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Show T"v x IGERALWNE BONNER. K ' Avxtior ?"TpB PDNTER hlMztrUicasjnr PCM.J.LsWlN CojjyTi'lVt mf TieBCDDS-HIOTlX CO. hand, and his "ruin" of her. To night It had no power to move him and lie shook her off and left the room. She ran to the door bthlnd him and leaning lean-ing cut, cried It after him. He literally fled from her, down the hallway, with the open doorways ending their lurid light and hissing noise arrosa hta passage. Aa ha reached the dining room he heard her bang toe door and with aggressive noise turn the key In the lock and ahoot the bolt. Even at that moment the lack of neceaatty for such a precaution pre-caution cauaed a bitter amlle to move hla llpa. He entered the dining-room and aat down by the table, hta head on hla handa. He aat tbua for aome hour, trying to think what he should do. He found It Impossible to come to any definite conclusion for the future; all he could decide upon now waa the ne-cesslty ne-cesslty of leaving hla wife, getting a respite from her, withdrawing hlmaelf from the sight of her. H had never loved her, but to-night the pity and reaponslblllty be had felt aeemed to b torn from his life aa a morning wind teara a cobweb from the grass. The dawn waa whitening the window win-dow panes when he. finally got pen and paper and "wrote a few lines. These, without prefli or signature, stated that k would leave the Jf' tor ft short time tu$ uu( jy ji.nt- vftort to $U& - " ' , ' . lie had gone or communicate with him. He wrote her name on the folded paper and placed It In front of the clock. Then he stole Into his bedroom they had occupied separate rooma for over six months-ana months-ana packed a valise with his oldest and roughest clothea. After this he Mt"d in the dining-room till the l(rhl fright ajid the traffic of the day loud pn llie" fVement. before he crept down he Ion' ttatrway and went out Intft Jhe crystal frcahnett of the morning. CHAPTER IV? , Out of Night and Storm. When Rose Cannon woke on theV morning after her arrival at Antelope, a memory of the snowfiakea of the evening before made her Jump out of bed and patter barefooted to the window. win-dow. It seemed to her It would be "lots of fun" to be snowed up at Antelope, An-telope, and when ahe aaw only a thin covering of white on the hotel garden and the diminishing perspective of roofs, she drew her mouth into a grimace gri-mace of disappointment With hunchedup shoulders, her hands tucked under her arms, she stood looking out, her breath blurring blur-ring the pane In a dissolving film of smoke. It was a cold little world. IWIow her the garden the summer pride of I'erley's Hotel lay a aere, withered waste. Ha shrubs stiff In the grip of the cold. The powdering of snow on Us frost-bitten leaves and Rose laughed. Her tether did not understand that the roughness and novelty of It all waa what ahe enjoyed. en-joyed. He waa already a man of nieaus when she was born, and she had known nothing of the hardships and privations through which he and her mother had struggled up to fortune. for-tune. Itocky liar the night before and Antelope tbla morning were her first glimpses of the mlulng region over which the pioneers bad swarmed in '49, Hill Cannon, only a lad In hla teena among them. I'erley'a warnings of bad weather were soon verified. Early In the afternoon aft-ernoon the Idle, occasional snow-fiakea snow-fiakea had begun to fall thickly, with a aoft, persistent ateadlneaa of purpose. pur-pose. At four o'clock, Wllloughby, the Englishman who had charge of the shutdown Delia K. mine, came, butting but-ting head down agalnat the wind, a group of dogs at hla heels, to claim the hospitality of the hotel. Hla watchman, an old timer, had advised htm to seek a shelter better stored with provisions than the office bullying bully-ing of the IWsIIa K. Willour-fc accent and manner ' , , , . , , . . oa proclaimed nlm aa one or . . .. , . it waa " KD distinction before l w" -nown In Antelope that be . "tt aome relation to a lord." was J ""J5. w,com !l th bar. Ills four Teu setter dogs. Cut from that hospitable retreat by the swing doot. grouped around It and Stared, expectantly, expect-antly, each ahout from within being answered by them with plaintive and Ingratiating whines. The afternoon was stilt young when the day began to darken. Rose Cannon, Can-non, who had been sitting In the parlor, par-lor, dreaming over a nr. of logs, went to the window, wondsrlnlr at the growing grow-ing gloom. The wind 1 ltd risen to a wlldj sweeping speed, that tore the snow fine ia fnlst. There were no Jasf. woolly flakes now. Tbey had turned1 Into an opaque, alanting veil which here and there curled Into snowy mounds and In other places left the ground bare. Rose looked out on It with an Jn-Ifrtst Jn-Ifrtst that waa a little aoberer than tb debonair blltbeness of her Morning Morn-ing mood. If It kept up tbey might be snowed In for dtya, I'erley had said. That being the cane, this room, the hotel's one parlor, would be her retreat, her abiding place for her bedroom was aa cold as an Ice-chest until they wer liberated. With the light, half whimsical amlle that cam ao readily to hr lips, she turned from the window and surveyed It Judicially. She was leaving the window to return re-turn to her seat by the fire when the complete silence that seemed to hold the outside world in a spell was broken brok-en by sudden sounds. Voices, the crack of a whip, then a grinding thump agalnat the hotel porch, caught her ear and whirled her back to the pane. A large covered vehicle, with lope In thews days of Ha decline, and the curiosity felt by Rose waa shared by the whole hotel. The swing door to the bar opened and mn preased Into the aperture. Mra. I'erley camo up from the kitchen, wiping a dish. Cora appeared In the dining-room doorway, and In answer to Miss Cant non's Inquiringly lifted eyebrows, called across the ball: "It's the Murphysville stage on tbo down-trip to Rocky Har. I guess tbey thought they couldn't make It Ths driver don't like to run no risks an4 so he's brought 'em round this w'r and dumped 'em here. There ai.'1't but two paasengers. That's them." She Indicated the two men ho, standing by the hall stove, wert divesting di-vesting themselves of their wraps. One of them waa a tall upright old man with a sweep of grizzled beard covering hla cheat, and gray hulr falling fall-ing from the dome of a bald head. The other wat much younger, ta" alao, and spare to leanness f 4or a gray fedora he . TiaW ttf chill, u- , jj! .-rooming tint, hla face, lis prominent, bony surface nipped by the cold to a raw redness, look! j5 low and unhealthy. Willi tt alf ot solicitude he laid hla oTeTtt a chair, brushing 0$ the snow with a careful hand. Buttone4 tlcht Id t black cutaway with the collaf Mta up about hla neck, be had an appearance appear-ance of being uncomfortably con? pressed lato garments top small for nlm. Hla shiny-knuckled, purplish hands, pinching up the shoulders of his coat over the chair back, were In, keeping with his general suggestion of a large boned meagerly covered lankneis The fsct that be was smooth shaven, combined with tbo unusual un-usual length if dark hair that a? peared below hla bat brtm, lent him a suggestion of something Interest Ingiy unconventional, almost artlatlo. In the region where he now foutjd, hlmaelf be would have been variously set down aa a gambler, a traveling clergyman, an actor, or perhapa only a vender of patent medicines who had some odd attractive way of advertising advertis-ing himself, such as drawing teeth with an electrics! appliance, or playing play-ing the miliar from the tailboard of hla showman's csrt. Now, hsvlng arranged his coat to Its best advantage, he turned to Per-ley Per-ley and said with a curiously deep and resonant voice; "And, mine host, a stove In my bedroom, a stove Id my bedroom or I perish." Cora rlggjed and threw across the hall to Miss Cannon a delighted murmur mur-mur of: "Ob, aay, ain't he Juat the richest thing?" "You've got us trapped and caged here for a spell, I guess." said the older man. "Any one else In the same box?" "Oh, ypH not want for company," said Perwy, pride at the Importance of the announcement vibrating fn his tone. "We've got Wllloughby here from the Jlella K. with his four setter set-ter dogs, and Dill Cannon and bis daughter up from the coast." "fill! Cannon!" the two men stared and the younger one aald: "BUI Cannon, the Bonanza King from Ban Francisco?" "That's him all right," nodded Per-ley. Per-ley. "t'p here to see the diggings at Greenhlde and snowed In same as you." Here Rose, fearing the conversation conversa-tion might turn upon herself, slipped from the doorway Into the paaaage and up the stairs to her own room. An hour later as she stood before the glass making her toilet for supper, sup-per, a knock at the door ushered In Cora, already curled, powdered and berlbboned for that occasion, a small kerosene lamp In her band. In the bare room. Its gloom only partly dispelled by the light from a similar lamp on the bureau and the red gleam from the stove, Miss Cannon waa revealed In the becoming half-dunk half-dunk made by these Imperfectly-blending Imperfectly-blending Illuminations, a pink silk dressing gown loosely enfolding her, a lightly brushed In suggestion of fair hslr behind her ears and on her shoulders. Her comb was In her hand and Cora realised with an uplifting thrill that she had timed ber visit correctly and was about to learn the mysteries of Miss Cannon's coiffure "! brung you another lamp," ahe said affably, setting her offering down on the bureau. "One ain't enough light to dress decently by. 1 have three," and she sank down on the aide of the bed with the air of having established an Intimacy, woman to woman, by thla act of generous con-(deration. con-(deration. "Them gentlemen." ahe continued, 'are along on thla hall with you and rour pa. The old one's Judge Wash-jurne, Wash-jurne, of Colusa, a pioneer that used to know Mr. I'erley's mother way sack In Sacramento In the fifties, and mew your pa real well wbea be was oor. It's sort of encouraging to blnk your pa was ever poor." Rose laughed and turned sldewlae, ooklng at the speaker under the arch f her uplifted arm. There wero lairplna in her mouth and an up-thirled up-thirled end of blond hair protruded n a gleaming scattering of yellow ver ber forehead. She mumbled a omroent on ber father's early pover-y, pover-y, her Hps showing red agalnat the islr-plns ntpped between her teeth. (TO BE CONTINUED 1 a noise like an sxclied, unresting wind In the confined limits of the little flat. The door of Herny'e room was open, snd under a blaze of light from the chandelier and the aide llghta of the bureau she waa sitting In a rocking-chair rocking-chair facing the foot of the bed. She held In her hand a walking stick of Domlnlck's and with this she had been making long, acratchea across the footboard, which was of walnut and waa aeamed back and forth, like a rock scraped by the passage of a glacier. As Domlnlck entered, she desisted, de-sisted, cessed rocking, and turned to look at him. She had an air of taut, sprightly Impudence, and waa smiling a little. "Well, Domlnlck," the eald Jauntily, "you're late." "Yes, I believe I am," he answered. "I did not come straight back," "Took a walk," she said, turning to the bed and beginning to rock. "It's a queer tort of hour to choose tor wslklng," and lifting the cane she recommenced her occupation of scratching the foot-board with It, tracing trac-ing long, parabolic curvet across the entire expanae, watching the cane's tip with her head tilted, to one tide. Domlnlck, who was not looking at her, did not notice the noise. J thought," she said, tracing a great arc from one tld to th other, "that you were with .jour Jovtogjsm." lly opuni; Jn, baU( probably- He did not move, but aald quietly: "Jt was Impossible to get the Invitation, Invi-tation, Bern. 1 tried to do It and waa refused, f wt.nt you to under; stand that at long Ai i 1'H never d0 a thing like that again "Oh, y, you will," ahe said laughing laugh-ing and shaking her bead like to amuaod child. "Oh. ytt, you will." Bhe threw her bead back and, looking look-ing at the celling, laughed still louder with a note of fierceness In the sound. "You'll do It and lots more things like II. You'll do It if I want you to, Domlnlck Ryan." He did not answer. Bhe hitched ber chair closer to the bed as If to return to an engrossing pastime, and, leaning back luxuriously, resumed her play with the cane. This time Domlnlck Doml-nlck noticed the noise and turned. She was conscious that he was looking look-ing at her, and began to scratch with an appearance of charmed abaorptlon, such aa an artist might dlaplay in his work. He watched her for a moment In allent astonishment and then broke out sharply: "What are you doing?" "Scratching the bed," responded calmly. "You must be mad," he aald, striding strid-ing angrily toward her and atretchlng a hand tor the cane. "You're ruining It" Sh whipped the cane to the other tide, out of hla reach, "Am 1?" she said, turning an eye of fiery menace on him. "Maybe I am, and what's that matter?" Then, turning turn-ing back to the bed, "Too bad, isn't it, and the set not paid for yet." "Not paid for!" be exclaimed, to amazed by the statement that he forgot for-got everything else. "Why. I've given you the money for It twice!" "Three times," she amended coolly, "and I spent It on things I liked better. bet-ter. I bought clothes, and Jewelry with It, and little fixings I wanted. Yes, the bedroom set Isn't all paid for yet and we've had tt nearly two years. Who would have thought that the aon of Con Ryan couldn't pay his bills!" She rose, threw the cane Into the corner, and, turning toward him, loaned back, half sitting on the footboard, foot-board, her handa, palm downward, preased on Ha rounded top, Domlnlck and ahe bad had many quarrela, ignominious and repulsive, but he bad never before seen her In so savage a mood. Even yet he had not lost the feeling of responsibility and remorse he felt towsrd her. As he moved from the mantelpiece his eye bad fallen on the balldreaa that lay, a sweep ot lace and sliver, across the bed, and on the bureau he had seen jewels and hair ornaments laid out among the powder boxes and scent bottles. The pathos of these futile preparations appealed to hrn . and he made an effort to be patient ind Juat "It's been a disappointment," he laid, "and I'm sorry sbout It Hut I've done sll I could and there's no use doing any more. You've got to jive It up. There's no use trying to make my mother give In. Bbe won't." "Won't she?" she cried, ber voice luddenly loud and shaken with rsge. We'll se! Well see! We'll see If I've married Into the Ryan family for aothing." ' Her wrath at last loosened, her con-rol con-rol was Instantly swept away. In a moment she was that appalling alght i violent and vulgar woman In a rag-ng rag-ng passion. She ran around the bed md, seizing the dress, threw It on the loor and stamped on It, grinding the lellcate fabric Into the carpet with jer he Is. "There!" she crW. "That's what t : feel about It That's the way 111 i rest the thinga and the people I don't Ike! That dress It Isn't paid for. f ut I don't wsnt It. Ill get another t rhen I do. Have I married Con Ry- 1 in'a son to need money and bother r i bout bills? Not on your life! Did rou notice the gas? Every burner s urned on. Well. I did It Just to have V i nlc bright, house for you when you 1 ante home without the Invitation. We t taven't paid the bill for two months c tut what doea that matter? We're r- I ated to the Ryans. We dont have to s rouMe about bills." a He aaw that she waa beyond arga- t ng wtth and tnreeo to leave the I oom. She sprang after hla and f aught him by the arm, pouring out h cly too coherent streams of rage sod s ibas. It wat the old story of tee a 'traft" ah fc4 suffered at aia d ' SYNOPSIS. Hilt Cannon. th bonansa king, and hla 1ntilthtT, Hon, who had iaii1 up Mr CometHm l:yn'i bull at Hun t ram-two U H'M-iirntMny her fathrr, arrive tt AnteluMt. Itomlnlrk Bysn cnll on his mother In !- n Imll Invitation fur hla wife, ami la rfw.'.l The 1termln-1 oht laiiy ratuacs to recoanlte her dauahter-ln-law. CHAPTER III. s m The Daughter of Hsth. He walked for nearly an hour, along hjuIh, lanjp-llt streets where large houses fronted on gardena that ex-hald ex-hald moist earth scents and the lireaths of sweet, unseen blossoms, up lilIU jo I'teep tla U aeemefl aj Jf en r&rlif'iuiike fTilght have heaved up the city's crust and bent It crisply like a piece of cardboard. He looked down unseeing, thinking of th! last three yeart. rniefi trlZi Jfrt Bet Bernjce Iver-on, Iver-on, she UtMl.petfi i typewriter and stenographer In Ihi office of the Mer-Thanta Mer-Thanta aud Mechanic Trust Com-Jiany. Com-Jiany. He waa twenty-fonr at the time, the" only son of Cornelius Hysn, one or fhe financial magnates of the fur west She was seven years older than he, but told him they were the same age. It waa not a wasted He, at ahe undoubtedly un-doubtedly looked much younger than sh was, being a slight, trimly-made voman who had retained a girlish elasticity of figure and sprlghtllness of manner. The entrapping of young Ryan was a simple matter. He had never loved and knew little of women. 1'e did not love, her. but she made Mm think he did, threw herself at him, led him quickly to the point she wished to reach, and secretly, without a suspicion on the part of her family, became his mistress. Six months later, having driven him to the step by ber upbraidings and her apparent sufferings of conscience under the sense of wrongdoing, she persuaded him to marry her. The marriage was a bombshell to the world in which young Ryan was a plantt of magnitude. His previous connection with her though afterward after-ward discovered by his mother wan at the time unknown. lWntce had Induced him to keep the marriage secret se-cret till Its hour of accomplishment, for she knew Mrs. Ryan would try to break It off and feared that she might surged. Once Domlnlck's wife she thought that the objections and resentment re-sentment of the older woman could be overcome. But she underrated the force and obstinacy of her adversary and the depth of the wound that had been given her. Old Mra. Ryan had been stricken In her tenderest sjiot. Her son aai her Idol, born In her mlddl?ftge, the lust of four boys, three of wbcm bad died In childhood. In his bah hoed she had hoarded money and worked late and early that he might be rich. Now she held the ' great estate of her husband In trust for blm, and dreamed of the time when he should marry some tweet and virtuous girl and she would have ta grandchildren to love and spoil snd' plan for. When the newt of bis mar- riage reached her and she saw the woman he bad made his w ife, she understood un-derstood everything. She knew her boy through and through and she knew just how he bad been duped ' and entangled. I The marriage of her son waa fhe ( i ! 1 "1A'';'i & ' i i He Looked Down Unseeing, Thinking ' ef the Last Three Ysai ' ' i bitterest blow of ber life. It came t when she was old, stiffened Into hab- t Ha of dominance and dictatorship, f wb-n her ambitions for her boy were c gaining dally in scope and splendor, r A blind rage snd de'errolnstlon fo i crush the woman were ber first ftl- 1 Ir.v. snd remained with her but t shgb'ly nltlgated by the softening pape of time. She was a partiaan. a rMer. and she Instituted a war 1 acalust ber daug!it-r In law which she rtnduded wHh all the rialirv0' r bitten-, ts that marks the quarrels erf wf tiH-n. r m-!.iu! k had crt been mrrtd a Bias h tcn she discovered the prevl- i ous ,- rertron b-twn h'si and his wife, ti d jfhilsM It to the winds. A 1 social power, feared and obeyed, ahe let It be known that to any one who received Mrs. Domlnlck Ryan her doors would be forever closed. Without With-out withdrawing her friendship from her son she refused ever to meet or to receive his wire. In this attitude she was absolutely Implacable. She Imposed her will upon the less strong spirits about ber, and young Mrs. Ryan waa aa completely that off from her husband's world at though her skirts carried contamination. With maaeullne largeDeat, of view la Other mailers, In this ftne the elder Vopian exhibited a lingular, unworthy amall-nes.t, amall-nes.t, - The carelessly large checks the had prevlouaiy given Dorainick oh hit birthday and anniversaries ceancd to appear, anH casciilLnf gifts, such at pfpei, 'walking sticks, arid clgur-cases, clgur-cases, in which his wife could have no participating enjoyment, took their place. She had catabltshed a policy of exclusion, and maintained It rig- Young Mrs. ftyan ijki it firsl b lleved Uist this rancor would melt ftway with the flight of time. Hut she did not know the elder woman. Sue wat at unsellable aa a granite rock. Hernlee, who bad expected to gain all from her connection with the all-powerful all-powerful Ryant, at the end of two yeart found that the was an ostracized outsider from the world she bad hoped to enter, and that the riches she had expected to enjoy were represented rep-resented by the three thousand a year her husband earned In tho bank. Her attempts to force her way into the life and surroundings where she had hoped her marriage would place her had Invariably failed. If her feel-Inga feel-Inga were not of the aame nature aa those of the elder Mrs. Ryan, they were fully as poignant and bitter. The effort to get an Invitation to the ball bad been the most daring the young woman had yet made. Neither she nor Domlnlck had thought It possible pos-sible that Mra. Ryan would leave ber out. So confident waa she that ahe would be asked that she had ordered a dreas for the occasion. Hut when Domlnlck't invitation came without her name on the envelope, then fear that he was to be excluded rose clamorous In her. For days she talked snd complained to ber husband hus-band ss to the Injustice of this course and his power to secure the Invitation for her If he would. Ry the evening of the ball ahe had brought him to the point where he had agreed to go forth and demand It. It was a hateful mission. He had never In hla life done anything so humiliating. hu-miliating. In his shame and distress he had hoped that his mother would Five It to him without urging, and Hcrnlce, placated, would be restored to good humor snd , leave blm at I "-are She could not have gained such power over him, or so bent blm to her bidding, had she not had In him a fulcrum of guilty obligation to work on. She continually reminded htm of "the wrong" he had done ber, and how, through him, she had lost the respect of her fcllowt and her place among them. All these slights, snubs snd insulta were hit fault, and he felt that thla waa true. Tonight he had gone forth In dogged despera-lion. despera-lion. Now In fear, frank fear of her, he went home, alowly, with reluctant feet, his heart getting heavier, his dread colder as he Beared the house. It was one of those wooden structures struc-tures on Sscramcnto Street not far from Van Neat Avenue where the well-to-do and socially aspiring crowd ihemselvra Into a floor of seven 1 rooms, snd derive satisfaction from i lie proximity of their distinguished neighbors who refuse to know them, i It contained four fiata, each with a parlor bay window and a front door, i ill four doors in neighborly Juxtaposl- i Ion at the top of a flight to six i rnrble steps. Domlnlck's wss the top flat; be had i 0 ascend a long, carpeted stairway ' rtth a turn half-way up to get to It I Vow, looking at the bay window, he i law llghta gleaming from below the !rawn blinds. Herny was still up. A t Ingering hope that she might have i tone to bed died, and his sense of re- uctance gained In force snd made I dm fl slightly sick. He wss there, i lowever, and he had to go up. Fit- I Ing his key Into the lock he opened hs hall door. It waa very quiet aa he mounted he long stairs, but, as be drew near I he trp, he became aware of a windy, t ihlstling noire and looking Into the 1 wm near the stair head saw that ail I he gas-)ett were lit and turned on i ull cock, and that the gas, rushing i ut from the burner In a ragged ban- er of flame, made the sound. He I las sbout to rntr and lower It when t te beard Ms wife's voice coming from i he open deer cf her room, c "It frat you. Iom1nlrk?" ahe called, t ! r voice was steady and high, t rhcugh It was hard, with a tort of I ireelse clearness of BHeranee, it wat t lot conspicuously wrathful. "Yes," be answered, "it't I." aed I e fcrt t the gat jets and walked up r be ball. He did not notice that In c bm other rooms he passed the gss c 1 at turned ea la the' aame meaner, s t w hitt'.ing rush of Its escape made 'jj- j " Vi : j j r "Have I Married Con Rytn't Son to Need Money and Bother About BlIisT" I rrizxled grass added to Its air of hakoesa. Heyond rose the shingled oofs of Antelope'a main street. Hose, i landing gszing up, wondered If ber ather would go on to Greenhlde, the iew csmp twenty miles from Ante-ope, Ante-ope, where an important strike bsd ecently been made. Half an hour 1-ter when tbey met t breakfast he told ber be would not rave for Greenhlde that morning, 'erley had warned blm not to at-empt at-empt it, and he for his part knew the ountry well enough to realize that t would bo foolhardy to start under ucb a threatening tky. It would be 11 right to atop over at Antelope till be weather made up Ha ralad what l meant to do. It might not be fun or ber, but then be bad warned her efore they left 6aa Frsnrlaco that be would have to pat up with rough ecommodatlons a&4 uaaccus tooted iaootaforta. the whitened thapea of a tmoklng team drooping before It bad Just j drawn up at the steps. Two mascu- c line figures, carrying baga. emerged from the Interior, and from the driv- , er'i aeat a muffled ahape a cylinder j of wrappings which appeared to have t a lively human core gave forth much t loud and profane language. The I so- ( latlon and remoteness of her sur- i roundlngs had already begun to affect af-fect the town bred young lady. She ran to the door of the parlor, as Ingenuously In-genuously curious to tee the new arrivals ar-rivals and find out who tbey were as I though she had lived In Antelope for e a year. i LooSlng down the ball ahe aaw the r front door open violently Inward and I two men hastily enter. The wind t seemed to blow ia and before Periey't b boy could crest the door shut the a snow bad whitened the damp mat- t ting. No aiage pasael through Ante- |
