Show v II I The Crippled Lady of P By James Oli Oliver Ir Curwood S 1 1920 12 Doron Donw A C Co Inc Ino I STORY FROM THE START introducing somo sarno of the people peo peo- I pIe of the pretty little French French- Canadian village of particularly the Crippled Lady Idol of the simple Inhabitants Paul Kirke IB Is a descendant of a n sister of ot Molly Brant sister of ot Joseph Brant great Indian chief He Re hn has Inherited many ninny Indian characteristics ills His father Is a powerful New York financier Paul marries Claire daughter of ot his hie fathers father's partner He Lie Is In charge of or engineering work near Paul wife Is Ie In Europe She dislike the woods Paul becomes Interested Inter ested In Carla village teacher Paul writes his hll wife wire to Join him Carla Carlas mother long an Invalid dies cs CHAPTER V Continued V-Continued 8 He had written to her Immediately after the death leath of ot Carlas Carla's mother and toward the end of th the fortnight he sent her another letter Be lie wanted her more than ever had find In this last letter his third he had heard beard from her ber he told of the loneliness of or orthe the great bouse house Its emptiness Its old ld Jess and how v only tier her golden pres presence presence ence enre could bring It back to life Ute In he tie made a suggestion If It she would come back nek and spend only a little while with him hini upon the Mistassini he would take her anywhere anywhere anywhere any any- where she might want to go when the Job was oft off his hands hands around the world if It that would please her lIer It would be be bern rn rather t her wo wouldn't It Around the world just world Just they two I He lie asked asla d the question with almost bo boyish hope und and earnestness Be He was glad glud when the day arrived for tor or him to len leave ve for th the Mistassini for there seemed to be something of home borne ness about the pit for or him now The Tue company boat met him at Roberval Rober across the lake When he first caught ht the gleam of sunlight on the white bare walls wails of ot the monastery at the mouth of the he felt as ns L L. La La a soothing and friendly Influence bad had come to possess him I A press of business awaited him at athis athis his office and not until the tile day after his return did lid he see Carla CurIa She was wasI I among among her children in the closing hour of ot school In the afternoon The tragic strain which Lt hf had bad observed in her face before her mothers mother's death had disappeared A deeper and more I permanent thing had taken Its place i anti and though it was less pol poignant nant It Lt stirred him for a moment with a sensation sensation sen of ot uneasiness as us if he had personally lost something Be lie could not tell Just what It was then or afterward She seemed older as us If It he had been away two years ears Instead of two weeks and he felt In an unaccountable unaccountable unac unac- countable way as us If a distance as wide as the pit Itself had come between between be be- tween them Even the little tremble of ot gladness In her voice when she greeted him hini did lid not dispel this effect He Be walked with her to the cottage and she gave e a him flowers for his office und when he returned with them anti and put them on his desk he lie was oppressed still more by hy the sense of having missed an nn Important and necessary thIng tiling which tie he had expected ted to find when he came caine hack back to I the lie pit He Ele Heas was as sure Mint flint Carla aria had been glad Iad to see him But thu she was not the some same Carla he hud bud taken over the blueberry blue berry plains to He UP doubted d dIt If It she would personally come corne to hl his office oUke with flowers In In this he hp was mistaken She carne came cameon on 01 ay morning with fin n armful of ot asters Another or nr two ot of frost and und they would all nil be gone she said She about laire and the they talked for a few minutes o ot of othis his f visit lt to I the he city cit She did not speak it of her tier milt mother her or Ieri hon or ur anything that lint hail lo tu do Jo with her hel herself self self except except her flowers Jowers and her school As she arranged the Mowers she bent over o his lIls d desk k so that the silky head bead which lie he and stroked strul with his hand was very near him and amid sud sad suddenly denly deuly he felt himself un overwhelmed ha hu h a u flame Harne thin that left no part port of him un an touched When Carlos Carlo's left deft lingers fingers finished their task she hp found Paul Inui looking at her hei with a face that r was wholly Indian once more mire HP li I. thanked her aa as he might have thanked her a year ago ngo His Ills hum hand touched hers for just a moment und and a swift throb 1 came in Carla's Carlas throat Their Thelt eyes ees met Carlas Carla's faultlessly clear pure and tilled filled with a shining light light Paul's Pauls with a somber settled grimness fatback taT fat back In them At his lila dour door they paused another moment Then Carla left him It was v her last lost visit to his Within an hour aftem she hud had gone Paul aul was driving to alone The roads had hardened ani and he lie made It quickly y In his car The asters und and undo unda a o bunch of roses which had 1111 come to him from Roberval Hober he placed on Mrs Hald I ns n's grave gruve CurIa Carla kind hull been there for the grave e was well cared for und and covered with flowers from her Jer garden gar den most of them faded and shriveled by the frosts These he gathered In ID a 8 cluster and und placed In a pot by themselves them selves near his roses He Ue remembered that Carla loved flowers even when their color and life were gone He made no effort to blind himself to the fa fact t which had leaped upon him 80 BO irresistibly when he be bad had looked at Carlas Carla's head bent over his 1118 desk The futility of such evasion struck him with almost equal force Corce He lie wanted Carla md that want was as much a apart apart part purt of him as DB his vision or his sense of the obligations of life It woe was she who had hud brought him back bock to the Mistassini with a 8 feeling that he tie was wason wason wason on his way home His Ul regard for tor her ber was not a sudden sudden Irruption brought about by a n ph physical or emotional restlessness rest rest- which might have Dave been stirred by ber her nearness and her ber beauty He lie could look hack back and see where It had been growing In him slowly over a period of ot three years so slowly that It hud hind not aol been difficult for him to escape Its true sl significance But now there was no DO longer the pos possibility of ot either avoidance or self self- deception He knew that Carla Carlo meant more to him hini than friendship and that only a miracle e had held his arms from taking her into them He also believed belle that a flash ash of un nn had come Into her eyes when she looked at lit him and sow saw in his face tace the grim shadowing of the fight tIght which from rota that moment he was hound bound to make After Atter this Paul was more than ever tIlled filled with the desire to go among the themen themen themen men and work with his hands and he be was seldom In n his Every muscle muscle mus mils cle In his body yearned for tor the strenuous strenuous activity of work which he saw plied upon others and he lie let down downtime the time bars which his position had hod compelled com corn lila bin to accept until at times one oue coming upon him In the pit would have hu taken him for or a laborer He le was skillful with the ax and one day late laten In n October he had finished hewing a saddle Into a heavy timber when ne tie turned about to tind Carlo aria standing a afew afew afew few feet away looking at him She had come to the far edge of the pit to find the father of ot one of f her boys hoys and for a moment It seemed to Paul that he cau caught ht in her face a look took which bridged in a U few seconds second the tue abysmal gulf which he had bud felt growing between between be he- tween them since her mothers mother's death Be He went to her breathing quickly because be he- cause of his exertions and Carla laughed softly almost with a little I triumph In her throat when he showed her hl his hands blackened by pine pitch Be lie went to frequently during these autumn days and once a 0 week he had flowers sent to him from Roberval Rober for tor Mrs I rs ira grave ve Carla knew of his visits to the little cemetery and Paul made no 00 effort to conceal them from her lIe Be never went on Sunday which was Carlas Carla's 17 rt h h hor r oho he PI i fla J to express to him th thi depth of her gratitude he lie talked a as if It It were the spirit of his own mother he be was thinking thinking think think- ing of when he took flowers to Per Peri bonka But be he felt he be was not hiding biding the truth from her and was rather glad Iad of It It was a 8 satisfaction for him to know that Carla was conscious of his thou thoughts about her lIer It made mode his tight fight easier easler gave It a certain thrill which comes to a man when he heI heIs I Is 19 aware that some one he hp cares for forIs forIs foris Is watching him An And the knowledge of It could not harm aria Carla In whose life Ufe another love had fastened Itself so securely that no corner of ot her heart could he be filled with an emotion responsive lve to his own They made no effort to avoid oid each other oiher except that he did not take tule her to and she did not come conic to tn his office any anymore anymore more mor and one day when they were together he asked her frankly frankly why she ghe did rho not ant marry No sooner were the lie words spoken en than he was sorry He Ic could see the time hurt flame up for tor foran foron toran an on Instant in her e eyes es like H It fire from which a n curtain hurl hail been suddenly suddenly sud SUl- denly snatched away awny and then It died lied out lea leaving leahl hl her tier face a Ii little whiter hut but smiling at him as If she were apologizing for letting it affect her In that way Then Flier she told him It t was almost mal in their family fam fain ily Ity that a woman should have hut but one love And she had loved lo a man mun still loved him with all ull her heart henrt and soul though he was gone eone one from her hem forever fore The love Uve had come Into her life a lon long time ago UJO She emphasized etl this fact gazing away from him him with liar her long lashes veiling eyes tilled with mystic I visions I TO BE CONTINUED |