| Show vanc linew aj iron Q katharine newlin new lm burt burl by katharine Kt harin N burt YOU KILLED HIM joan laidis eighteen yearl year i old wife of alerre reis la the daug dauab i ter of john carver who murdered her other mother for adultery her lonely life wl with th her father in 2 a wyoming cabin unbearably abl a joan leaves him to work in a hotel in a nearby town joan meet insets pierre and th the e two mutually at tr traded acted are married n carver tells tell pierre story of joans mother pi flerra erre forgee forgea a cattle brand frank young minister presents books book a to 0 o joan pierre forbids her to reid ati them mad bened by jealousy Jea louty pierre ties joan and burns the brand into her shoulder hear ing hr her screams reama Bc a stranger strange bursts I 1 into n t the house home and shoots pierre the stranger revives joan telling her pierre P erre to Is dead urges her to go with him at the strangers homo joans injuries are attended to she tit Is introduced to a no new ar world of books and ine fine clothing by the stranger prosper gals gal a writer CHAPTER XII 9 and then she opened her volume I 1 in it its middle and her eye looked upon familiar lines i so the two brothers and andl their murdered nan man joans heart tell fell like a lealen leaden lea len weight and the color dropped from tier her face in an instant she was back in pierres Pl errea res room and the white night circled her in great silence and she vas vaa going over the story of her love arut pierres res their love their beautiful grave crave simple love that had so filled her life and now where was she in tile the house of tile the man who had killed her hus husband bandt 1 she had bad been galung for noll lwell but for or a lon long i while now she had forgotten that why wis was she still here A strange guilty carror came with the question she stored around tile the gorgeous little room snug from the world so secret in its anter cai canyon cairon yon she heard wen hos caces sivat saat pattering in the kitchen the crunch and thud of prospers sewel ing outside it was suddenly a flor nightmare or less a nightmare than it a dream pleasant in the drewn dreaming but hideous to an awakened magid adale i riShe I 1 was amalfe aw alfe that little bonte t st stead end of pierres res 1 such a hunker opened in her soul that she bent hn head and moaned she could think af f nothing now but those two familiar fam llla bare clean rooms pierres Pl errea gun pierres res rod her own coat there b bj the door the snowshoes there was wa no place in her mind for tho the later latee tragedy she had bad gone back of it she would rather be alone in her own home desolate though it was waa than anywhere else in all the homeless world 0 and what could prevent her from going she laughed aloud a short defiant laugh rippled to her feet fee t and in her room took off prospers eks pretty things and got into her own old clothes the coarse underwear the heavy stockings and boots the rough skirt kart the mans shirt ilow how loosely they all chungl ilow how thin she wast wasl now into her coat her woolen cap down over her ears cars her gloves she was ready her heart laboring like an exhausted stags staga her knees trembling her ber wrists mysteriously absent she went into the hall found her snow shoes bhora bent to tie them on and straightening up met prosper who had come in out of the snow ile he was glowing from exercise hut but at sight of her and her pale excitement the glow left him and his big face went bleak and grim lie ile put out Ms his hand and caught tier her by the arm and she backed from him against the wall this before either of them spoke where are you yon going joan im a gotal home lie ile let go of her arm too ton were going like this without a word to me wr mr gael she panted 1 I had bad a feelen like you a let me go ile he turned threw open the door and stepped aside she confronted his white anger 1 I mr gael I 1 left pierre dead ive been a waltin for mr to come im strong now I 1 must he be a coln home suddenly she biased out you killed my man what hey het I 1 to do with you 7 ue he bowed iler her breast labored and all the distress of her soil soul troubled by an instinctive inarticulate con I 1 of evil wavered in her eyes iler her reason already accused her of ingratitude and treachery but every fiber of her had suddenly revolted she was wag all tor for liberty she must have it it he was wise made mada no attempt tn t hold her let her go but as she fled under the firs her webs sinking depp into tho the heavy snow ha afe stood and watched her keenly he hod not balled 0 o notice the trembling of her body the quick lift and fall dofher breast the rapid flushing and paling of her face ile he let her go and joan ran drawing breckl dissly on abe depleted store of what iad ad always bee been n her inexhaustible strength the bonow was deep and soft heavy with mola moisture tum the march nir was too not keen with frost poll and the green firs were softly dark against 01 no even stone colored sky iky of cloud to jos joans ey eye so go long imprisoned it was all astonishingly beautiful clean and nd grave part pan of tho the old life back to which she was running down dewri the canyon cannon trail she floundered her short skirt gathering a weight of snow tier ner webs lifting a mass or of it at every tugging step iler iier speed perforce slackened but she plodded on out of breath and in a sweat she was surprised nt at the weakness put it down to excitement 1 I was fife ered hed make me stay she said and ive got to go ive got to go this went witcher with her like a beating rhythm she came to the opening in the fire the foot of tile the steep trail and out there stretched the valley blank snow blank sky here and there a wooded ridge then a range of lower hills blue snow mottled not a root roof not a thread of smoke not a sound im awful far away joan whispered to herself hei self and for the first time in her life she doubted her strength 1 I dont rightly know where I 1 am she looked back there stood a high familiar peak but so eo were the outlines of these mountains jumbled and changed that she could not tell it if prospers canyon lay north or south ot of Pl erris erras homestead the former was high up on the foothills and pierres res was well down above the river from where she stood there was no river bed in sight eight she tried to remember the journey but nothing come came to her except a confused impression of following following following nad had they gone to toward ard the river first and then turned north or had bad they traveled close to the base of the glant giant range the rangers cabin where they had spent the night surely that ought to be visible it if she went farther out say beyond the wooded spur which shut the mountain country from her sight perhaps sho would find it bravely she sha braced her quivering muscles find went i on she plunged into drifts str struggled juggled up sometimes the snow plane seemed to stand up like a wall in front of her the far hills lolling like a dragon along its top she could not keep the breath of prosper took her by the shoulder and turned her over in the snow her lungs often she sank down nod and rested when things grew steady she got up and worked on ench each time she rested she crouched longer each time made slower progress and always the goal she had set herself the end of a jutting hill thrust itself out nosed forward sliding down to th the plain it began to darken hut but joan thought that her sight was falling the enormous efforts she was making oak tock every atom of dofher her will at list last her muscles refused obedience tier her laboring heart stopped she stood a moment swayed fell find and this time she made no effort to rise she had become a dark spot on the snow a ll Il feness part of the loneliness and silence A small mail mack energetic figure came out from among tho the firs and ran forward where the longest shadows pointed it looked absurdly tiny and noxious anxious futile in its pigmy haste across the exquisite stillness joan lying so still was acquiescent this little striving thing thin rebelled it came forward steadily following joans uneven eracli stomping stamping them down firmly to make a solid path and as ai the sun dropped leaving an immense gleaming depth af pf of sky he be came doam and bent over the 06 black speck that was joan prosper took iler her by tho th shoulder and turned her over a little in the snow joan jian opened tier her eyes and looked tit at him it was the dumb look ot 0 a beaten dog get up child he said and come home with me she struggled to her feet he be helping her and silently just in ei a savage woman no matter her pain wll lowber fol follow her man 10 joan followed the track he be made by pressing the snow down triply over her former steps can you yoa do co it he asked anc and ad she nodded she was pale her eyes heavy beavy but she was IgInd to he be found glad clad to be saved ile ie saw that and he saw a dawning confusion in her er eyes at the end he drew her arm into his and when they hey came into the house he knelt and took the snowshoes from her feet she drooping against the wall ile he put a hand on each of her shoulders and looked reproach you wanted to lenye leave rae me joan johnl you wanted to leave me as much as that she shook her hend head from side to side then drawing away she stumbled past him into the room dropped to the bearskin rug and held out nit her hands to the flames its awful good to be back she said and fell to sobbing 1 I it lant hInt ll nt think be I 1 was wag only of old things I 1 ans me that has no home tier her shaken voice was so wonderful fl a music that he stood listening with sudden tears in his eyes an I 1 cant ferget nor the life mr gnel gael lin an when I 1 think you that killed him why it breaks my heart oh I 1 know khow you tied lied to ti do it I 1 saw an I 1 a stayed with him no more what he did it made me hate him blin but you cant be th chinkin inkin how it was ans with pierre an me ma before that night we we was happy I 1 list to live with my father mr gael net nn an lie was tin an awful man an there was no lovin iovin between us but when I 1 first seen pierre loolen up at me I 1 first knowel what lovin might he be like I 1 just came away with him film because he asked me bh mr gael I 1 cant fergot ferget him big even for hadn haan that brand on my shoulder its all heated healed but my hearts so hurled its so hurled I 1 you tou killed him me pleases pl ease I 1 would love you yon if I 1 could but some thin makes roe me shake away from rom you because pierres res dead again she wept exhausted brokenhearted weeping it was and prospers face was drawn by pity of her that story of her life and love it was a sort of saga something as moving as tin an old ballad most beautifully sung sting the varied and vibrant cadences of her voice gave every delicate dell cato shading of feeling of thought site she was waa utterly expressive all night after he had bad seen been her pat and sent her to her bed the phrases of her music kept repeating themselves in ills big pa pars rs an so I 1 first knowel what lovin might be like alke and 1 41 I would love you only so methin makes make me a 9 m shake away from you because pierres res dead this was a loan joan he had not yet realized and he knew that after all his enchanted leopardess was in a woman and that his wooing of her hod hild hardly yet begun so did slie site baffle him by the utter directness of her heart there was so little of a barrier against him and yet there was so ao much for the ifie first time ilme he doubted fals big wizardry and at that his desire for the wild girls love ove stood up like a giant and gripped hla his soul joan slept deeply without dreams slip she had confessed herself but prosper was wag as restless and troubled as a youth she had not made her escape slie she had followed him home with humility with confusion in her eyes site she had been glad to hold out her hands again to the fire on his hearth and yet he was now her prisoner CHAPTER C XIII nerves and intuition vir mr one capt said bald joan standing before him at the breakfast table im a goin to work she was pale gaunt and imperturbable she announced this decision and sat eat down womans comans Wo mans work he asked her smiling no air with her own rare smile 1 I aint rightly fitted for that certainly not in those clothes he murmured crossly for she was dressed again in her own things im a goin to do mans wort rn rm a doln to shovel snow an help fetch wood an kerry karry in n waters water you tell your chinese men man please and youre not going to read or ir study any more tes air I 1 like that if you yon still want to teach me mr gael but im n colw alm ilm going to got get some a action L ril rii just die if I 1 dont why im so poor I 1 cant hardly lift a broom I 1 dont know why im so miserably poor mr gael she twisted her brows anxiously youve had a nervous breakdown A what A nervous breakdown lie ire lit his cigarette and watched her in his usual lazy smoke veiled manner but she abe might have noticed the shaken fabric of hl his telf self say now said joan the name for theres a book about it over there thera third volume on the top shel flook look up 7 your our cne with an air of profound alarm she went weal over and took it out TO ne BE continua CONT INUi M |
