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Show j KYOND & ffiONTK I iR ,y RANDALL ture of farewell. 1 no -ot tmn 1 i:-. . v.-,l or made ros'totise, and an instant in-stant Into:' lie was gone. I know not how long I stood there staring into vacancy, haunted by re-grot, re-grot, tortured by fear and humiliation. Slowly all else crystallized into indignation, indig-nation, with a tierce resolve to fight on alone. The suu sank, and all about me clung the purple twilight, yet I did not move. lie had been unjust, unfair: his simple code of the woods could not be made to apply to such a situation as this of mine. I heard no sound of warning, yst as I turned to retrace my way to the camp below I became suddenly aware of the presence of Oasslon. CHAPTER XI. We Reach the Lake. He was between me and the deet trail, and euotigh of daylight yet remained re-mained to enable me to perceive the I Became Suddenly Aware of the Pres ence of Cassion. man clearly. How long he may have been there observing me I could no1 know, but when I first saw him be was beut forward, apparently deeply interested in some sudden discovery upon the ground at his feet. "You thought me long in returning, monsieur?" I asked carelessly, and taking a step toward him. "It was cooler up here, and the view from the bluff yonder beautiful. You may gain some conception of it still, if you care." He lifted his head with a jerk and stared into my face. "Ay! no doubt," he said harshly, "yet I hardly think it "was the view which held you here so long. Whose boot print is this, madame? not yours, surely." I glanced where he pointed, my heart leaping, yet not altogether with regret. The young sieur had left his trail behind, and it would serve m whether by his will or no. "Certainly not mine," and I laughed. "I trust, monsieur, your powers of observation ob-servation are better than that 'tis hardly a compliment." "Nor is this time for any lightness of speech, my lady," he retorted, his anger fanned by my indifference, "Whose is it tben, I ask you? Whal man has been your companion here?' "You jump at conclusions, mon sieur," I returned coldly. "The straj imprint of a man's boot on the turi is scarcely evideuce that I have hac a companion. Kindly stand aside anc permit me to descend." "Mon dieu! I will not!" and h( blocked my passage. "I have stooc enough of your tantrums already ir the boat. Now we are alone and 1 will have my say. You shall remair here until I learn the truth." His rage rattier amused me, and felt not the slightest emotion of fear although there was threat in his words and in the gesture accompany ing them. I do not think the smiU eveu deserted my lips, as I sought comfortable seat on a fallen tre trunk, fully conscious that nothing would so infuriate the man as studiec indifference. "Very well, monsieur, I await youi investigation with pleasure," I saic sweetly. "No doubt it will prove in teresting. You honor me with the sus picion that I had an appointment her) with one of your men?" "No matter what I suspicion." "Of course not; you treat me witt marked consideration. Perchance oth ers have camped here, and explorec these bluffs." Now that he has his young wife entirely alone on this hill, do you believe that Commissionaire Commission-aire Cassion will break her will and assert his power as husband? hus-band? Can the girl thwart him? (TO BE CONTINUED.) io -k u;-n The :'a,-e o! .-v..;;,---- wa.M' W'-i:-.an in a'.! llios,' Iragu-. th.ev any I'l-.-iuh of my sex at Tori St. I.otlisV" -No." "Nor at St. Ignace. Tore Ailouez assures me. I shall have no rival then in all this wilderness; you think me harmless, monsieur? Look at me, and say!" "I do not need to look; you will have your game. I have no doubt, although al-though the final result may not prove what you desire." "You fear the end?" "It may be so; you play with fire, and although I know little of women, yet I have felt the wild passions of men in lands where there is no re-, re-, straint of law. The wilderness sees I many tragedies fierce, bitter, revengeful revenge-ful deeds and 'tis best you use care. 'Tis my belief this Francois Cassion ! might prove a devil, once his heart was tricked. Have you thought of this?" I had thought of it. but with no mercy in my heart, yet as H'Artigny spoke I felt the ugliness of my threat more acutely, and, for an instant, stood before him white-lipped and ashamed. Then before me arose emission's emis-sion's face, sarcastic, supercilious, hateful, and I laughed in scorn of the warning. "Thought of it!" I exclaimed, "yes, bnt for that I care nothing. Why should I, monsieur? Has the man shown mercy to me, that I should feel regret because he suffers? As to his revenge,, death Is not more to be dreaded than a lifetime passed in his presence. Iiut why do you make plea on his behalf the man is surely no friend of yours?" "I make no plea for him." he answered, an-swered, strangely sober, "and claim no friendship. Any enemy to La Salle is an enemy to Ueue d'Artigny; but I would front him as a man should. It is not ,my nature to do- a deed of treachery." "You hold this treachery?" "What else? You propose luring him to love you, that you may gain confession from bis lips. To attain this end you barter your honesty, your womanhood; you take advantage of your beauty to enslave hiiu; you count as ally the loneliness of the wilderness; ay! and, if I understand aright, you hope through me to awaken the man's jealousy. Is this not true?" I drew a quick breath, my eyes staring star-ing into his face, and my limbs trembling. trem-bling. His words cut me like a knife, yet I would not yield, would not even acknowledge their truth. "You are unjust, unfair," I burst forth impetuously. "You will see but the one side that of the mail. I cannot can-not fight this battle with my hands, nor will I submit to such wrong without with-out struggle. He has never thought to spare me, and there is no reason why I should show him mercy. I wish your good will, monsieur, your respect, but I cannot hold this plan which I propose as evil. Do you?" He hesitated, looking at me with such perplexity in his eyes as to prove his doubt. "I cannot judge you," he admitted at last, "only that is not the way in which I have been trained. Neither will I stand between you and your revenge nor have part in it. I am your friend now, always. In every honorable way I will serve you and your cause. If Cassion dares violence or insult he must reckon with me, though I faced his whole company. I pledge you this, but I will not play a part or act a lie even at your request." re-quest." "You mean you will not pretend to care for me?," I asked, my heart leaden at his words. "There would be no pretense," he answered frankly. "I do care for you, but I will not dishonor my thought of you by thus deliberately scheming to outwit your husband. I am a man of the woods, the wilderness; not since I was a boy have I dwelt in civilization, but in all that time I have been companion com-panion of men to whom honor was everything. I have been comrade with Sieur de la Salle, with Henri de Tonty. nud cannot be guilty of an act of treachery, even for your sake. Perchance Per-chance my code is not the same as the perfumed gallants' of Quebec yet it is mine, and learned in a hard school." He went on quietly, "There are two things I cannot ignore one is, that I am an employee of this Francois Cassion. pledged to his service by my own free will; the other is, that you are his wife, joined to him by Holy church, and although you may have assumed those vows under coercion, your promise is binding. I can but choose my path of duty and abide therein." His words hurt, angered me; I lacked power of expression, ability to grasp his full meaning and purpose. "You you desert me then? You you leave me to this fate?" "I leave yon to reconsider your choice of action," he returned gravely, his bat still in hand, his lips unsmiling. "I do believe your womanhood will find a better -way to achieve its liberty, lib-erty, but what that way is I must trust you to discover. I am your friend, Adele, always you will believe be-lieve that?" I did not answer; I could not, because be-cause of the choking in my throat, yet I let him grasp my hand. Once I raised my eyes to his. but lowered : them instantly in strange confusion. Here was a man I did not understand, whose real motives I could not fathom. His protest had not yet penetrated my soul, and I felt toward him an odd mixture of respect and anger, ne ; released my hand and turned away, 1 and I stood motionless as he crossed ; the open space between the trees. At : the edge of the bluff he paused and glanced about, lifting his iiat in ges- SYNOPSIS. 7 Adele la Chesnayne. a b-lt' of New T'ntiiee, 1m anient? -oh.sl)iralur. at li-r u:i-cle'H u:i-cle'H house. Casslen, the cnhimis-ai re, has enlisted her t'ni.-Ie Chevet's anl BKalnsl I-Ji Kail,.-. I )' A rt luny, f.a Suite's friend, offers Ills services as Kuhle. to C;is- lon's party on the journey to the wikl'-r-;iess. 'the lin'-l,; Informs Allele that lie lias helrolhed li'-r to Cassion anil forbids )ier to see D'ArliKtiy ugain. la '.uel'e -Allele visits tier 1 i-it-nil. Mister Celeste, who brlNKa D'ArtlKny to her. Kl.i- tell him her story and lie vows to release her from the bargain with Cassion. iJ'Arll-ny iJ'Arll-ny leaves prnmisihe; to see tier at the dance. Cassion eseorts Aii'-le to the hall, tile) rneel.s tiie governor. l.H Harre. and hears him warn the commissal re against IArtlKhy. li'Artlh'ny'H ticket to the hall hafl been recalled, hut he Kains enlranee tiy the window. Allele Informs him of the Koveinor's words to Cassion. l'or her eavesdropping at the bait Adele Is ordered by the governor to marry Cassion at once and to ureompnny him to the Illinois country, lie summons Chevct and directs that he ath-nd them on the journey. Thev Jeavo In the boats. Adele's future depending depend-ing on the dei-lsion of TTArtieny whom she now knows she loves. Cassion and D'Artiifny have words. Unele Chevet for the first time hears that his niece Is an heiress, and begins to suspert Casslon's motives. Adele refuses to permit her husband hus-band to share her sleeping quarters. Chevet agrees to help her. Madame Cassion, loathing the husband who got her by fraud and threat, feels certain that she has a true confederate an ally ready to do her bidding in Rene D'Artigny. But disappointment disap-pointment piles upon her. In a crisis she learns she must fight alone. How she resolves to win against all odds and get revenge is described in stirring manner in this installment. CHAPTER IX Continued. ' penning far out, grasping a branch to keep from falling, I distinguished the canoe at the upper landing, aud the Indians busily preparing camp. At first I saw nothing of any white man, but was gazing still when D'Artigny emerged from some shadow and -stopped down beside the boat. I know not what instinct prompted him to turn and look up intently at the bluff towering above. I scarcely comprehended compre-hended either what swift Impulse led me to undo the neckerchief at my throat and hold it forth in signal. An -Instant he stared upward, shading bis eyes with one hand. I must have seemed a vision clinging cling-ing there against the sky, yet all at once the truth burst upon him, and, with a wave of the arm, he sprang up the low bank and joined his Indians. In-dians. I could not hear what he said, hut with a single word he left them and disappeared among the trees at the foot of the bluff. He must have scrambled straight up the steep face of the bluff, for it could nave been scarcely more than a miu-ute miu-ute when I heard him crunching a passage pas-sage through the bushes, and then saw bim emerge above the edge. Clinging Cling-ing to a tree limb, his eyes sought eagerly to locate me, and when I stepped forward, he sprang erect and bowed, jerking his hat from his head. There was about his action the enthusiasm en-thusiasm of a boy, and his face glowed with au eagerness and delight which Instantly broke down every barrier i ibetween us. "You waved to me?" he exclaimed. "You wished me to come?" "Yes," I confessed, swept from my guard by his enthusiasm. "I have lieen anxious to confer with you, aud this is my first opportunity." "Why I thought you avoided me," lie burst forth. "It is because I felt 80 that I have kept away." "There was nothing else I could do but pretend," I exclaimed, gaining control over my voice as I spoke. "My every movement has been watched since wc left Quebec; this is the first moment I have been left alone if, indeed, I am now." And I glanced .about doubtfully iuto the shadows of ,the forest. "You imagine you may have been followed here? By whom? Cassion?" "P,y himself or some emissary. Tere Allonez has been my jailer, but chances to be disabled at present. The tumniissaire permitted me to climb here alone, believing you to be safely camped above the rapids, yet his suspicions sus-picions may easily revive." "His suspicions!" the sieur laughed softly. "So that theu is the trouble? It is to keep us apart that he bids me tuake separate camp eac-5 night; and ussigns me to every post of peril. I feel the honor, mademoiselle, yet why am I especially singled out for so rreat a distinction?" 'Tie suspects us of being friends, lie knew 1 conferred with you at the couvent. and even believes that you were with me hidden behind the curtain cur-tain in the governor's office." "Yet if all that be true," he questioned, ques-tioned, his voice evidencing his surprise. sur-prise. "Why shou'.d our friendship arouse his antagonism to such an extent? ex-tent? I cannot understand what crime t have committed, mademoiselle. It is all mystery, even why you should be here with us on this long journey? Surely yon had no such thought when we parted last?" "You do not know what has oc-i-urrcd?" I asked, in astonishment. "No tone hai- V.M you';'' "Told me! How? I have scarcely held speech with anyone but the Algonquin Al-gonquin chief since we took to the water. Cassion has but given orders, and Chevet is mum as an oyster. I endeavored to find you in Montreal, hut you were safely locked behind gray walls. That something was wrong I I felt convinced, yet what it might be ! no one would tell me. I tried questioning ques-tioning the pere, but he only shook ! his head and left me unanswered, j Tell me then, mademoiselle, by what ! right does this Cassion hold you as a ' captive?" ( My lips trembled, and my eyes fell, ! yet I must answer. "He is my husband, monsieur." I caught glimpse of his face, picturing pic-turing surprise, incredulity. He drew a sharp breath and I noted his hand close tightly on the hilt of his knife. "Your husband! that cur! Surely you do not jest?" "Would that I did," I exclaimed, losing all coutrol In sudden wave of anger. "No, monsieur, it is true." And I told him swiftly the story of my enforced marriage. "And nugo Chevet, your uncle? Did he remain silent? make no protest?" he asked. 1 gave a gesture of despair. "He! Never did he even conceive what occurred, until I told him later on the river. Even now I doubt if his sluggish brain has grasped the truth. To him the alliance was an honor, an opening to possible weallh in the fur trade through Casslon's influence in-fluence with La P,arre. He could perceive per-ceive nothing else except his good luck in thus ridding himself of the care of a poor niece who had been a sorry burden." "Put you explained to him?" "I tried to, but only to regret the effort. Giant as he is physically, his intellect is that of a big boy. All he can conceive of is revenge a desire to crush with his hands. He bates Cassion, Cas-sion, because the man has robbed him of the use of my father's mouey; but for my position he cares nothing. To his mind the wrong has all been done to him, and I fear he will brood over it until be seeks revenge. If he does he will ruin everything." D'Artigny stood silent, evidently in thought, endeavoring to grasp the threads of my tale. "How did you attain the summit of this bluff?" he questioned at last. "Yonder; there is a deer trail leasing leas-ing down." "And you fear Cassion may follow?" "Pie will likely become suspicious if I am long absent, and either seek me himself or send one of his men. This is the first moment of freedom I have experienced since we left Quebec Que-bec I hardly know how to behave myself." "And we must guard it from being the last," he exclaimed, a note of determination de-termination aud leadership in his voice. "There are questions I must ask, so that we may work together in harmony, har-mony, but Cassion can never be allowed al-lowed to suspect that we bave communication. com-munication. Let us go forward to the end of the trail where you came up: from there we can keep watch below." He still grasped my hand, and I had no thought of withdrawing it. To tue he was a friend, loyal, trustworthy, the one alone to whom I could confide. con-fide. Together we clambered over the rough rocks to where the uarrow cleft led downward. I CHAPTER X. On the Summit of the Biuff. Securely screened from observation by the low growing bushes clinging to the edge of the bluff, and yet with a clear view of the cleft in the rocks half way to the river, D'Artigny found me a seat ou a hummock of grass, but remained standing himself. The sun was sinking low, warning us that our time was short, for with the first coming of twilight I would certainly he sought, if I failed to return to thfc lower camp. ! "You would question me. monsieur." I asked doubtfully. "It was for that you led me here?" "Yes," instantly aroused by my voice, but with eyes still scanning the trail. "And there is no time to waste, If I am to do my part intelligently. intelli-gently. You must return below before the sun disappears, or Monsieur Cassion Cas-sion might suspect you had lost your way. You have sought me for assistance, assist-ance, counsel perhaps, but this state of affairs has so taken me by surprise that I do not think clearly. You have a plan?" "Scarcely that, monsieur. I would ascertain the truth, and my only means of doing so is through a confession con-fession by Francois Cassion. Arrogant Arro-gant he is, and conceited, deeming himself admired aud envied by all, especially my sex. He has even dared boast to me of his victims. But therein there-in lies his very weakness; I would make bim love me." He turned now, and looked se.trch-t se.trch-t iugly into my face, no glimpse of a smile in the gray eyes. "Pardon; I do not understand," he said gravely. "You seek his love?" I felt his maimer a rebuke, a ques- j tioning of my honesty, and swift in-i in-i diguation brought the answering words to my lips. "And why not pray! Must I not defend myself and what other weapons wea-pons are at hand? Do I owe him kind-uess; kind-uess; or tender consideration? The man married me as he would buy a slave." "You may be justified." he admitted regretfully. "Yet how is this to be done?" I arose to my feet and stood before him, my face uplifted, and, with one hand, thrust aside the shade of my hat. "Monsieur, deem you that impossible?" impossi-ble?" His lips parted in a quick smile, revealing re-vealing the white teeth, and he bowed low, flinjfing his bat to the ground and standing bareheaded. "Mon dieu! No! Monsieur Cassion is to be congratulated. Yet it was my thought you said yonder that you despised the man." "I do; what reason have I to feel otherwise? Yet there lies my strength in this battle. He laughs at women, plays with them, breaks their hearts. It is his pride and boast, and his success suc-cess in the past has ministered to his self-conceit. He thought me of the same kind, but has already had his lesson. Do you not know what that means to a man like him? More than ever he will desire my favor. A week back he cared nothing; I was but a plaything, awaiting bis pleasure; his wife to be treated as he pleased. He knows better now, and already his eyes follow me as though he were my dog." "And that then is why you send for me that I may play my part in the game?" I shrugged my shoulders, yet there was doubt in my eyes as I faced him. "Is there harm in such play, monsieur," mon-sieur," I asked innocently, "with so important an end in view? 'Tis not Ihat I seek amusement, but I must find out where this king's pardon is hidden, who concealed it, and obtain proof of tile fraud which compelled my marriage. My only hope of release re-lease lies in compelling Francois Cassion Cas-sion to confess all he knows of this foul conspiracy. I must possess the facts before we return to Quebec." "But of what use?" he insisted. "You will still remain his wife, and your property will be In his control. The church will hold you to the marriage mar-riage contract." "Not if I can establish the truth that I was deceived, defrauded and married by force. Once I have the proofs in my hands I will appeal to Louis to the pope for relief. These f I i PfC "Yet You Would Make Him Love You?" men thought me a helpless girl, friendless friend-less and alone, ignorant of law, a mere waif of the frontier. Perhaps I was, but this experience has made of me a woman. In Montreal I talked with the mother superior and she told me of a marriage in France where the pere olliciated under threat, and the pope dissolved the ties. If it can be done for others it shall be done for me. I will not remain the wife of Francois Cassion." "l'et you would make him love you?" "In punishment for bis sins; in payment pay-ment for those he has ruiued. Ay! 'tis a duty I shall not shrink from, Monsieur d'Artigny, eveu although you may deem it unwomanly. I do not mean it so, nor hold myself immodest for the effort. Why should I? I but war against him with his own weapons, wea-pons, and my cause is just. And I shall win, whether or not you give me your aid. How can I fail, monsieur? mon-sieur? I am young and not ill to look upon; this you have already confessed: here in this wilderness I am alone, the only woman. He holds me bis wife by law, aud yet knows he must still win me. There fj'e mon: lis of |