Show 4 the e branding anclin or iron Q by katharine newlin burt burl copyright by katharine Kith trin N burt bart adu KILLED HIM join Lat latilla labels idla eighteen yean old wife ot of pierre Is the daug ter ot of john carver who murder d her mother tor ter adultery her lonely life with her father in a wyoming cabin unbearable joan leaves him to work in a hotel in a nearby town joan meets pierre and the two mutually attracted tr are married carver tells pierre story ot of joans mother pierre forges a cattle brand frank holliwell HoU lwell young minister presents books 00 0 o joan pierre alerre forbids her to raid re id them ila maddened by Jeal jealousy pierre ties joan and burns the two dar bar brand into her shoulder alear ing her screams a stranger bursts into the house houe and shoots a pierre the stranger revives joan telling her pierre Is dead urges her to go with him at tho the strangers homa hom joins joans injuries are attended to she to Is introduced to a nv now world of books and fine clothing by the stranger prosper gate gal a writer CHAPTER XII continued 9 and then she opened her volume in its middle and her eye looked upon familiar lines so the two brothers and ana their murdered mark man JI joans joana heart fell like a leaden weight and the color dropped from her face in an instant she was back in pierres Pier reB room and the white night circled her in great silence and she vas going over the story of her love arul and pierres their love their beautiful grave simple love that had so filled her ute life and now where was she in the house ot of the man who had killed her hus husband bandl I 1 she had been walling waiting tor for holliwell Holl lwell but tor for a long alite now she had forgotten that why ws she still here A strange guilty terror came with the question she stared around the gorgeous little room snug from the world so secret in its wanter venter canyon she heard beard wen hos laces faces soot sant pattering in the kitchen the crunch and thud of prospers shoveling outside it was suddenly a hor rable nightmare or less a nightmare than a dream pleasant in the dream ing but hideous to an awakened mind she was awake that little bort horac c steed of rier resl such a hunger opened in her soul that she bent hw head and moaned she could think af f nothing now but those two fa millas bare clean rooms pierres Pl errea guu pierres rod her own coat there bj b the door the snowshoes there was waa no me place in her mind for the later tragedy she had gone back back of it it she would rather be alone in her own tome biome desolate though it was that than anywhere else in all the homeless world and what could prevent her from froian going she laughed aloud a short defiant laugh rippled to her feet and in her room took olt off prospers pretty things and got into her own old clothes the coarse underwear the heavy stockings and boots the rough skirt the mans shirt how loosely they all hung now how thin she was I 1 now into her coat her woolen cap down over her ears her gloves she was ready her heart laboring like an exhausted stags her knees trembling her wrists mysteriously absent she went into the hall found her snowshoes bent to tie them on and straightening up met prosper who had come in out of the snow he was glowing from exercise but at sight of her and her pale excitement the glow left him and his face went bleak and grim lie ile put out his liand hand and caught her by the arm and she backed from him against the wall this before either of them spoke where are you going joan im a coln home lie ile let go of her arm you were going like this without a word to mer me mr air gael she panted 1 I had a feelen like you a let me go ile he turned threw open the door and stepped aside she confronted his big white anger sir mr gael I 1 left pierre dead ive been a waltin for or mr hollawell noll lwell to come im strong now I 1 must be a gole coln home suddenly she blazed out apu killed my man what her bev I 1 to do with you he bowed ner her breast labored and all the distress of her soul troubled by an instinctive inarticulate consciousness ness of evil wavered to in her eyes her reason already accused her of ingratitude and treachery but every fiber of her had suddenly revolted she was all for liberty she must have bare it he was wise made no attempt to hold her let her go but as she fled under the firs drs tier her webs sinking deep into the heavy encrusted snow he stood and watched her keenly he hod had not failed to notice the trembling of her body the quick lift and fall of tier her breast the rapid flushing and paling of her face lie ile let her go and joan ran drawing reck recklessly lely on the depleted store of what had always been her inexhaustible strength the snow now was deep and soft heavy with moisture the march air was moist to too not keen with frost and the green firs were softly dark against an even stone colored sky ky of cloud to joans ayea so eo long imprisoned it was all clean and grave part of the old life back to which she was running down the canyon trail she floundered her short skirt gathering a weight of snow tier her webs lifting a mass of it at every tugging step her speed perforce slackened but she plodded on out of breath and in a sweat she was surprised at the weakness put it down 0 to o excitement 1 I was hed make me stay she said and ive got to go ive got to go this went with her like a beating rhythm she come came to the opening in the firs the foot of the steep trail and out there stretched the valley blank snow blank sky here and there a wooded ridge then a n range of lower bills blue snow mottled not a roof not a thread of smoke not a sound im awful far away joan whispered to herself and for the first time in her life she doubted her strength 1 I dont rightly know where I 1 a am M she looked back there stood a high familiar peak but so were the outlines of these mountains jumbled and changed that she could not tell if Pro prospera canyon lay north or south ot of pierres res homestead the former was ugh 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 she tried to remember the journey but nothing came to her except a confused impression of following following following had they gone toward the river first and then turned north or had bad they traveled close to the base of the giant range the rangers cabin where they had spent the night surely that ought to be visible if she went farther out say beyond the wooded spur which shut the mountain country from her sight perhaps she would find it bravely she braced tier her quivering muscles and went on she p plunged lunged into drifts struggled api up sometimes th the e 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 tier her lungs often she sank down and rested when things grew steady she got up and worked on 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 the plain it began to darken but joan thought that her sight was falling the enormous efforts she was making took every atom of her will at last her muscles refused obedience her laboring heart stopped she stood a moment swayed fell and this time she made no effort to rise become a dark spot on the a ll li feness part of the loneliness and silence A email black energetic figure came out from among the firs fira and ran forward where the longest shadows pointed it looked absurdly tiny and anxious futile in its pigmy haste baste across the exquisite stillness joan lying so still was acquiescent this little striving thing rebelled it t came forward steadily following joans uneven tracks stamping them down firmly to make a solid path and as the sun dropped leaving an immense gleaming depth of sky he came ca me down and bent over the black speck that was joan prosper took her by the shoulder sli and turned her over a little in ii the snow joan opened tier her eyes and looked at him it was the dumb look of a beaten dog get up child he said and come home with me I 1 she struggled to her feet he helping her and silently just as a aava savage ge woman no matter what her pain will follow her man so BO joan followed the track he be made by pressing the snow down triply over her former steps can you do it be asked once and she nodded she was pale her eyes heavy but she was glad to be found glad to be saved he saw that and lie ho saw a dawning confusion in her eyes at the end he drew her arm into his big and when they came into the house he knelt and took the snowshoes from her feet she dr drooping loping against the wall tie he put a hand on each of lier her shoulders and looked reproach you wanted to leave me joan you wanted to leave me as much as that she shook her head from side to side then drawing away she stumbled past him into the room dropped to tho the bearskin rug and held out her bands to the flames its awful I 1 good I 1 to be back she said and fell to sobbing 1 I think be carin I 1 was th chinkin inkin only of old things lings ti iwas homesick me that has no home her shaken voice was so EO wonderful a music that he stood listening with sudden tears in his eyes an I 1 cant ferget pierre nor the life mr gael an when I 1 think you that killed him why it breaks my heart oh ob I 1 know you bed to do it I 1 saw aa 1 I I 1 W a stayed with inin him no more what he did it made me bate him but you cant be thInk la howit how lt was with alerre an me before that night we we was happy I 1 to livi live with my father sir gael an he was an awful man an there was no lovin between us but when I 1 first seen pierre alerre lookin up at me I 1 first knowel what lovial might be like I 1 just came away with him because e he asked me oh sir mr gael I 1 cant fe ferget r him even for batin that brand on my shoulder its all healed but my hearts so hurled its so you killed hilled him berghe me please I 1 would love you afir could but some thin makes me shake away from 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 an old ballad most beautifully sung the varied and vibrant cadences of her voice gave every delicate shading of feeling of thought she was utterly expressive all night after he be had bad seen her eat and sent rent her to her bed the phrases of her music kept repeating themselves in his ears an so I 1 first knowel what lovin might be like and 1 I would love you only so methin makes me shake away from you because pierres res dead this was a joan he be had bad not yet realized and he be knew that after all his enchanted leopardess was a woman and that his wooing of her hod hardly yet begun so did she baffle him by the utter directness ot of her heart there was so little of a barrier against him and yet there was so much for the first time he doubted his wizardry and at that his desire for the wild girls love stood up like a gannt and gripped his soul joan slept deeply without dreams shi ohp had bad confessed herself but prosper was fig as restless and troubled as a youth she had not made her escape she had followed him home with humility with confusion in her eyes she had been glad to hold bold out her bands again to the fire on his hearth and yet he was now her prisoner CHAPTER XIII nerves and intuition mr gael said joan standing before him at thea breakfast table im a coln to work she was pale gaunt and imperturbable she announced this decision and sat down I 1 womans comans Wo mans work he be asked her smiling quizzically no sir with her own rare smile 1 I aint rightly fitted tor for that certainly not in those clothes he murmured crossly tor for she was dressed again in her own things im a coln to do maws mans work rm pm aroln a to shovel above snow an help fetch wood an kerry in water you tell your chinese man please and youre not going to read or study any more yes tes sir air I 1 like that it if you still want to teach me sir bit gael but rm im a coln im going to get some action ill just die if I 1 dont why rm 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 bad minerv ous breakdown A what A nervous breakdown ile he lit his big cigarette and watched her in n his big usual lazy smoke veiled manner hut but she 06 might have noticed tho the shaken fabric of his self say now said joan the nama name for thires theres a 0 book about it over there them third volu volume meon on the top shelf look up 11 I 1 with nn an airoff of profound alarm she went over and took tonk it out TO BE CONTINUED |