Show ahe N 1 B arille newlin P cwi burt X CHAPTER III IS plight flight avre a birl girl named jonn who are landis he laid hu na hand kind aon on her wrist and d alit re joan who led fled up ip the ie at t lelit tight of him an as booth tire fl that t bad had once touched her th h r had hoo burnt its aay into her heart then there was as a third joan a jt jin an stray astray it was thil this joan that had bad r me ie to lazy laidy Y blanch and had cooke I 1 for and bullied the outfit a joa joan if f set face ace and an bitter tongue whole whose fl f bears eara lonely battle with life had t twisted isted her youth out of its birst comely straightness in joan joans brief wie code of moral law there wait wa one bin on the dealings of a married woman with another man when pierres 1 lising and seeking face looked on up toward her where the stood o ot oi i the moll bide aide above prosper 11 cabin alie site felt for the first time ahn t the she bad sinned and so for the first tint time she he was as a tinner onner and the inevitable J tritt ble agony of soul began she fled ned and hid bid till dark then I 1 prowled about till the she knew that nen en no ins a alone in the house she came hie ille i it spirit from bell and questioned him what did the men ask what did you tell them thear the men had asked for a it lady ue he had told them as a prosper had once instructed him that no lady was iline I 1 bg ing there that the man bad had just go cone 1 they had bad been satisfy satisfied an and had a left e L but join joan was visa still in terror pierre must never find her now she had accepted the lie of a stranger had bad left her husband for dead had made ao to effort to ascertain the truth and had bad dealings with another man joan jun sat in judgment and condemned herself to loneliness she turned her self elf out from all her old life as though she he had been cain and foU following owing wen ilos ho trail over ovet the mountains had cone gone into strange lands to ork for her bread she called herself jane line and ber her ferocity was the armor for her beauty always she worked in fear of pierre arrival and as soon as a she had saved money enough for further traveling she moved on she worked by preference on lonely ranches as its cook or harves ter and it was after two years of such life that she the had drifted into yarnall a kitchen she was then greatly changed as a a woman who works to the full stretch of her strength who suffers privation and hardship who gives no thought to her own youth and bad beauty ana and who moreover suffers under a a scourge of self scorn and fear Is bound to change of all the people that had bad seen her after months of euch such living jasper morena was the only one to find her beautiful but alth his big sensitive observation he be had een seen through the shell to the sweet underneath for surely arely joan was sweet a fridays child it was good J that jasper had torn the skin from her wound good that be he had broken UP the hardness of her heart S she he left him and yarnall that aftem afternoon oon and went away to her cabin in the trees and lay face down on the bare boards of the floor and was young bain again waves of for love and nd beauty and adventure flooded her for a white while she had been very beau and arid had been very passionately loved I 1 for a while she had bad been eur sur rounded by beauty and taught its rdean ings she had bad fled from it all sh hated it yes but she longed for H with alth every fiber of her befog behig the list st two years were scalded away she was jaan who had bad loved klerr e joen whom prosper gael had loved toward morning dawn feeling with white fingers through the t pine boughs into to her window joan topped her weeping and stood up she VAR As very tired and felt as though all 11 II the hardness and strength had been wn beaten fron from ner her heart she ened opened her door and looked at pale stars et and a still slowly brightening world orld in a hollow below the pines 1 2 tream stream ran and poured its hoarse hurrying voice into the silence joan bent rat under the branches branchesi undressed and bathed the ley water shocked back into her tier spirit she began to w tingle and ie to glow in spite of her WI me he felt happier she had been for so long lont neither sorrowful Z iad glad now low after the night of sharp w the wae was aware of the gladness she came up from her glowing and beautiful with loose e wet hair 14 the th corral the inen men were waterlog 1 their th WT i teams ans above them on the edge of 1 va against the rosy eky sky the other gonles cut out all till on the range we re trooping driven by a it cowboy 0 darted ri here and there on his 1 lony riving shrill crie in to aist ta to clear air every syllable ble was sharp to tit tr ear I 1 every tint and line all harp arp it 11 ays eys it wa wu beautiful and nd it wai was near and dear it 0 0 latr 11 babir active to t ber tats loveliness 1 V action vf of inarticulate calling to dumb name of work of wimple often repented repeated beginnings beL innIngs 11 she wai Is glad lail that the wag aas working with her tier hands she twitted ui nip hir hair and went ant over to the lie ranch house where tier the she began soberly and thankfully to light her kitchen fire it was A after breakfast two or three mornings later when a stranger a on a chestnut any rode into lar nalle tied his pony to a tree and riding striding across the cobbled square came to knock at the office door at the moment I 1 arnall nr nill on the other aid side of the hou houie ce was man fa farewell revell to lile ills guesta and helping the men pit pile the baggage into the two tuo seated wag wig on so till other fultor getting no answer to his knock turned and looked about the court he lie did not it as evident mind waiting it a as to be surmised from the look of him that he use to it patient and not to be discouraged by delay lie ile was a my ery brown young man of quite astounding and hie his face had been schooled echo oled to keenness and nd re nt he lie was very clean an outdoor man a rider but a man who had in ome some sense arrived he ile had the inimitable stamp of achievement lie ile had been bard hard daiv anthe look of that too was there he had bad been driven to more than ordinary effort one of the men seeing IRK him walked over and spoke respectfully fully you want to eee see mr Yarn alir yes sir air the mane mans eyes were searching the ranch house wistfully again 1 I would like to see him if I 1 can I 1 have some questions to ask him lies iles round the house gettin rid 0 of a bunch of dudes some job both hands tied up A III you go round or wait waltr the stranger cropped dropped to his heels squatted and rolled a cigarette I 1 I 1 III II 11 wait waltz he murmured you can let him know when the dudes make 9 a 10 1 o A L the stranger dropped to HI his heel squatted and rolled a cigarette their get away lie ile 11 get round to me my name it wont mean anything to djus alerre landis lie ile did not go round the house houm and barnall lar nall being very busy and perturbed for some time after the departure of his guest guests did not get round to him till nearly noon by that time he e was fitting sitting on the step bis his back against the vail wall still smoking and still wistfully fully observant ant of his surroundings roun dings he lle stood up when yarnall came sorry eald said the antler that fool boy tell me you were here till 1 aull ten minutes ao RIO come in stop for dinne rIf if e get any today thank you enid said alerre he ile came in and talked and stayed for dinner yarnall wa was to the western fashion of doing he ile knew that it would be a it long time man would come to before the young his point rut but the englishman was in no hurry burry for he liked his visitor and found his talk diverting enough landis had been in alaska a umber lumber lie ile had risen to be foreman camp and now be 1114 was off fo for r a vacation vac but had bad to go back soon he ile had bad been everywhere it seemed to ya r that th the e stranger had visited ernail ery try ranch la in the rocky mountain belt beside bis his after dinner strolling host toward his horse pi alerre erfe poke spoke and before had heard a wo word rd he knew that the he long delay had been caused by suppressed emotion pierre hen ben he be did ask his question was white to the lips arye taken a lot of your you r time time he be said slowly 1 I came to ask you about one I 1 heard that you had bad a 2 some ome ranch a it wont woman rho ho woman oa your mm to in and etva you any his bl tory lor I 1 V ant to see her bar if it I 1 may he lie was actually fighting an uneven nest ne of breath and Yar camall mall unemotional ai as he li wa wai was with sympathetic 1 I want stammered the plug man to know her larnell wore swore her name as the ab cave clive it ald said he 1 is I jane jano hut but my boy you ran can t if see her ahe bh left this morning alerre rained a it white hite bonse ten face leftt left I 1 lie turned aa as if be he run after her yes yet air these people no had Is here re took her tier away with them that Is IA been ursine urging her to go but she aceil it refuted refused then suddenly this morning jut just ai they were putting the trunk trunks in up came jane white as chalk asking them theta to take her with alth them said ahe the must to go well sir 1 they rigged her up with borne some trav tray cling clothes and drove away with wit th her tier that nai as nix pis houra hours ago ily by now they re in the train bound for IN isea deiv I 1 urk ork I 1 arnall s guest looked at him with out speaking sp enkin and carnall nervously went on blies fahe i been with ua us about bit month months landis and I 1 dont know anything about her she site was wa tall fray gray eyes black hair alow slow peaking speaking and nith ith the kind of voice yond be apt to notice yea yes I 1 aee see abe abea a the girl you ve been looking for I 1 can give you the isea lork peoples peo plea addrean but first for janea janes aale sake im a pretty good friend of hers I 1 think a lot of jane I 1 11 have to know what hat you want with her what ahe she II 11 to you Ile pupils widened till tiny all it but sall hallowed an allowed owed the emoke colored iris r she la Is my wife he said again barnall swore dut but he lit a 1 cigarette and took his time about an alering well weil air he said you must excuse me but it aa waa because she he raw saw you I 1 take it that jane cut off thia this morning thata clear now I 1 don dont t know what would make a girl irl run off from her husband she might have any number of reasons bad and food good but it seems to me that it would be a it pretty strong one that would make a girl run off with a look auch such as she v wore ore from a man like you did you treat her well landis Landl sl it had the effect of if lash taken by a penitent the man shrank a little whitened endured 1 I cant teu tell you how I 1 treated her he be said in a it dangerous voice lit it dont beir tellin dut but I 1 want her back I 1 was I 1 was that waa was three years ago I 1 am mere more like a man now gire give me the peoples name their address ad dresa pierre laid his hand on the older man mans a wrist and gave rave it a que queer e r urgent and beseeching shake after a moment of searching scrutiny canall bent tig his head bead very well said he shortly come tome in CHAPTER IV luck luckis play A young man who had just landed in new york from one of the big bl adventurous transatlantic liners hailed balled a taxicab and was quickly drawn away into the glitter and gayety of a bright winter morning he sat forward eagerly looking at everything with the air of a lad on a holiday he was a aa man but he was not in his first youth and under a heavy sunburn be he was pale and a trifle worn wom but there was about him a look of being hard and very much allie under a broad brow there were hawk eyes of greenish gray a delicate beak a mouth and chin of cleverness it was an interesting face and looked as though it had seen interesting thugs things in fact prosper gael had just returned from his three month months of ambulance service in france and it was he the extraordinary success of bis his play the th leopardess ts that bad had chiefly brought him back dear luck his manager had written using the college title which prospers name and unvarying good fortune suggests aug tK better come back and gather up lap some of these laurels are us the time Is very favorable for the dis ap tarance arance of your anonymity 1 I for one find and it more and more difficult to keep the secret so tar far not even your star knows known it 11 she calls you hr luck to that extent I 1 have been indiscreet prosper had another letter in JA hia his pocket a letter that he had reread re read many times always with an uneasy conflict of motions he ile was as in a sort of hot cold humar over it it in a fever fit that tad bad a way of turning into lassitude lie ile postponed nna lils indefinitely meanwhile bli his eyes searched the bright cold city its it crowds its traffics its windows most of all its placards and not far to seek there were the posters of the Leop leopardess ardese lie leaned out to study one of them a tall wild ild eyed woman crouched crouch rd to spring upon a man who stared at ter tier in fear prosper dropped back alth a gleaming smile of emuel excitement Th eylie made it look like cheap melodrama he said to himself and yet let its a food good thine thing uie the best thing ive ever done yet they will vulgarize the whole idea with their infernal notions of what the public wants albrena Is as bad as to the rest ef of them I 1 lie he erp reseed disgust but underneath he was as azimov with pride and interest TO DE BE CONTINUED |