said He would have gone far to serve her for the gossip now almost al-most legend that he had cared for Ma rios mother before she married Maries I father had foundation The cure had stepped in for Medallion was a Protestant Protest-ant and that ended i but Medallion had never married and strange to say the cure and himself and Maries father were the best of friends Medallion was also busy watching Monsieur Camille for he felt that there was something wherein a friend might serve Marie though how he did not know He liked the young mans face for it had that touch of loneliness lone-liness and native solitary thought which the present gaiety of eye voice and manner man-ner made almost pathetic He even saw something more a recklessness not natural nat-ural to the youths character which sat on him like a touch of doom And as he thought Maries allegory her wonderful wonder-ful beautiful dreadful those were her words tale of love kept showing in vivid viv-id pictures in his eye But if he could have read the young mans mind could have seen the struggle strug-gle going on there the despair the breaking break-ing up of all the settled courses of a life he would have been as start C as apprehensive appre-hensive For while Camille Debarres was urging on this mirth and revel with a nervous eagerness he kept saying to himself over and over aaInI cant give her up God forgive me rarle Marie The words beat In and out of the music Youth humanity energies of the active world were crying out fighting for mastery mas-tery in the breast of one soon to be given to the separateness of the church wherein where-in the love of man and maid must be viewed with a distant paternal eye A hundred forces had been at work to put him and keep him in the church and when as a student Marie came into his life these forces with loving yet severe apprehension closed on him and on the girl and had separated them as it seemed forever He was older now but as heneared the final act that should set him apart from the world and close up for always the springs of youth and desire the old feeling feel-ing had leaped up had filled him he had somehow got a few days of respite and this was the result this mad escapade I esca-pade this dangerous playtime The night wore on At last he was able to catch Maries eyes She could not resist that pleading the inexpressible hunger in that look She came and sat down beside him and again Medallion called off the figure of the dance They spoke in very low tones trying with what desperate anxiety to prevent their hearts showing In their faces What do you want to say she asked her breath catching I want to know Marie if you still love me His voice whispered through the music What does i matter she said And is it right to ask Ive come all the way from Quebec to ask it he said You came to ask that what did YOU come to say she flashed out her lips quivering a little He understood Forgive me I thought you knew I couldnt ask you if you cared unless I He paused for u he spoke the words the die would be cast forever he would never return to those quiet walls where incense and not the breath of woman a breath like this soft sweet instinct with youth and delight would touch hIs Fences Yet what had he come for To rack a girls heart and soul and then return re-turn to his masses and his prayers leaving leav-ing an injured life behind him When he started from Quebec IIP scarcely knew what he was going to do save that he must see this girls face once once again He had had no thought beyond thnt That desire was not within him He did not know she might be married or dead or the betrothed of another but he would see her then return to his sacred duties and forgot In coming at all he had committed a sin for whi h he would have to atone bitterly when he returnedIf he returned hut the latter thought had not presented Itself to him definitely though i had flashed in and out of the vapors of emotion like a flying flame But now here was Marie and here was he in the garb of a workaday world nnd frivolity and irresponsible gaiety around them and he all on a sudden with his farawnv boyish recklessness acain alive in himthe Master of the Revels Unless Marie asked Yes unless There were two little lines at the corners of her mouth lines which never came ton to-n girls face unless she had suffered and lost Marie had not onlv a heart but a souse of honor too for the man Having come to her thus whatever chanced he should justify himself in so far as might be bv saying what any honest man would say She had a rteht to know If he still loved her and he had no right to know if she still loved hIM until that was done Ho must be justified In her si ht I hp loved hjr ami said so then let the angel noint what way it would she would submit She flushed with a kind of indignation Must Ph < > always be the sufferer Hea manhad a work of life to interest him She had nothing nothing save herself and the snHtarv patch of meaner parish l life She would have her moment of triumph umph in spite of all She would hoar him say he loved her she would make him give up all for hpr She was no longer the wistful shrinking girl who hd been hurried bark to her home from Quebec and handed over to the tender watchfulness watchful-ness of Monsieur Fahr whoso heart had ached for her yet who felt that what Was was best She w > s very much S woman now and If only for an hour she would have her way wnvUnless what Camille she asked Her voice dwelt softly on the Cam She I was the first sound of tenderness that he had hpard from her since he came and It thrilled him It a three years t i 2 f < i > rare havent you any pity He did not know what or how he was playing now His fingers wandered the bow came and went but he was not thinking of the rausic Why are you so selfish then she said Why dont you leave me here alA al-A woman is always at a mans mercy Something scorched him from head to foot He now felt as he had never felt before what that incident three years ago meant what this girls life had been since what was the real nature of that renunciation The eighthand reel was near its end Ho got to his feet in his excitement played faster and faster and then with a call e10 the dancers and Medallion Me-dallion brought the dance to a close In the subsequent jostling as the revelers made their way to another room for sup per he offered his arm to Marie nodded as gaily a he could to the frequent Merci Mere Monsieur and they walked together to the end of the roon saying nothing At that moment Alphonse entered fol lowed by Antoine who grasped his arm and held him back Dont be a fool ntoine said A row wont get you the girlBut girlbte Antoine had had two seasons as a lumberman and river r1 grs 3n he had just been drinking He held the code of the river that where two men and one woman were in the triangle of love war must be the end thereof Ill give him the grand bounce and Alphonse in wild English idiom He dont belong here some lawyers clerk or loafer ers Rlen said Antoine still holding him back suppose Marie stand up for him Pshaw he dont belong here And she said something to me about hlmI know Im going to ask her to supper with me The two were standing silent at the end or the room watching the scene but not hearing the words Marie however I guessed what was meant Presently Alphonse with disjointed glances came and said to her Have sup Per with me Mamselle Ho turned his shoulder t Camille Marie did not hesitate Not now Al etah phonse I have a guest she reached out her hand towards Camille and hes been working hard for us all the evening Alphonse looked at her with an attempt to be disdainful then snapping atempt gers unSet Camillas nose cqntemptuously said shrng of Pah the shoulders and walked awaY with a I wasnt so easy getting used to that again after I came back from Quebec three years ago she said Singular how the said in the youthS was being youth-S ° swiftly lost In the man Camies fingers opened and shut man his brow knitted He smarted to from Ma rios last remark He did not know that LaU these biter speeches she was ready to fall upon his breast and cry till she had Cr ti emptied her empted breast out But she had been humiliated once and she would rather die than be humbled again wheth er he meant i so or not The room was empty but It could not he so long for sentimental groups would wander hack from the supper rooms room-s Alphonse disapneared Camille said Camie I u Iarle im seeing things as I never saw them before I want to talk with you I alone just ten minutesthats wih ask hut alone where no one can interrupt us Would it be right she asked He could not tell whether she was Ironical or not I shall be right he said stout You wont mind if its cold she questioned I wont mind anything If youll only give me that ten minutes he answered But if its going to be cold wrap yourself your-self up well He took a mans coat from the wall Come she paid and opened a narrow door that led into a nttlc hallway As she did so he threw tho coat over her shoulders Give me your hand she added and taking I led the way for half n dozen steps in the dark Then she took a key from the wall and turned It in a lock which clicked back rustllv Its my brother Phillippps room she said as she stepped inside he fol lowing The moonlight on the frosted pane gave a ghostly kind of light to the chamber Mario felt along the wall for a match boxOh Oh theres not a match here she added Feel in that overcoat pocket he sug gested Its owner is a smoker smell ItShe She did s and drew out a handful He took one and scratched it on the wall Neither of them knew but it was Al phonses coat Camille lit a halfburned candle that stood orf a chest of drawers and then turned ol Marie We have never use the room since Phillipne died she said I did not know he reioined gently Phillinpe had been to Montreal genty said There hed fallen in with a girl her voice faltered an actress He came back to see us and mother begged him not to go to Montreal again for we knew a priest had written to us about the girl One day he got a paper He opened it at dinner He saw something gave a cry and fell against the table 4Elle est morte She Is dead he cried A man had shot the girl because she loved PhlllipDe I seemed to Phllltopa that he himself had killed her that if he had been there it wouldnt have happened hap-pened Since then the room has been as it was the day he died diedI I From the Cloiitcr Shade CoIter Outside the trees were snapping In the frost and now and again a dull boom told that the Ice n cracking on the river A night of deep wrenching frost the snow three feet deep the cold steely sky brooding above Presently as the two stood there the bells of the parish church rang out I was midnight the morning of the new year There were voices too of men singing as they drove past the house sleigh bells joining with the song and the church bells They could not hear tho words but they knew wasThree the air and they knew what the song Three men went forth to woo a maid Heigho those lovers three And the first one was a roving blade And the second came from a cloisters shade And the third from the gallowstree Cest e Ho Ho Cest cal Try a Camille would the second verse of the kept It te song beating in his ears I dH not leave him all that night and it followed him for many a day with a kind of savage irony Three men knelt down with a lovers plea Ho Ho for such a maid And she chose not him of the gallows tree glows And the roving blade had an eye too free eJe But sweet is the tongue from the cloisters shade tonge Cest c Ho Ho Cest ca The song died away but the bells kept on ringing and there came to them distantly dis-tantly laughing voices There was a strange look in Camilles eyes and swimming swim-ming in his face He stood still and did not offer to touch the girl though he stood very near and her hand rested s near his she leaning against the bureau as though to steady herself But standing stand-ing a ho spoke Perhaps you will never understand he said how i all was No one ca ever quite know I was younger they told me i was better for you better for me better for the church that we should part I thought you would forget I thought that perhaps I should never see you again I used to pray for us both I never heard from you or about you But eIe could ggr forget This week It all came back to meto shut myself out from you always forever by the sacred office I sat up in my e chokingI could have shrieked I could not rest until I had seen you again I thought perhaps she Is married perhaps per-haps she no longer cares perhaps she Is dead So I came here Somehow I seemed to break loose when I put oil my student clothes and you see me as I am tonight You think I am wicked that I am untrue to the church and you Ah Marie you no longer care a you once did and I God help me I cannot go back now to the other And I cannot live without you I am punished punished punish-ed He dropped his head and a sob caught him in the throat he was s boyish boy-ish honest There silence so honest Tere was a sience The voice was low and sweet and very near I drew his head up like a call Their eyes swam In one burning hungry look then there was a little cry from her and in an instant he was kissing away two tears that slowly gathered and a slowly fell down her hot cheek The woman had conquered at lastIn spite of the great men of the kingdom For the man there was no going back now He had cast the die forever But she was a woman and having conquered having justified herself she was ready for sacrifice Now when the man had wiped out all his past to begin life with her she was ready to immolate herself She loved him E well that she thought only of his good Camille she said gently disengaging herself I am paid for those three years But nownow it must go no further The others parted us before and made you appear unmanly twas that which hurt me so Now i is I that part us dear You must go back Be a priest and I He was very pale and quiet And youwhat would you do he said There Is always the nunnery left she answered wearily yet bravely You think that I ought to go he questioned You wish me to go Marie For your own good Think of the trouble that would come unless You will go Cal His reply came with a low force G Never never Remember how your brother blamed himselfand she was an actress you said T leave you now how I would hate myself Never his voice was strong and decisive de-cisive there was no wavering There are a hundred men better mento take my place there Marie but is there any to take my placehereHe ran his arm around her waist There Is Tere no one he added No one Camille she said faintly The man had in a vague yet direct way too realized that to save a bruised life at your feet Is better than to go a hunting for souls with the Kings Men He had wandered out to the CrossRoads and had been motioned back to his own door The woman had been willing to save the man but her heart beat for joy that he did not go Come what will Marie he said fervently fer-vently clasping her hands and gathering gather-Ing her eyes to his we must not part again asked You do not fear the Church she I am a man he cried drawing himself him-self up proudly Perhaps they will notshe paused In sweet confusion Perhaps they will nof marry us he said piercing out the sentence His eyes flashed How dare they not he added I was not yet a priest How strange that was sounded in her ears Already they had begun a new life And how proud she was of him the rebel for her sake She ran a hand over his shoulder You must go to the cure she said to good Monsieur Fabre He knows all I confessed to him He thought for a moment Yes I will go he said I will go You must go at once now she urged Then she added hastily We have been here to longI forgot With a laugh he picked up the overcoat which had dropped from her shoulders and carefully wrapped i around her He I was big with energy emotion and courage cour-age a rebel who doubted not of success A moment afterwards they were about to issue into the other room Wait she said discreetly You can go out another door leading from this room and the cure lives just above on the hill She opened a creaking door He shut it for a instant clasped her to his breast then opened the door again drew his cap from his pocket talgn and I was gone into the frosty night She shut the door slowly and went back to > the dancing room It tyas nearly filled and dancers were clamoring for the fiddler band b-and Marie As she entered the room A J phonse strutted over TO her i Been for a walk with the fiddler in mY t coat he said in a rough way Here is your coat and than you Alnhonse she said quietly and reprovIngly He flung I over his shqulder Lucky that the fiddler wasnt wearing It or Id never seen It again Perhaps he was running run-ning off with it and you stopped him eh he added She turned on him with a still cold face her eyes all afire Behind his back Al phonse its so easy Ill say it to his face Hes only a tramp anyway Youll find him at the cures she added add-ed coldly turning away to Medallion Anxiety showed in Medallions eyes What has happened she said She hesitated I wish you would tell me he added Its better that a girl should not go Jt through some things alone I Their eyes met The love that he had once borne her nother gave now a kind of fatherliness to his look Vaguely she felt it and with her fresh frank nature responded at once You remember the story I told after the Dance of the Little Wolf she asked He nodded Yes yes Well that was all true He Camille was studying for a priest it could not be and we parted He has come back thats all What has he come back for Medallion Medal-lion gravely asked A look of triumph showed In her eyes What do you think she said Is he a priest now No He is giving it all up for you Marie For me she said with a proud flash of her brown eyes Medallions hand closed on hers warmly warm-ly strongly Begad hes a man ha said and begad youre worth it and a hundred such men Oh you dont know you dont know how good and brave he is she rejoined Medallion smiled quizzically Ah I know men and I know no man my dear thats as good as a woman and youre of the best Where has he gone V Again a smile crossed her face To a woman there came but few moments of triumph only a few great scenes In her life She could not resist the joy of saying with a little dash of vanity He has gone to the cure Medallion gave a noiseless whistle Frankly and promptly he said Well a happy New Year to you both my girl Its just now five minutes inside the New Year Meanwhile Alphonse had hurried from the room and was hard on the trail of Camille Even in the vague glimmer ha could see a swinging pride in the bearing of the stalwart youth striding on In the moonlight When he left the house ho had no definite purpose in his mind Now he had a kind of deviltry which gets into the blood of men when a woman stands between them In the riverdrivers veins there beat the shameless agony of Abels brother He broke into a run Swifter swifter Before Camille had half climbed the hill to the cures house he was panting pant-ing hard after A cry broke from him before he reached Camille the snarl of a man in whom there are working envy and hate Camille heard and turned He recognized recog-nized Alphonse What you go to the cures for asked Alphonse roughly Camille shrugged his shoulders Whats that to you my man he said Alphonso xippefl out an oath What you put on airs with me for My man My man By the holy heaven take that back you tramp Perhaps it was a long training In the cloister perhaps it was a superior nature na-ture but Camille responded calmly Yes I will take it back if you like but you must not call me a tramp You cannot exorcise a devil in a moment mo-ment The game had gone too far War i was in Alphonses heart ° V I want to know what for you go to t the cure For the banns he sneered But there was also in Camilles face the freedom of his new life Perhaps h answered meaningly Then by hell you fight me first shouted Alphonse and blocked the way An instant later he struck out It was not altogether an unequal battle for although al-though Alphonse was powerful and hardened hard-ened by laborious life Camille was well knit supple and had unlike most of his comrades In college been constant In athletic ath-letic exercises Alphonse discovered this By a sudden trick Camille who was being be-ing pressed and punished hard suddenly brought his assailant to the ground just as a figure appeared on the hill above them the cure on his way to visit a sick parishioner The cure called out apprehensively At that instant with a helpless moan Camille Ca-mille rolled Alphonse and blood gushed from his neck Alphonse then sprang up and disappeared in the woods A moment later the cure knelt beside the youth staunching the blood from the wound Sleigh bells sounded near He raised his head and called loudly The cure lifted him up and felt Camilles heart to see iC there was life A few minutes later Camille Jay in the cures little room conscious now and able to tell little by little his story why ha had gone to the parish and why he Ws seeking the cure But he did not tell iren and he never told whose knfo it was that left a scar upon nls neck Peopl guessed for Alphonse never cam back to the parish but guessing does not put a man in prison The cure was a wise man There wai but one way now and he was sorry that that way had not been cntefd on three years before for the lives of these iwo young people had been on the road to misery ever since In any case after this affair with Alphonse the church was < m > > possible to Camille The best words that Camille had heard in his life came now from the cure who after walking up and down the room thoughtfuy for a time said My son I will send lor Marie w Marie Medallion and the cure saw the gff first sunrise of the New Ye ir from besido the saved and sleeping Camille The church had one priest the less bt the Angel of the Four Corners was glad to see two human souls on the highway to that tavern which men call Home |