Show F Z I t rV ic yi i t 1 t J. J rt v I 1 Po W a L A i r p t- t I c 1 4 I J l 4 4 I f 11 II i l Willi W 1 J I ai n v t V t Y 1 i M e. e f P Q 5 t n 1 f V d h 1 4 1 t i f oe f r p O t f r I 1 1 love i. i os e thee she murmured murmured mur- mur mused and now non I r x know that there is thy kind of love I- I L t 41 j x t 7 I If f n. n A 7 f 1 I II IS a ONORE LEBLANC w wag was warned to keep keep away from th the panther woman but he was not a man to be afraid either of panthers or of women and so he ha went to the whitewashed stone house on tho the hill just as es every other thet unfettered man in the be parish of ot Notre Dame du Lac went when he be had the good fortune to be invited Like the others he found her more fair fair and to be desired than rubies but unlike the others othere he did not find her more to be desired de- de desired sired than anything else in the world That I II fa why there is a tale to be told It was Tite Bugeaud who gr grudgingly took Honore to the house of Mme Rhee Ithee dAu Au and introduced him to her Tile her Tite who was as that winter the most favored of her ber suitors She had seen Leblanc Lebanc in Notre Dame Dame de Lac where lIe he had come as an to survey surrey for the railroad that was as to be built and she had bad told Bu Bugeaud ge aud to go and fetch him Mm That was sufficient s 's as any nay one who knew the panther woman woman a would understand i E Not ot having bavIng seen her Leblanc went to his Fy fate unwillingly and only to be rid of Bugeaud Bulk Bu Du- lk but when he stood in her meager Hi little ealon salon and looked into her dark eyes I Ii i which were such deep night night blue blue that they F teemed seemed black he be forgot Bugeaud an and l Notre j i Dame du Lac and j the rest of the world All t I- I Canada dwindled to a setting for the jewel r if that was SS Mme dAuteuil u f 7 She had hod chosen for that night to play the if dependent self and yet ret lonely widow and nothing could have appealed more effectively to the protecting strength of Honore Le blanc t k He stood head and shoulders above her as 01 he be held her hand for a From that l delicate hand band firm and yet soft went to him himan himan jr an elixir more searching than the tire lire of I cognac It made him conscious conscious that he be stood as s tall fall all and as broad as as Tite Bugeaud Bugeau who r was called the giant of the parish it banished ban ban- Jj the weariness of a 11 hard bard day and illumined ii il- his soul with a light that is not to tobe be seen on onland eland land or sea lica save only in the c L. L faces of men men and ond women women t J 1 Welcome M. M Leblanc Leblancl size ehe said eald In a A. ac c voice olce that was as os gentle and anti full of music ao a summer night in tho the Laurentians You did not want to call on me sac but you rou ore are welcome nevertheless t tf f. f lo Leblanc recovered his self possession h V Unconsciously his chin tilted upward and anti h hi his shoulders squared lIe He had met a shock chock t.- t. that had done what no iron iron fisted fisted r r f had ever been able to do it do-it it had jarred r him to his heels Almost between two ticks f t of the clock he had bad found himself i iii in love t with Mme Rhee dAuteuil he had felt the tho c harmony that flows like like the ceasel ceaseless ss rivers i of the air between two human beings perfectly perfectly per- per 1 attuned Other men loved the panther woman he be beloved loved Rhee dAuteuil This distinction 1 r flashed through his mind as he stood there therewith therewith with his soul on the top of the world worM anti and at the moment he be did not doubt that he lie hev v could win b her bee r just as III he be had won over o the thelong thelong Ion long road from ignorant woodchopper wood to toV V killed skilled surveyor It If madame will read rend my fa face e now he hea a said ead slowly she he will find something else eje A there She Sho backed away aWRY from him laughing but with a strange look ih s sher her eyes Miens Men facet faces c change easily and often olten t monsieur lomi I IMy My face has not that habit madame It does docs not loon look way away from row the time stars to 1 blink at can candles Leblanc had lied forgotten Tile rite Bugeaud except except except ex- ex as Mme t Auteuil d made 11 a polite effort G by a 11 glance now and then to include him bins in the conversation But Dut Bugeaud did not wish V to 10 be included in that chat conversation At the reference to the time stars and the c Iles cp ll 8 he be rose roseand and bowed to madame c f J 4 s l r r r t jJ r 2 I v. v e Mg eti T w 1 It a 4 I r have served to pew victim he said and I x will go ga until h he has been i 1 l' l sacrificed But my my Tite ite she she exclaimed d lazily You are being rude i I lIe ill replied by a gesture and ant was gone out of oi the room They heard the heavy front door shut skit noisily As A S TITE slammed the door the time pant panther er woman looked at nt Honore with a shrug Ills His politeness Is not t of f the best she v said Eaid So much the much time the better remarked Leblanc Le Le- Leblanc Le- Le blanc undisturbed I shall shaH have perhaps an extra ettra hour to add to the time hours I shall spend with you Mon Dieu l she said smiling and with witha a n glint lint of something close to admiration You are very very confident of your own chArms monsieur Not ot that madame lIe He spoke with al almost almost al- al almost most solemn earnestness I do donot not know know that I have any charms at all but I have havea a will will and and n a love oni At that tha bald bal l st statement she size gasped Then he her blue blue black black eyes eres narrowed a t little as asther they searched his face M Leblanc she said I have base heard hearda a great deal about love ove No uNo doubt madame There are however however how however ever different kinds of love All the time men who have bave talked to me of love lo have wanted anted to marry m metHer met mel I Her voice oice had llad the ring of ot iron on iron as 88 if at the hint of an insult W Who o would not For Lor indeed you ou are the kind of woman a man would wa want to keep forever That hat was the way WilY they left their argument ment for or the time time Honore had wisdom enough h not to press it too far ar lIe He re responded responded quickly to the effort of Rhee dAuteuil dAuteuil dAu to to make hint him talk talle about his hs work and himself f. f lIe He told her how bow it was wall that he lie had won to a position of sonic some responsibility under the time rich Adolphe Maurice Gosselin of Montreal l who was financing the rail- rail lo road rond He lie found foun himself admitting that he was as poor but that flint lie he hoped to attain a competence and amid t the e title of civil engineer in time Honore went away from the house on the hll hill with Ills his head full of dreams and it was not until he be had gone half way half way down clown downto to the village that he lie was brought back from the future future and and then by the sudden ap appear appearance appearance ap- ap pear pearcE cE of ot Tite rite Bugeaud who stepped out from time the shadow of some some firs rs into the well- well trodden path The night was light enough to make it easy to recognize Bugeaud's big outline and antI r Leblanc blanc stopped with the unpleasant consciousness that he was confronted by a 11 jealous rival I Leblanc said Bugeaud planting himself him him- self squarely in the thee path so that Honore would have bare to wade VatIe out O into deep snow V to get around him you JOU are a 11 fool l Honore onore did not want wont to tight fight However he be could not run BO so s he bo held his bh ground and answered as as' as lightly as he could coull without loss Joss of dignity Mon 1 Dieu I I 1 sighed Honore as S be he slipped out of his jacket If I nm a Tool fool It Js tt because I T wish wih to be but you you yuu-you you are n a 0 fool 11 and und cannot help it R I With that he be stepped in III toward Bugeaud and met his his' rush with the desire to get it over o a ai t quickly us as possible They went into the soft snow beside the tho path with Tite underneath and for a Ii few Cew seconds Honore hammered his rivals rival's face tace with a crushing crushing crushing crush crush- ing fist Then Bugeaud rolled and drew his tt r i rival int into n a linger closer lo er erh h hold ld so that he be was able to get a knee into Leblanc's Lebanc's stomach and to o set his t teeth into the lobe of one ear From that moment it became a real fight Honore found his attention occupied by a aman aman aman man fully as heavy and as strong as him- him Sf a arid and id th there re were even brief moments during which he wondered about the out out- come But when at last he got a headlock that ll he had learned from an American merican wrestler Bugeaud either had hod to give up or have bave his neck broken Honore rose stiffly and waited while Tite THe struggled to his his' hands bands and knees waited t tomake to tomake make sure sUle that the man would not stay there and freeze to death Then he put on his jacket and started again toward the village somewhat tired in hod body but in no DO degree decree changed in hi his mind toward Rhee dA dAuteuil Bah I he be said to himself as he wiped the blood from his ear I am chewed and battered it is true and amid I shall shaU be lame for fora iora a week weel but nothing worth having baring is to be he gained without labor mm TITUS is Leblanc at the time dismissed the J- J affair of Tite THe Bugeaud but as days pond end weeks passed he began to see that there was wasat wasat at ot least east a measure of truth in what the construction construction construction con- con boss had said Mme Rhee dAuteuil so poor that she was glad to earn a little money by Iy sewing or teaching when she could able n C VUU was 1 to u keep LlUU half ball a n C VUU was 1 to u keep LlUU half ball a dozen suitors dangling and dancing at her bee will Marchand and the three or four who had proceeded him still hoped and called and paid compliments was an insistent rival And madame was charming to all aU slightly indifferent to all with a noticeable shade of favor in her bee attitude toward Honore He lie was the man of the hour and for a short period of happiness lie believed that he was was going to win her consent to marry him He lie believed this until Adolphe Maurice 1 Gos Gosselin el n the rich man from Montreal cameto came cameto to Notre r Dame du tin Lac to look over the time ground before spring Gosselin was tt It gangling thin necked fellow fel Cel- low who was the son on and grandson of rich t men Even in in the remoteness of Notre Dame du Lac they had heard of th the Gosse- Gosse lins line of Montreal who w built and owned rail rail- roads The habitants had not heard of the dissipations of this third generation but Leblanc knew He lie had hail peen been uneasy at first firsts when Gosselin Gos Gos- f selin bent over o the time hand band of madame buthe buthe but buthe he had not sat fifteen minutes' minutes watching them when all fear vanished If there were danger present in that salon salon it was vas for Adolphe Maurice Gosselin to beware not thee Rhee dAuteuil You are a n weak lot of ot women l I Gosselin Gosselin Gosse Gosse- lin tin beamed after she had permitted him bim to todo todo todo do some little servi service e for her We are arc helpless helpless' with strong strong men like you monsieur she replied blushing They left leit the house together the two men sea for Leblanc Lebanc had bad acquired too much su faire fuire to let his b heartache f show how itself not itself not even e when madame dismissed him with a nod while she allowed bis his employer employer to whisper f something to her that brought a smile cattle and another dash of color to her cheeks She had been all aU in white while that evening girlish quick quid with the quickness of time the very young oun In all ali her movements mo Even through h his s pain felt admiringly how Jiow perfectly this role of ot widow girl was adapted to tho the kind of man Adolphe Maurice Gosselin Gosselin Gosselin Gosse Gosse- lin was vas A chance to brush the bloom from maiden cheeks checks would appeal to Gosselin Goselin far mere more than the of a a mature mature and charming woman The men men walked alo along g together torether in silence for some time Gosselin with his head lolling forward on on his long neck and his mink mink- lined coat kicking about his legs It was he who spoke for Leblanc Lebanc was vas was too much occupied occupied occupied pied with wonder and sorrow to care cure for or conversation Mon Dieu I cried Gosselin at length Who would have thought to discover a arose arose rose in one of these dete detestable tabe frozen vii villages vil vH- lages What i a girl But yes es If agreed n Honors Honore nore She ii is magnificent Tell me Leblanc eblanc is she given to affairs of the heart M Gosselin Honore halted and thrust his face close to that of the other man To ask that question in a certain way is to risk a score of deaths at the hands of the time twenty or more men who have desired de desired desired de- de sired to marry many Mme dAuteuil 1 Pardon said the rich man with a laugh of embarrassment But they call tali her herthe herthe the panther woman woman- woman woman- In mingled c compliment and chagrin replied Leblanc Lebanc loyally For who can capture her Is it not nt so with the panther How foolish are the traps which we we set in inthe inthe the forest To that Adolphe Maurice Gosselin had nothing to say for which silence Leblanc was glad bU bU bUStill Still more glad was he be to be alone in fa his room now swi swiftly shorn of the g glory rY that had belonged to it because it was in the same mme world with Rhee dAuteuil For Leblanc Leblanc Le Le- bl blanc mc thought he saw clearly the end to all this She would marry Gosselin he told himself and from that time forth he would know her no more Of course there was hope in him bim as always there is in th the br breast at of a tl lover but reason stubbornly assured him bins that this was the time opportunity for which she size had bad waited Hardly could she find finda a man more rich Her lIer willingness to give gj herself in marriage for money did not quench the love of Ho Ilo nore It struck him through and through with a great sadness but hut it did not lessen his love o e for her or her or his love lore for the ideal idu that he be had bad created about her He lIe swore to himself that she did not yet know love Jove was was that she had not b been en awakened And Amid meanwhile he was twisted and racked ns ae lightning racks a giant tree by her failure to show that nobility which be he still believed believed- to be in her ber heart Although Adolphe Maurice Gosselin took first place in the favor of madame as all the village mage of Notre Dame du Lac knew with wonder and with o a degree of admiration for her Iler p power she did not let go of the time others In the least of thorn them she fanned the time embers of or hope hOe by hy an occasional invitation to call To 10 Tite Tile and Honore she was alluring so i ing so so much EO so that Bugeaud could not brin bring himself to believe e that he was vas did dU- carded and nd he remained her sla slave e But Leblanc was os not deceived ed He lIe had lad made up his mind that she would marrY Gosselin and the more be he saw of ot her the themore themore more he was hurt by the belief that she was to him unattainable Nevertheless r his bis will was not always able to curb the loncin longing long long- in fag ing of oC love lo air eo to he be sometimes went ent to the little whitewashed house bouse ra n the lull Always when she slie sent for him he went tnt with heavy heay feet and a n tripping heart TIlE winter wore on with pith Ith M. M Gosselin 4 t L spending n more lint and more of his time lime atthe ut at the house |