Show I 1 THE BRANDING IRON by aathar katharine i me newlin burt kr bi N beh dan SHE LEAVE letten LETTER joan bandla land eighteen rear rears old wife of irrer 14 16 the h daughter r of john carver who murdered murd tred her mother for or adultery hr tier lonely lift life with her father in a wyoming cabin unbearable joan lav leaves him to work in a hotel in nearby town jian meets N diirr irre and the lh two mut mu tilly dally attracted t are r married carver tells pierre 1 atory of joan joans mother pierre forges forit a catti cattle brand prink prank well youn presents books to joan pierro 1 forbid forbids hr her to read them maddened by jealousy ja louy pierre tin tits J join 0 an aad the th twadar b brand rand into br bar shoulder tearing hr her screams a stranger bunt bursts lota into the th hour house and nd shoots pierre the th stranger revives join joan telling hr her pierre if Is dead urge br bar to so cot with him at the th strangers trin Kr bom home joan join a la in jurl aurem are ir attended to she ah I 1 to introduced to a new now world of book books and one clothing by the th stranger tran xer prosper pro pcr oale gala a R writer oal gals becomes be cornei interested in joan who irta ponds in n part CHAPTER XIII X ill continued 10 theres rh eres books about everything ain aint t there there ther eSir mr gael why theres hooks books about lovin an sickness an about cattle an what not nol en an about women an children she WAS th irking the knowledge of her lease anee but at last the she pressed her lip lips together and opened the book she fell to reading rowing growing anxiety her face the she sal sat down on tin the nearest chair the turned page after page suddenly she he cafe gate him a look of anger 1 I aint none of this sir mr gael ehe she sall aid mote smote the page rose wl with dig city and returned the book he ile laughed so long and heartily that be she was at last forced to join him you wa you were obbon me your you she eald said sighing relief did you know what that vol nine time aid said it said like thit ni ill read you about it t P she bok the volume found the place and read in to a low tone of horror he be helping her with the hard words one of the most frequent forms of phobia common in cases of psychic neurasthenia Is agro phobia in which patients the moment they come into an open space are lire oppressed by an exaggerated feeling of anxiety they may break into a profuse perspiration and assert that they feel as if chained to the ground and here bere listen to this the fear that high things will fall fail fear of thunder and lightning the fear of every thing and everyone ere well now aint that too awful an am you mean folks really get that bayr way their talk was for some time of nemous diseases joans horror increasing well sir said she lead me out an shoot roe me if I 1 get like that I 1 I 1 believe its caused by all that queer dress dressin ln an not I 1 feel like to methin feat real today in this shirt an all an when I 1 get through some work rii 11 feel a whole lot better dont you say id one of those nervous breakdowns again though n III you your the she pleaded no I 1 wont joan but don t make one of me will fear yen hows that by wearing thase clothes all day and half the night if you expect me to teach yon you have to dp do something for me to make op up for running away you o 0 might put on pretty things for dinner dont you think tour your nervous could stand that my nervous system drawled joan J OM and added edged startlingly for she did not often swear G d I 1 it was an oath of corn scorn and again prosper laughed but he heard with a sort of terror the sound of her mans work to which she energetically applied her relf pelf it meant the return of her strength of her independence it meant the shortening of her coptI captivity vIty before long spring would rush up the canyon in a wave wove of melting snow crested created with dazzling green and the talley valley would lie ile open to joan she would go had he be really failed so utterly to touch her heart was she without passion this woman with the deep savage eyes the lips so sensuous and pure pum the body so magnolfi cantly made for living she was not defended by any training she had no moral standards no prejudices none of the ideale ideal she ah was completely open to approach a savage if he be failed tolled it was wag a 1 personal failure perhaps he bad been too subtle too restrained she did not yet know perhaps what he desired of her but he was afraid of rousing her hatred which would be fully tally ai at simple and as savage as her love tom that evening after she had dressed to please him and sat in her chair tired but alth ath the beautiful f clean lean look of outdoor weariness on her face fee slid nd tried battling with drowsiness to give ber mind to his reading and bis his talk be he came to her and knelt down drawing down her bands hands to him pressing his bit forehead on them for a it moment the she was stilt and still then what Is it H mr gael r she ask asbed 14 jn in I 1 frightened half voice he felt through her body the slight recoil of spirit and slid drew way away and i rose to bis his feet youre angry 1 he laughed ak oh no im not agry angry why should be rm a superman rm made f a pay of alabaster women with aret eyes and wonderful voice and M barty of broad nymphs dowa dm under f arches uch such women fire give me only a gnat krat great longing to rend aloud very lowly slowly ci artfully a child I 1 history of the lie ll ecel lit II 11 took the book tossed it across the dooin then stood ashamed and laughing a little a boy in diagram dIrR race jonn looked nt at him in profound be and sod dawning distress di strem now she he said ou are angry ith me fou YOU always are when you toj to A that queer ay won wont t you please aa plain it to roe me mr sir gael gaeir 1 not said be sharply 1 I 1 won wont and he added after f r moment youe better to go to bed youre skeby and its stupid el as an out hohf oh I 1 tea yes and youve destroyed destroy ed w what bat little superstitious belief I 1 bad had left concerning som something ething they tell fell little ino jno rant boy boys about a woul ins intuition vou you cot got a bit youre stupid and I 1 in tired of you fou no joan im not cot dont mind me im only lu in fun please I 1 D nl ni ive ITO hurt your feel ings inge her tier lips were quivering her eyes full 11 1 I try so awful hard the said it was a lovely broken trail of music dear child 1 joan loan dont you ever think of mer yes yes all the while im think ing of you I 1 wisht I 1 do more for you chy N by do I 1 make you so angry I 1 know im lawfully stupid and ignorant 1 1 I must drle you moat most irhazy but truly here the turned quickly in his hi arm am and pot put her band bands about his neck and laid ber check cheek against his shoulder truly mr sir gael rin awful fond of you then she drew quickly away quivered back into the other corner comer of her great chair put her face to her hands I 1 on y I 1 cant help just her tone showed him that still and ghastly youth and again he le saw the brown hand that abet lie ile had stood between her and that sight arhe man ought to have died tie did not deserve his big life nor this love of bors born even though he be had failed to kill the man men be he would not fall to kill her love for him sooner or later thought prosper if only the hateful epting would give g lve him time he must mw maw her from her memory she had bad put pu her hands hand about his neck she had laid her bead against his sho ludar and if it had been the action of a child then she would not have started from him with that sharp memory of pierre joan bad made her plans she would watt welt till spring partly to get back her full strength partly to make further progress ress la in her studies but L 10 P 1111 she was truly sorry that she had hurt him by running away mostly in order not to hurt this hospitable prosper gael the of her gratitude of her delicate consideration for his feelings feeling si which continually triumphed over an instinctive fear would have filled him with amusement perhaps with compunction bad he be been capable of understanding them htway truly sorry that she bad hurt him by running aay an ay she told herself she would not do that again in the spring slie he would make him a speech of thankfulness and of farewell and then she would tramp back to pierres Pl erren homestead and win and hold land As yet yel yon you gee prosper entered very little into her conscious life somewhere far down in her there wae was a al disturbance a growing doubt a joi something vague rogue and troubling joan had not learnt to probe her own heart A A sensation was wen not or it was she was puzzled by the feeling prosper was vas beginning to canite can her a feeling of miserable complexity but she was not yet mentally nipped for the con fronting of complexity it was necessary for an emotion to rush at joan and throw down tit it were her heart before she recognized it eveh then she might not give it a name she would ac act ho however and with violence so now she planned ana and worked and grew beautiful with work and planning while prosper worked too and bis his instruments were delicate and deadly and lit his plans I 1 made no account of bera hem ile J corked aked on her do asness undermining her path and at t rights nights and in to her sleep she the grew sma aware of him but even eten now in bis big cool and pa beert heart then there wen zao mente ot of r chou one oce it at lit lost that oat cm came oft a to wrecking bli big ea tour your clothe clothes are boot about done for joan prosper laughed one momin tcheng ata at 4 ber belt lo 10 ber her tattered I 1 won look like beggar maid 1 ain I in not quite barefoot at yet V she held till H n hoot boot 1 I vlas going to tell yoa ye that then there are re n ikirt and a tort of too coat ln tri i ln in a closet in the hall do you want to u use then she went out to took in five minutes he be heard her tier lauh and abill till laughing the he opened the door again ng biln ph mr sir gael were you really thinking that I 1 could wear these look 1 ook 1110 ie turned timed and looked at her she had bad crowded her strong lithe frame into a brown broun need null suit a world too narrow for her and the wai was laughing to 0 o show him the intact obese things sir gael ahe she sall sald ahey must hare have been mode mace for a lall ull mild prosper had too far tempted alls 11 pain and in her vivid phrase it came to fife life before him khe she dad tied a startling picture and he be had sew that suit tilt 0 so o mall small and trim before juan new his face ace grow white his hl eye eyes through her lie to drew a quick breath and winced vill iced away from her dilding bla lils face ace in hie his hands A later ho he was wn weeping connul lively with violence his liend bead down I 1 betney his hl hands joan started toward him but he be made a wicked and lent gesture she led fled into her ron and eat ant bewildered on her b bod ed all at once the question came to her for or n honi had the delicate fabric fabrics been bocht for or whom had thil this BUU ault been maile it wai was his hl wife and she I 1 Is dead joan and very pitifully ih be took oft off the suit alt laid it and tae the abber things away and kitting sitting by her rested her chin in her handi bandi ana cared out through the bine blue pines tears re ran down don her face ace be cause she aas as to 0 o sorry for prosper prospers pain ana again thought joan ebe she had caused it it she site who owed him ev et grything ery thing 1 tg she wae was deeply sorry for prosper deeply her whole heart was stirred for the first time ehe sha had a longly to comfort him with ber her hands for all thit do day prosper fled the house and want across the country now fording a flood of melted snow now floun floundering derin through a drift now walking on springy sod unaware of the soft spring conscious only of a sort of fire are in his breast lie he buffered suffered and he resented his suffering and he would have killed his heart if by so doing he cluid have given it peace and all day be did not once think of joan but only of the tall till child for whom the gay canyon refuge had been built but who had never set her slim foot upon the threshold sunset found him miles away in the foothills of a low many folded range across the plain he ile was dog tired so that for very exhaustion his brain had stopped its it tormenting work he lit a fire and eat sat by it huddled in hie big coat smoking dozing not able really to sleep sleeper cold and hunger prosper hated the night and its beautiful desolation he hated the god that had bad made tills this land landl ITO cursed the dawn when it came delicately spreading a green arc are of radiance across the east easl and then them as he arose stiffly stamped out his fire ore and started slowly on his way back he was wits conscious of a passion ate homesickness not lot for the old life he had lost but for his cabin his bright hearth his shut it soll solitude tude his jom very dear and and human she he was and her laughter had been sweet and she roust must be anxious about him blue she would have sat up by the fire all night ills eager ness for her lighted slighted comfort gave his lagging legging steps a certain vigor the lop loag 9 walk back seemed very long indeed noon I was hot but he found water and by sundown he be camo came to the canyon trail he ile wanted joan as badly now as a hurt child wants its mother ile came haggard and breathless to the door called joan came into the wann warm little room and found it empty wen I 1 0 to to be sure pattered to meet him mister gael been gone it long time velly long all till night wen ITO he be fix bed fix breakfast oh ob the lady she gone out ye not come back she leave st aletter letter for bin him there on the table presper tool took it waved wen ITO out and dropping into the big bit chalai opened the paper there was joan big handwriting that he himself had taught her before abe she could only alga sign her name came ulster gael dere rend trend yon you have bea ben too good to me an it has ben too hard for you to keep me when you were all the wile her an it burta hurts me to think of bow how it U must have ben tt terrible ble hard for you all this winter to see me where you bad bed ben nit vit to scein her an me her pretty things all the ft lie ile now dere deret trend this must not be no more mom I 1 will oot not stay to trouble you too you have ben awful freehearted free hearted when n yoa you come back from your banderia wan deria a an u gryto to 0 o get over conr bein sa so unhappy y you ou will and find your house quiet a an 1 0 peaceful an bod will not be hurt b by y me no more I 1 am not able to say ay all I 1 am beella about your goodness an I 1 her hey not always ben as III kind to you in my thoughts an but that bai has ben my own fault not your yours I 1 want you to thie this ulster gael I 1 am coln back to alerre Pl erre ranch to work on ht his land an somi day I 1 will be hopin to see you come ridin in an 1 I will keep on fleamin as well as an I 1 caa mn an bebe yon jou will not be isha ashamed ined of me I 1 feel awful bad to go to but I 1 would feel more bad to tay stay when it mast most hurt burt yoa won m 0 o respectably JOAH TO J MW M farr |