Show taz jae e ca C rippled Pled 14 od of ea re ib an ka e 11 oliver 0 curwood co avi kl I 1 if ou it U dora aa co inc service CHAPTER XII continued 19 he went to 8 see ee varla soon after ward ile he had taken a great ishrat lea of pride in the clean white alfe hosi he had built for the company rind tiow now be ble blessed ased it it derwent toll told hire him ahm flat it bad meant for aria they hod had S X rayed her find and had find made tile the nary dary discovery that nere was wag not a broken bone in her body till but I 1 some thing had fled to her b back nick and the she was paralyzed from her waist down temporarily he believed knowing what caul out would nave have done under ander the be es be had sent to quebec and montreal for expert assistance to consult with the corn pany pally staff carlo carla was propped up against a mass of pillows to in her snowy bed when paul arrived every everything hang was white about her except the rich dark ness dens of her hair the room the bed her lacy gown her face ace like that with two silky braids Qt reaming over her shoulders she might eilf ht have been a child one who had been a long inn time sick ach with an exquisite fragile beauty about her ber ile he had not expected to find her so like a llly flower whose soul a breath night m parry carry away he be seated himself beside her rind she bhe let her hand creep over the cover let to him film it was helplessly weak iler fingers were only a feathery pros pres sure about his bis please dont scold roe me paul slie she mold fald faintly trying tc smile you see eee I 1 was right if the rocks had burled buried you I 1 could esver have got you out and brought you home could 17 I 1 he did not answer but held her hand so closely that a joyous little lat melody elody of content came for a moment in her throat 1 I am glad I 1 was afraid you would be angry with me now how I 1 know I 1 shall nel acet well quickly 1 it seemed tor for them to tind hod things to say buy baul lot fi ghUng with the grimly set gel lines of an indian edlao in ID his face was holding buck back what be wanted to tell her carla caria knew A little more and she would have cried her own weakness wen kness letting down the thing which both were valiantly mak ing an effort to hold between them tie he told her about the alio wll were on their way arid and that their own staff had no douht doubt but bu that thai she would very soon be on her feet again ile he tried to talk without a strain ID his voice yet he could f fel el the falseness and pretense of his hi effort when alien he be wanted to take her IP his arms and kiss her ber pale sweet fire face f ire carla knew this too at last when it was time for him to leave her slie she said when are you going home 1 I dont know be replied it must he soon son slie she urged 1 I 1 want it t that way you must start to day or tomorrow only that will make we me well claire wants want you please read this she gave him film a crumpled yellow slip of paper it was a telegram crushed as if she had been holding it a long ions time before lie cuine lie he smoothed it out and rend read the words which his wife had find sent tier her the I 1 he message was almost identical with the one be had received giving him film the impression that malre in the stress of her emo tion bad been able to find but a aln gle thought for them both 1 I am go 80 happy it said send paul to me as quickly as you run can only god knows how bow glad I 1 am she has faith in me ibe said carla she asks aska me to send you to her what a privilege that Is paul for one woman to give an another otherl 1 no matter how hard I 1 try I 1 can never be as won darful as claire claere the world does not hold many women like her she loves love you she wants you when will you go BO to her you said euld tomorrow yes tomorrow ile he rose and stood looking down at her 1 I will go he said but some time I 1 will come for you carla muy hilly be ba not now not in this life hut but some time ma fila I 1 continue to drunin that it Is not dot a dream she said it faith I 1 am giving yuu you up ui for a little while that Is all sometime to lo another life these tests which god put tit upon us will return you to tile me when he looked hack back at liei bet from the dour door she was smiling her eyes filled cited with tears he tried to readjust himself be tween the time ot of lust last cibit with arla aria and his bis departure for home ills hla effort was an honest one a gle to fit himself to certain demands which he accepted as necessary and inevitable fie ie woo was sure of himself us as he be returned to claire Ilu lre it was al most an exultant sureness soreness which left upon him film to no sign of spiritual or PhY physical torment he wits possessed now by memories which bleses even as they burnel burned it was as if somewhere in him were a little song bone a part of himself which salil sald 1 I 1 have a room mm whereunto oo no one enters save 1 alone there sits a memory on ft a throne there my life centers cent erg carlo was the memory lie made no effora en orl to turn away from the truth or harden himself in lila its contemplation of it IL some one lind find said that memory was a from which fate ate could not arhe one ani the room which had built itself lo in ills heart could never be leveled or taken away from him 1 il I was indestructible like a soul claire in a way became the keeper at the door because of her he had closed it and been ivae of her ber he would never neve r open it except to himself ile he could conceive or of no DO one but claire in this sacred place A long time ago when be aa was a buy boy there had bad been in his room a picture of an angel with snowy wings and golden hair she seemed to be floating through clouds find and he remembered that his first ideas of heaven come came from this angel and that she inspired iaru him to ask questions question q his mother sometimes found difficult to answer the picture had always remained n his mind it recurred to film in thinking of claire it t was impossible for him to feel eel f re sentiment senti nent against ills his rate fate or even a desire to 10 change it to in going to her there were occasional lonal women at whose breasts tile the world round found its spiritual glory claire he knew was one of 0 them like the angel lo in his bis room it was he who hn had bud been the be misfit it in their him hies and this defect in himself he was prepared to remedy if he be could lie he read claires Cl alrea telegram many times on the way south ue lie tried to read between its lines flues he tried to understand more clearly the change which nod had come oer her derwent hod had told film how she bad watched where the water roared out of the chasm whiter than death as it she would die unless you came out alive hi he had said and carla she lovel love you slie she wants you and oiw now hei be OU words on the yellow paper in hip hand entreating him to come to her I 1 its as quickly as he could there was a strange sinning singing in its his henrt heart and i a I 1 dull grief if she should love him at last like that after years of wait ing and hoping and of yearning to foi a woman to be a part of 0 him calill dren a home he be had dreamed of tie ile folded the telegram for a lasi iasi time and put pill it in his pocket ile he was seeing the tears in a carlas eyes CHAPTER XIII paul had told only claire that fit h was on ills his way to tier her at the sta tion a familiar face come came out or of it tin hurrying streams of humanity to tiree gree him it II was jimmy chos presence always agne him film greater corn comfort forr than that of any other man ile he tind known Enne ennerdale for a lonii time and claire had grown up of will him like a sister jimmy had al agnay alnay seemed older than paul baul a arc arp mature genness in his hair and a slight in ills thin sensitive bod ills his affection for possessed tile th quality of tile the marhim out of which he was slowly and per chiseling chi fume for as a sculptor ile he had been working in the west and hud had not spell seen him for a year ennerdale Enne had grown older in that time tie he thou thoi ill III face ace was thinner ills his hair whiter over his bis temples his PhYl feal tone even less rs robust loust than when he be had seen him film last he had me lie game quick nervous alertness abul ab ui title him and li it did paul good to see the in his face as they grI gripped lilied linnies he knew that claire to meet incel him herself had sent jimmy in her place she Is like ike a child waiting foi fat you said Euner dole as they roth roil toward his home borne 1 I ans fline III mother lost last evening and she asked m trip to meet you slie she cried anil and laughed and Is damnably happy floppy if you doril dont wind mind ld id like to come over when you yuu two have settled down arid and have you yon tell me show this monstrous happen ing may blay I 1 you know you dunt dont need an dinv inv tat katlun lull said baul fill come me tomorrow TO SIN BB CONTINUED |