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Show , It In obedience to lame higher Uw, I perhaps to pay oneself the nwit flat-, flat-, terlng of compliment!. Tbr M satisfaction to ber soul In this which was yet denied bltn. Her action vai quite different front i his. She was putting away bapplneaa i which she might have hod In compll-, compll-, ance with a higher law than that i which bliU humanity enjoy. It waa , flattering to her wind. In bla caio, . It waa otherwise; he had no con-i con-i aclousnena that ho waa ft victim of I misplaced tryst, of misinterpreted ac-l ac-l '.'toti. ' He thought the wTWnan-lPr whom he waa putting away happiness ; wa almost as worthy, If Infinitely lea desirable, aa the woman whom he now loved. i Every sting of outrage, ivory feeling feel-ing of shame, every fear of disloyalty, acrxurged blm. She could glory In It; be waa aabanied, humiliated, broken. She heard Mm savagely walking up and down the other room, restlessly Impelled by the game Erlnyei which of old scourged Oreiitea; the violator of the laws of moral being drove him on. These malign Kuraenlde held him In their hands. 1 1? waa bound and helpless, rage aa be might In one moment, pray aa he did In another, no light rnme Into the whirling darkness of hla torn, tempoat tossed, driven soul. The Irresistible Impulse and the Immovable body the philosophers pux-tled pux-tled over mere exemplified In blm. Whilst he almost bated the new worn- lUeai and his Ideals, or he tnuat luev-Itably luev-Itably take the woman. How frightful waa the battle that fdl-l within hla bosom! Sometimes lu bis dcHpalr be thought that be would have Wo glad if he and sli hod gone down totber la the dark watera before all (bis came upon blm. The flood of which the heavens bad emptied themselves bad borne her tu him. Oh If tbey had only swept blin out of life with Its trouble, Its trials, Its anxlotlea, its obligation, Its mpc!' slbTlIiles. If tliejf boM gonft together! And then be 1tnew that lib was glad Oven for the torture, because he bad seen tier, becatJUG tag bad loved her, and because ahe had loved htm. He marveled At hlinPttf curiously, and tn a detached way. There was a woman who loved him, who had com fussed It boldly and Innocently, Jhere was none to sajr blm nay. The woman who stood btitween had been dead five years. The world knew nothing, cared nothing"; they could go out together; be could lake her, she would come. On the Impulse he turned and ran to the door and beat upon it. JHT voice bade him enter, and lie came In. Her heart yearned to him. She KM shocked, appalled at the torture she" saw upon hia face. Had he been laid upon the rack, and every Joftit pulled from its sockets, he could not have been more white and agonized. I give up," be cried. "What are honor and self respect to me? I want She Stood With Her Hand Still on Hla Breast. 6YNOP8IS. Enid Maltland, a frank, frea and ur 'Hilled ymiiia: t'halladi-lihla girl. In take to the Colorado muuntalna by liar uncli KolH'rt Maltland. James Armstnmi Maltland'a (iruli de, falls In lova with lift Ills iieraiataut wmln thrills th Klrl. hi wha heaitate. and Armstrong- auea eai m tttiainciia without a. definite anawe Knld hears the story of a li4JltiK Vltf wr, Nembolcl. Hf,W wlfH fwl off a til end was so frrlously hurt that lm w J oriipcll.Ml to shoot hr to prrvriit h-r In nar (H'n hy wolvva whllci ha W'tit f lu-lp. Klrkhy, tha old a;tild who ttdl th Slory. ttlvrs Ktild a parkaa of li'tt-i which hn ssys wrra fmind on tha da woionn' hody. Him rrHdri th li-ttrrs an t Klrkhy's rrqiifit k pa thm. U'hll bntliliiK In niniiiitaln at tram kJnld Is ai tmk-l hy a h.iir, which la mrattnoiiiil hot. A storm adds to tha K'rl's torroi A sudlin ricluK" trnriafurins lrMk int riixlna lorrtil, which twwin Knld Int -orK, where sha la rcaciifd by a rnour, IJW hermit afn-r a t Int Ulnar rxpiTh-nci i'arntv" ,n r",,t oonfoBlon upon dlsci. 1n !7rir aha.jice "Jn ,11'? J',rf tr.-aka. ifaiiluhd fthd Old TTIrkby Pl rch of the girl. Knld discovers tlm her ankli la KyrHinAl arid that aha Is un hie to walk. UT mystetjous racu.-carries racu.-carries hr to hla ramp. K.nlJ go'S 1 l-P In tha atrunat mn's bunk. Mini rooks breakfast fir tnld, ffler whlcl ' 1h-y fti un tour of InaiMftJon. J'ha hnr mlt t- lls Knld of his unaorcssful ll"ii to find tha Maltland cin"ni, II aJ-'1 111 ( be la ulao from i'nlludrlpMa. Ti.i lirrmlt falls In love with Knld. Tim rum 4-omvs to a rrallSHilon of his lova fr her tint naturally In that stranK aolltndw lh Trial Ions of tha (irl and Iter r-acinr he come unnatural and atralned. The strana; r tells u( a wife he i'J who la dtad end s.1ys ha has sworn to Vfr rlu-rial h-j memory by llvlns: lit solitude, lie til Knld, however, ronfeaa thidr love fol each other. Hlie harns that he la thi man who killed Ma wife In tha mountain Knld dlwnvera tha writer of the letteri to Kewliold's wife to liafe been Jainei Armatrotm. Newhobi decides lu start U tha settlement for help. , CHAPTER XVII (Continued). "Nothing." said the woman, never shrinking back an Inch, facing him with all the courage and daring with which a Goddes might look upon a man. "Nothing but my weakness and your strength." "Yes, that's It, but do not count too much upon the one or the other, Great God, how can I keep away from you; life on the old terms Is Insupportable. Insup-portable. I mind go." "And where?" "Anywhere, so It be away." . "And when?" 'Now." "It would be death In the snow and In the mountains tonight. No, no, you cannot go." "Well, tomorrow then. It will be fair, ! can't take you wlih me, but I must go alone to the settlement, I must tell your friends you are bere, alive, well. I shall find men to come back and get you. What 1 cannot do alone numbers together may effect. They can carry you over the worst of the trails, you shall be restored to your people, to your world again, you can forget me." "And do you think," asked the woman, wo-man, "that 1 could, ever forget you?" "1 don't know." "And will you forget me?" "Not so long as life throbs fn my veins, and beyond." "And 1 too," was the return. "So be It. You won't be afraid to atay bere alone, now." "No, cot since you love me," waa the noble anawer. "1 auppone I must; there h no other way, we could not go on aa before. And you will come back to me us quickly as you can with the others?" "1 aball not come back; I will give them the direction, they can find you without me. When I say goodbye to you tomorrow It shall be forever." "And I swear to you," asserted the woman In quick desperation, "If you do not come back tbey shall have nothing to carry from bere but my dead body." "And how will you prevent my going go-ing r "I can't liut I will follow you on my bands and knees In the snow until freeze and die unlesi 1 have your promise." "You have beaten me." said the man hopelessly. "You always do. Honor, what Is It? Pride, what Is It? Self, respect, what If It? Kay the word and am at your feel, I put the past behind be-hind n:e." "1 don't say the word." answered the woman bravely, white faced, pale lipped, but resolute. "To be youra. to have )ou mine, Is the greatest desire of my heart, but not In the coward s way, not at the eipense of honor, of M-lf respert no not .that way." Courage, Cour-age, niy friend, God will show us the y, and meantime K'd night." "I shall tiart In the morning." "Yes." she nodded relictactly but knowing it had to be. "tut you wou t o without bidding me good b)e" "No" "Good night then." she said exteud-Icg exteud-Icg her band " "Good u nfit," he whispered boara-ey boara-ey and refused It, barking away. "I don't dare to take It. I don't dare to touch you aaln. I love you so, my only saitatUm Is to keep away." CHAPTER XVIII. Tee Strength 0' the Weak. Alttnugb Enid Msltlst.d bad spoken krav nnuci while be wae there, when ahe was clone her hear sank Into the depths aa she contemplated i- the dreadful and unsolvable dilemma J1 In which these two lovers found thuu ! selves so unwittingly and inextricably Involved. It was indeed a curious uui u bewildering situation Passionate jjdorutlon for the other rose In cucli it breast like the surging tide of I l mighty sea, and like that tide upon r the shore It broke upon conventions, " Ideas, Ideals and obligations Intangl' d ble to the naked eye, but as real an those Iron consts that have withstood I- the waves' assaults since the world's morning. a The man had shaped his life upon a mistake. He believed absolutely In . the unquestioned devotion of a woni' j nn to whom he had been forced to pie(e out doHth Jn an unprecedented ;J and terrible manner. His unwilling-r unwilling-r ness to derognte by his own conduct J irom the standard of devotion which h he believed had Inhabited hla wife's J bosom, niade It Impossible for him to a allow the real love that had come Into hla heart for this new woman to have , fre course; honor, pride and self re-" re-" spect scourged him Just In proportion I to his passion for Knld Maltland. The more he loved her, the more ashamed he war Hy a curious coin-r coin-r blnatlon of rl re urn (fiances, Enid Malt-; Malt-; land knew the truth; she knew that from one point of view the woman had , been entirely unworthy the reverence In which her bukbaud held her memory. mem-ory. She knew that bis wife bad not loved him at all, that her whole heart had been given to another man, that 1 w hat New bold bad mistaken for a pas ' slonate desire for his society becaune there was no satisfaction In life for tho wife away from him, waa due to a fear lest without his protection she 1 should be unable to resist the appeal ' of the other man wblcb her heart seconded so powerfully. If It were only that New bold would not be false to the obligation of the other woman's devotion, Knld might have solved the problem In a moment. It wag not so simple, however. The fact that New bold cherished this memory, mem-ory, the fact that this other woman 1 had fought so desperately, had tried so bard not to give way, entitled her to Knld Maltland's admiration and demanded de-manded her highest consideration as well. Chance, or Providence, had put her In possession of this woman's secret, se-cret, it was as If the had been caught Inadvertently eavesdropping. She could not In honor make use of what he had overheard, as It were; ahe could not blacken the other woman's iiH'indry, ahe could not enlighten this man at the expense of bis dead wile's reputation. Although she lunged for him as much as he longed for her, although her love for blm atriasccd her by Its depth and Intensity, even to bring her happiness, commensurate with her feeling, she could not betray ber dead sister. The Imposts of honor, bow bard they are to surtaln when tbey conflict with love and longing. Knld Maltland was naturally not a little thrown off her balance by the situation and the power thtu was bers. What she could not do herself she could not allow anyone else to do. The obligation upon ber nuiKt be extended ex-tended to others. Old Klrkby had no right to the woman's secret any more than she; be must be silenced. Armstrong, Arm-strong, the only other being who was privy to the truth, must be silenced too. One thing at least arose out of the sa. of trouble In a tangible way; abu waa done with Armstrong. Kven If she bad not so loved New bold that she could scarcely give a thought to any other human being, she was done with Armstrong A singular situation! Armstrong had loved another woman, so bad New-bold; New-bold; and the latter had even married this other woman, yet she was quite wllMrg to forgive Newbold, the made every excuse for blm, she msde none for Armstrong. She was an eminently sane. Just person, yet as she thought of the sHuatlt.n ber anger against Armstrong grew bolter and hotter. It was a safety valve to her feelings, although al-though she did not realize It. After all. Armstrong's actions rendered bar a c.'tt.ln service; If the could get over the objection In her soul. If she could ever satisfy ber sense of In. nor and duty and obligation, she could set-tie set-tie the question at enre. Slie bad only to show the letters to Newbold and to av; "Tbese were written by i tbe man of the picture; It was he, and not you. your wife- loved." and New- , bold would take ber to bis Leart lu- ; tartly. Title tur nghts were not without a i certain rouifort to ber. All the com-pensal com-pensal .n of If sacrifice la In Its i realisation. That she could and did i not somehow ennobled her love f T i blm. Even women are alloyed with base metal la the powerful and i universal appeal of this man to ber. he rejoiced at whatever waa of tbe out. rather than of the body. To I tassseu power, to refrain from using j ' helpless, alone, but It must not be. I know you better than you know yourself. You will not take advantage i of affection so unbounded, of weak- i neas so pitiable." 1 Waa It the wisdom of calculation, or was It the wisdom of Instinct by w hich ahe chose her course? Resistance 1 would have been unavailing, lu weak 1 neBS was ber strength. lllessed are the meek, for they shall i Inherit tho earth! Yea, that was true. no Knew lt no'w, If nevef lefore; ad so did he. Slowly the man released her. She did not even then draw away from ' him. She stood with her hand still on hjs breast. She could feel the beating of his heart beneath her Jlnjrrrs. "I am right," she said softjjr. "It ' kills cue to deny you anything. My 1 hew tr. yearns toward you. Why should I deif It? It Is my glory, not my Hbame." "There ft ftothlng above lovd lke our," he pleaded, wondering what marveJoiia mastery she exercised that she stopped blm by a hand's touch, a whispered word, a 'faith. "No; love Is life, Jove tn God, but even God hlmeelf Is tinder obligations Of rlgliteousiiesa. For me to come to yon now, to marry you now, to be your wlf, Would be unholy. There would not bfl that perfect confidence between us that must endure In that revelation. Your honor and mine, your self respect and mine, would Interpowe. If I can't have you with a clear conscience, con-science, If you can't come to me In the aame way, we are better apart Although Al-though It killa me. although life without with-out you seems nothing, I would rather not live It, we are better apart. I can't be your wife until" "Until what and until when?" demanded de-manded Newbold. "I don't know," said the woman, "but I believe that somewhere, aomchow, we shall find a way out of our difficulty. diffi-culty. There Is a way," she said a little Incautiously. "I know It." "Show It f me." "No, I cannot." "What prevtnts?" The same thing which prevents you: honor, loyalty." "To a man?" "To a woman." "I do not understand." "No, but you will some day." She smiled at blm. "See," alio said, "through my tears I can smile at you, though my heart is breaking. I know that tn Dixi t good time this will work Itaelf out" "I can't wait for God. I want yon now," persisted the other. "Hush, don't say that," answered the woman, for a moment laying her hand ' on his lips. "Hut I forgive you. I 1 know how you, suffer." 1 Tbe man could say nothing, do nothing. noth-ing. He stared at her a moment and 1 hla hand went to hla throat as If he 1 were choking. ' "Unworthy," he said hoarsely, "un- ' worthy of the peat, unworthy of the 1 present, unworthy of the future. May j God forgive me, I never can." ' "He will forgive you, never fear," ' answered Knld gently. "And youT' asked her lover. "I have ' ruined your life." ' "No, you have ennobled It. Ix-t 1 nothing ever make you forget that. ' Wherever you are and whatever you do, and whatever you may have been. ' I love you, and I shall love you to the ' end. Now you must go. It Is so late, J I can't stand any more. I throw 'my- ' self on your mercy again, I grow weak- ' er and weaker before you; a you are ' a man, as you are stronger, save me ' from myself. If you were to take me " again In your arms." she went on 1 steadily, "I know not how I could drive ' you bark. For God's aake. If you love ' me" That wsa tbe hardest thing he had ever done, to turn and go out of the r room, out of ber sight, and leave her standing there with eyes shining, with ' pulses throbbing, with breath coming g fast, with bosom panting. Omv more. and at a touch she might have yielded! u CHAPTER XIX. " The Challenge of the Range. Mr. James Armstrong sat at bis f derk before the west window In hi j, private room In one of tha tallest buildings In I driver. His suite of of- ji flci-s was situated on one of the top n floors, and from It he bad a clear and unobstructed view of the m!ghty rai tee over the Intervening bouse tops iind other building. The earth was rotered with snow. t bad frllen stead- lly through tbe night, but with the a dawn the air had cleared and the un bad come out brightly, although it waa very cold. letters, PM'e.rs. document, the de- b rnand of a business extensive and varied, var-ied, were left unnoticed. He cat with w tils elbow on the desk, his bead on his la band, looklrg moodily at tbe range. In tbe month that bad elapsed since b lie bad received new of Enid Malt b and a disappearance he had sat often t-n t-n that way, tn that place, staring at b the range, a prey to most despondent1 reflections, heavy hearted and dlsoon solate Indeed. ' i After that memorable Interview with Mr. Stephen Maltland In Pblla' delphla he had deemed It proper td await there tbe arrival of Mr, Itoh ert Maltland. A brief lutervtew with! that distracted gentleman had put him In possession of all the facts In tbe cne(a As Uobert Maltland bad: lafd, after presentation of the tf&gbg story, the situation was quite hope- less. Kven Armstrong reluctantly ad mltted that her uncle and old Klrkby bad done everything that waa ossU ble for the rescue or dlsertrjty t,fj Ibe girl. -j Therefore the two despondent gn 1 tlemen bad shortly after returned to their western homes, Hubert Maltland In this instance Ltlnrf accompanied) by hla brother Stephen. Tk lattefl never knew bow much lis daugJl'. Ii3l ben to lilm until this evlr .fat? had lefitflen her. Itobert Maltlaml had promised to Inaugurate ft thorJ ounh and extensive search to sve the? mystery of bef deat which he felt was certain. In the spring; when tb feather permitted humanity to have free course through the mountains. 1 Mr. BVpien Maltland found a crJ lain melancholy satisfaction In being at lea near tbe plae where neither he cor any one bad any doubt hla daughter remains lay hid beneath? the snow or Jce on the mountains tn ihe freezing w!d. Itobert Maltland) bad no other ld than that Knld'e body was In tbe lake. Ho Intended to drain It an engineering task of no great difficulty and yet he Intended, also, to search the hills for wiles on either side of tbe main trerui down which she had gone, for she might! possibly have strayed away and died of starvation and expoaure, ratbei than drowning. At any rate, be would leave nothing undone to dlacov , er her. j He bad strenuously opposed Arm. strong's recklessly expressed Intention Inten-tion of going Into tbe mountains ImJ mediately to search for her. Armstrong Arm-strong wae not easily moved from any' purpose he entertained, or lightly to be hindered from attempting any enterprise en-terprise that he projected, but by the time the party reached Denver ttn winter bad set in, and even he realized real-ized the futility of any Immediate search for a dead body lost In the mountains. Admitting that Knld wae dead, the conclusions were sound, of course. ' ' The others pointed out to Armstrong that If tbe woman tbey all loved bad by any fortunate chance escaped tbe cloudburst, she must inevitably have Krlahed from cold, etarvatlon and ex- ' posure In the mountain long since. There was scarcely a possibility that ihe could have escaped the flood, but If she bad, it would only to be demoted de-moted to death a little later. If the waa not In the lake, what remained of tier would bo In some lateral canon. It would be Impossible to discover lier body tn the deep snows until tbe iprlng and tbe warm weather came. iVhen the snows melted what was con-ealed con-ealed would be revealed. Alone, she ould do nothing. And admitting again hat Knld was alone, this conclusion sas as sound as the other. Now no one had tbe faintest hope hat Knld Maltland waa yet alive, ex- ' ept, perhaps, her father, Mr. 8tepben Waltland. Tbey could ; not convince ilin. he was so old and set In his opln-ona opln-ona and ao utterly unfamiliar with the indltions that they tried to describe o blm, that be clung to hla belief In iplte of all, and finally they let blm ake such comfort as he could from Is vain hope without any further at-erupt at-erupt at contradiction. In spite or all the argument., bow-iver, bow-iver, Mr. James Armstrong was not atlsfled. He waa aa hopeless as tbe est, but hla temperament would not ermlt him to accept the Inevitable almly. It was barely possible that he might not be dead, and that she night not be alone. There was erarce-ip erarce-ip enough poslblllty of this to Justify suspicion, tut that is not sayiRg here waa none at alt. Day after day he had eat In his of. ce denying himself to everyone and efiising to consider anything, Iwtiod-ig Iwtiod-ig over the situation. He loved Enldl laltland, he loved ber before, and now bat he had lost ber, be loved ber Still jore. TO HE CONTINUED) ' Daniel and the Lien. ' And It came to pass that Daniel as cast Into the den of lions by on er of King Darlua. ' Early the next morning King Darius ent to tbe den. rolled away tha lone, and called out: "Do tbe Hon Iter i "Not unreasonably." replied Daniel' bo was well up In tbe legal veraaeu, ir of the day. ' "Good." ejaculated King Darius s rolled back the stone. Thereupon e went forth and proclaimed t, th inltltude that the Hon qies.lje haO, een solved. Puck. J an, whilst be almost loved the old. yet that he did neither tbe one thing nor tbe other absolutely was significant. signifi-cant. Indeed he knew that he was g'sd Knld Maltland bad come into his life. No life Is complete, until It Is touched by that divine fire which for lack of another name we call love. Because we ran experience that sensation we are said to be made in God's Image. The Image Is blurred as the animal predominates, It Is clearer as the spiritual spir-itual has the ascendency. The man raved In bis mind. White faced, stern, be walked up and down he tokped bis arms about biru. he stopped, stop-ped, his eyes closed, be threw his bands up toward God. his heart cried out under the lacerations of the blow inflicted upon It No flaiellant of old rver tren.bled beneath tbe body lah aa be under the spiritual punishment. He prayed that be might die at the tame moment that be longed to live, lie grappb-d blindly for t'llutlon of the problem that would leave blm with untarnished honor and undiminished lelf res;ect and fidelity, and yet give riiro tbla woman, and In vain He itrove to find a way to reconcile the lat with tbe present, realising a be ltd so the futility of curt a proposl tloa. One or tbe other must be supreme, su-preme, be must Inexorably hold to hla t ( you. I have put the past behind. You love me, and I, I am your with every fiber of my being. Great God! It us csst aside these foolish quixotic scruple that have kept us apart. If a man' thought declare hla guilt, I am already disloyal to the other woman; wom-an; deeply, entirely ao. have betrayed be-trayed ber. shamed her, abandoned ber. Ixt me have ome reward for what I have gone through. You love me; ctmie to me." "No," answered the woman, and no task ever laid upon her had been bard er than that "I do love you. will not depy It. Every part of me re- ponds to your appeal. I should be so happy that I cannot even think of It. If I could put my band in your on. If could lay my head upon your boulder, boul-der, if I could feel your heart beat gainat mine. If I could slve u ycelf up i to you. would be so gUd. so glad. Hut It rannot be. not now." , '"Why not?" pKmded the man. I He waa by ber Ule. bis arm went ' around ber. She did not resist physically. phy-sically. It would have been use'ese. She only laid ber slender band upon bis broad breait and threw her head I back and looked at hlra. "See." he aaJd, "how helples. am. I how weak In your hands. Every voice I la my heart bid me give way. If you I taahjt I can deny you sotting. I am I i |
