Show m ON 1 W in thew the 1 V u 9 D L APPLETON CO BY HELEM TOPPING MILLER WN W N THE STORY THUS FAR virgie morgan widow and owner ot of the morgan paper mill in use carolina mountain district turns turna down a mar ria arlage g ge proposal from wallace withers ile he lea leaves ves in a rage branford Bran tord wills auls a young fains tranger stranger who has been lost in the moun maln for or three days finds his w way ay to the morgan home lie he Is fed ed and allowed to remain overnight he identifies himself as a government employee working with sarv surveyors byors in the district wills develops pneumonia and la is forced to remain in the household marian Virg les daughter dislikes wills trouble Is developing as withers meets stanley daniels the mills chemist virgle learns someone Is attempting to obtain title to timber lands owned by tom pruitt lifelong life long friend of her deceased husband and part owner of the mill she advises tom to clear up till title to his property A love affair Is deboo developing ing between daniels and lucy fields field argles secretary withers attempts em to bargain with daniels to have him h im help he ip in getting possession pos sessi on of the morgan mill daniels refuses wills improves and discovers he is 1 in love with marian she Is developing similar symptoms both keep it secret virgie offers wills a job at the mill tom learns learn umber timber interests have sent men to look over his land he takes a rifle and goes into the woods ills his health greatly improved wills leaves the morgan household to live in the village tom finally spots na his enemy and shoots sli seriously wound wounding 9 a man CHAPTER VII continued aget down out of there and come into this house bouse what business have you got searing scaring these children to death you ought to be ashamed of yourself tom no I 1 aint comin in I 1 got mud on my feet I 1 got to go to lall jail mis morgan I 1 shot him himbur but he no business in there ceasur in up my umber Nob odys going to take you ou to any jail this cold night you clean your feet and come along in here beret I 1 ive had about all 11 the foolishness I 1 can stand for one day it if they want you come after you fast enough shove him out of there bry im getting out of pat patiences patience lence ceI I 1 might muss him up if I 1 let my irish go after some argument and a minor scuffle tom was half dragged half carried into the house bossle was white faced marian frankly crying virgie shut the door firmly much obliged bry youcan you can go on home homb now ill handle this alone from here on do you want me to telephone or send anybody mrs morgan no ill do the telephoning just go on oil home band and dont talk bry not tonight not to anybody toms all wrought up there may be something to this business and there may not dont talk till we know and then there wont be anything to take back he needs some hot food and a shave and a nights sl sleep beep hed die of pneumonia inthey if they 1 stuck him in that cold jail in the shape hes in it if he did do it be looking for him mrs mi a morgan bry said aid he ate lunch at jim bishops ps ho house use he told jold them he was hunting bear jim will be bound to talk well he filding anywhere they can find him easy enough but ive got to take care of him he got sense enough to take care of himself marian stop whimpering and get some of your fathers old clothes and you make some hot coffee lossie make a lot of coffee giving orders being executive and the matriarch again helped virgie keep her calm but when bry had gone and marian had slipped upstairs and tom pruitt fed and warmed and dressed in some of davids old cloth clothes eslay lay sleeping on the couch by the fire virgle virgie dropped into a straight chair and sit sat gripping the arms letting her spirit tremble and her stout heart shudder with apprehension she looked up at davids portrait david would have known what to do in a situation like this but davids eyes had cail caution tion and judgment in the them david had never done anything on impulse she could not noi seek for precedents like this had ever happened to david david had been a slight man and toms lean ankles thrust out pathetically from a pair of davids old trousers davids socks would not cover toms feet the heels made littie pouches under his in instep step the toes were vere stretched tight they had made tom dress fed him compelled him to rest as they would have managed a man in a coma if he heard their voices he made no sign he had gulped a few swallows lowson of food then ignoring cup and spoon had sunk into slumber relaxed and pitiful he was virgle saw an old man A very old man too old to he tormented david likely would have been able to prevent rif Ws this affair virgie knew that she had heckled tom too much that she was vaguely to blame her motives had been good but so where the motives of all fatuous blunderers blunder ers if tom spoke the truth this was real trouble it was murder and murder in any country under any circumstances was an ugly business it loosed the law a whirling machine that men had contrived to grind and the grist of their passions and oring out of them safety and jus tice but a ruthless ruth jess mechanism ot of ancient codes and remorseless procedure that could not be stopped after it was set in motion until the pitiful grist was ground fine 4 if tom had killed a man there was ao 10 earthly way to save win him virgle virgie elt ell herself sickening she knew ow now useless any of the timeworn de sices ices would be in toms case he laid lad to so he said shot from ambush and deliberately he had said so BO and no one would be able to lo alter his story she knew tom he was not mad he would be only too grimly sane he would face the law with the stony silence of the mountain man which had beneath it a sort of terrible distorted pride and a fierce sort of anger that was not heat but cold no one could save hinl him she looked at his limp fifth hand band hanging to the floor knuckles hard the thumb bent and horny stain stained edwith with bark and the blue metal of the old rifle the hand that had rubbed david morgans back and turned his helpless body in the bed and suddenly she turned sick going to the front door she flung it open and stood there drawing long gasping breaths the black cold of the night the high hollow sky the dogs coming questioningly to sniff steadied her she was virgle morgan who had taken a tough lob job and beaten it I 1 she was virgle morgan whom men obeyed and listened to over her head unseen unheard a dark are arc between her and the stars wings might threaten the wings of menace for days she had felt their vague threat something was working against her ber she had to fight the timid thing that crouched and waited felt the swoop of descent the cupping clipping steel 0 of ruthless talons tom was still sleeping collapsed and defenseless in his exhaustion lie he would need a warm coat his hat bat lay on the floor shapeless stained with pitch and sawdust she picked it up and straightened the brim with the flashlight flash light she ex elored a hall closet found rn en old corduroy woods coat of davids it would be too small but it would have to serve she let the clock mark another hour before she stirred from her chair then buttoning the sheepskin under her chin she went out the back door the dogs came rushing but she quieted them with a word the garage door creaked slightly but she got it open and she knew how to kushher push her car out and roll it down the sloping drive without a sound she had done it many times when david lay ul ill tom woke with difficulty fled with sleep and weariness she jave gave him coffee and whisky she made him put on davids coat and anc his hat seen from the rear he looked a taller broader david morgan and virgies Virg les heart gave a sudden clutching pang where we going tom demanded hush api upi virgle ordered in a whisper come along 1 the c car ar rolled silently down the steep drive between black hedges hedge i of laurel at the road virgie started the engine turned on the lights her plans were vague in her mind to get tom away delay perhaps tho the mache man he had shot at was not dead perhaps he had not been hit at atau all tom was old delay till something was certain alibis would be no use tom would defeat any attempt at alibi there was bry hutton there was jim bishop no hope but to get tom away delay this was crime compounding a felony she would be involved no matter tom had stood by her all his bis life he had had no thought but th thel emill mill no thought of himself he had bad no family no one but her she had to save him somehow all the dark winding mountain roads she knew well every huddled little farm eve every ry dark shuttered country store at a crossroad cross road with its goggle eyed gasoline pump every man in three counties knew her knepher knew her old car knew tom pruitt she raced the dawn westward keeping to the dirt roads with tom slumped on the seat b eside beside her now and then he dozed jerking away dully she had put plenty of whisky in his coffee lie he was warmed relax relaxed edhe he asked no questions once he said looks like youre a mighty long way round mis morgan virgle said with a desperate sternness youre riot not going to jall jail tom pruitt you never killed any anybody desm 1 I hit bit him he dropped clean id have hit the other one but my guri gun jarn jammed med shut cupl up snapped virgle im going to take you over the tennessee line and put you on a train to cincinnati tom gulped nom nom i cant go I 1 cant go to no big town id git lost I 1 got to go to lall jail you lemme emme out of here mis morgan and ill walk back I 1 got to go to jail but virgle only drove faster rhe road was crooked and slippery she lad had to slow down she would have to buy gasoline at daylight but she wanted to get across the state line first once over she could breathe again she was she knew doing a mad reckless thing defying the law aiding a man to escape a woman of position with a business reputation to uphold but there was nothing else to do she turned west again avoiding the traveled road that led up to the power plant the road she too kwas wild and wandering boulders scraped the running gear branches snatched at the tenders fenders tom sat sal tensely talking to himself mumbling you lemme lemm out of here mis morgan you lemme get out and walk virg virgies ies face was grim lier her eyes fixed themselves on the wan beam of the headlights A few more miles and she would feel safe she saw the other car overtaking her before tom did lights appeared la in the mirror over the windshield made the growth on either cither side leap out of the shadow she knew somehow bhatt what it was A born blai blasted ted virgle put on speed but the slewing ot of her wheels told her that it was no use she had tailed failed she chose a wide spot pulled i aside slowed her heart pounding hoping against hope that this might be some mountain boys returning from drinking in town knowing somehow thatis w was a s not tom did not move the car came alongside crowded berso that she could not go on stopp stopped d A man got out virgle sald said hello lon wearily lon hicks flicks the deputy sheriff said howdy mis morgan I 1 been following you you got bottom tom pruitt aint you wi we gotto tike take him back with ui us virgle employed none ot of the glib falsehoods she had bad bein been making up k 11 I 1 av P 7 7 1 I want to talk to you and I 1 dont want lucy to ar 1 in her mind as she tore along they would have been useless anyway she could not ue lie she was a 8 mountain woman without guile she said quietly all right lon I 1 was hoping id get him over the line so you get him quite so quick j I 1 guess you better take me along too im to blame for or this not tom he want to come lon hicks lean face was in ble in the dim light but his drawling voice wasl was quiet 1 I reckon I 1 wont take you mis morgan I 1 reckon id have run tom over the une line myself it if so EO be it against the law you go 90 on home I 1 aint seen you real good anyway at dawn virgle drove her old car into the garage the house was dark and still she made herself a cup of coffee drank it hot bot went upstairs and took off her damp shoes and her dress she would get a couple of hours then she would go to asheville perhaps to roanoke or to richmond she would get the best lawyer in the country to defend tom it was an all 6 she he could do now A heaviness of defeat was upon her dark wings shadowed the sun CHAPTER vill VIII in a long trough fed cd by slow blow streams of water a mass of mac aerated wood moved steadily toward the great caldrons caldroni cal drons that would steam and troth froth and dissolve it it with sharp turn every raw green chip to a ump and obedene obe obed dent lent mass of fiber while the noxious breath ot of the process steamed out on the mountain air branford wills hit his first day in the mill less than two hours old stood beside the trough and tended the moving mass with a wooden tool handmade hand made and polished to a rich patina by the hands ota generation of pulp makers ile he was learning the process as virgle had instructed ted him and if the men who initiated him were stiff and curt and taciturn about answering questions wills put it down to the inborn aloofness of the mountaineer the same intolerant independence re that he had encountered n thi the govern government nent work in the national park he met their glumness with a quiet dignity of his own knowing how foolish and mistaken any attitude of wise cracking familiarity would be when old jerry lean faced and sour eyed said roughly if youre a figuring on en working here you better git yourself some working gloves men dont tool fool with this stuff with bare hands bands wills countered by inq inquiring dIrIng where gloves could be bought bough t si slightly 19 h 1 Y mollified mo U I 1 red jerry expressed himself concerning the value of two bit and four bit gloves then as though afraid that he had bad unbent too much growled ia aih Akif eui git a hold athla a wayt youre the iha awkward est feller I 1 ever seel wills had expected dislike and resentment sent ment the usual hostility ot of a clannish group to a stranger and he was relieved to encounter no active antagonism only the chemist young daniels had been definitely unfriendly daniels had shaken hands but with a withdrawn and slightly contemptuous look in his eye and had gone back to his laboratory without a backward look the dampness the steam and the nauseous odors were pretty bad and wills was not entirely strong yet but a dogged determination made him swallow grimly and stand braced with his feet apart listening to jerrys impatient instructions these muscular grim silent men might despise him for an outlander cut lander now but they should not pity him for being a weakling and a quitter keep that there moving ordered jerry yelling above the howling crunch of the drum barkers then he muttered time and na and scrubbed his nose with his glove 1111 across cross ahe the d damp amp odorous roaring mill a red clad figure was hurrying marian morgan jerry pushed back his cap in a half grudging gesture of respect the mountain woman has been a chattel and an inferior for generations the mountain man has learned to admire and respect the female sex but slowly wills mouthed good morning I 1 but the words were lost in the grinding bedlam marians face was pale her lips straight she said 1 I want to talk to you but it was the gesture ot of her hand that made the words intelligible telli gible wills handed banded the wooden paddle to jerry who received it with a flourish of obvious relief and followed marian past the battery of steaming di gesters through a sheet iron door into the yard A cold wind was blowing but after the noise of the mill marians voice sounded loud and flat fiat please come over here to the car I 1 want to talk to you and I 1 dont want |