Show HOSTILE as ILL VALLEY VAL ae acy AMES WILLIAMS copyright by ben arnes w williams BEN 1 SYNOPSIS at a gathering of cronies cron lesin in the th tills village tillage lage of liberty maine jim saladine Salad lne listens to tile the history of the neighbor fee hostile valley its if pt past tragedies its it superb fishing ashing streams and above all the abe mysterious enticing huldy wife of will ferrin interested he drives drive to the valley tor for a days day flailing fishing though admitting to himself his thief chief desire to I 1 to see bee the glamorous ou 9 huldy perrin old bold harm pierce and her nineteen year old granddaughter jenny live in the valley since childhood jenny has deeply loved Y young oung will perrin older than she he and who rewards her an still a child will leaves to take employment in nearby augusta Au his fathers death brings brines will back to the valley but he returns to au ali santa still unconscious of jennys womanhood and love neighbors of the pierces are bart and am amy y carey carcy brother and sister bart unmarried and something of a neer do well Is attracted by jenny the girl repulses him definitely learning that will Is coming home jenny exulting sets his bis long ions emp empty ty house to rights and has dinner ready tor for highe comes bringing his wife huldy the girls world collapses huldy becomes the subject of unfavorable gossip in the valley CHAPTER ill III continued 6 leaving the house she had set out at random toward the deep shade of the woods she came to the brook below wills farm and stayed there by the stream a while leaning against a tree her hands bands behind her her eyes shadowed deep in long thoughts of him and presently she crossed the stream where boulders bowl ders gave a footing above her a rocky precipice rose fifty or f sixty feet abruptly from the head of the grout pile that sloped down to the brook but to one side there was a path slie she knew where by a steep scramble the she might mig lit come to the gentler slopes elopes above and it occurred to her that going cautiously she might have some far glimpse of will busy in his fields the thought drew her irresistibly she began to climb she meant not to speak to will or show herself to him yet to t 0 see him even from far off would be ha happiness the rhe trail was steep and she was warm and panting at the top of the rise the path swung to the rl right ht where broken ledges served like a flight of stairs to debouch at last upon a smooth ledge like an epaulet on this shoulder eh of the hill below the tedge there was a straight fall for sixty feet or more and the ledge looked out across the lower trees across the sweep of valley jenny 1 knew new the he spot of old and loved it too but when she came there today was before her jenny saw her la ia a coi confused fused impression of naked flesh golden from the sun sen huldy lay at length on a mossy bank at the head of the ledger here low junipers juni pers served as a screen on the side toward the house hoose and she must have heard jennys panting approach tor for as the girl appeared she halt balf covered herself with a garment caught up quickly yet did riot not rise but still lay there looking at jenny with that smile the girl found so co disquieting jenny for fora a moment could not speak she ehe stared at huldy and stared all around and huldy said in amused derision theres nobody here only mel somebody might come along jenny protested lier her cheek crimson with shame tor for the other woman you ought to lay there like that see youl you I 1 huldis dark eyes widened what if they did dudl she countered smiling and jenny found no answer that could be uttered calmly then huldy spoke again 1 I guess yore looking tor for will 11 she bhe said mockingly iles hes in the upper field deep color stained jennys jenny a cheek and brow and drained away and left her white and still she shook her head bead no the she said huskily noa no youre toure trailed around after him plenty aplenty a huldy insisted in complacent scorn it if you wanted him why you get him jenny jenny had no weapons adequate tor for this encounter she could not hope or wish to meet the other woman on even terms yet there lay in her that long devotion to will which was like a rock of strength upon open which she could lean and she found suddenly that she knew many things she had not guessed guess iid before id not want what you want from a man she said steadily nor halt bait him the way you do eyes narrowed in dry anger nor you get him either the ehe retorted but it if I 1 did id know how to keep him jenny countered and one thing never knowl and she ehe turned on her heel go co swiftly that she left huldy auldy la in a sort of frenzy of raga jenny dropping down the trail to the brook again heard the others othera harsh strangling hideous la in the sunned beauty of the afternoon till the sweet brook song filled her ears drowning ugly sounds and from that day jenny understood huldy completely and without word vord from marm alarm pierce or from amy or from any other at all yet she bhe went no lio more to the brook or up the scrambling trail between her and will there was a barrier ruleen which she he could never seek to pass or set aside ide and she accepted this met and found a way to cloak her grief and sorrow borrow only her heart brooded blooded over will in an agony of longing to protect him from the hurt she knew must some day come after that day in june jane when he and huldy returned to the little house bouse in the valley jenny did not see will till october fall that year came early with a swift frost stroke that brushed color all across the hills till they were clad in gold and crimson glory then followed days of sun and breathless airs aim ordinarily by the third week in october the alders and the birch saplings are stripped the oaks and beeches beaches are losing their topmost leaves but this year the first deep frost was followed by no rain nor wind to tear the bright leaves from their tenuous hold till in ID the last week of october frost gripped the land again it settled heavy in the valley and when the sun rose the leaves were locked in an ley icy clasp held in place by the very frost that was their destruction then as the sun climbed higher and the day warmed the frost melted and at first by ones and twos and then by dozens doy ans and by scores the leaves came down falling failing silently like a bright rain of color through the woods jenny at midmorning mid morning left the house and went past the barn toward the young second growth of birch and beech at the meadow side to watch this silent falling rain of bright leaves and she was there sitting on the stone wall warm in the sun when she saw a movement in the ae deeper shadows ot of the black growth some two hundred yards away saw a man runn running 1 her heart swelled with the quick perception that this was will ile he came at speed his hands clenched and pounding at his sides his head forward as though reaching out to fill his lungs longs with air and she thought he came to seek her and thus thinking she rose to her feet and strod sto od waltin waiting in a tender readiness to receive and comfort alm but he emerged from the spruce wood and without pause swung to the left and disappeared again she understood after a moment that he had gone toward the steam mill down the valley and he was in such a haste baste of passion that even from this distance the she seemed to fee the fury in the man it could not be fear that drove him I 1 wilt will would not thus run in fear it must be anger then and swift conjecture lashed hei hee with biting strokes while she went slowly like one dazed across the open to tile the house and into the kitchen there marra marm pierce at her coming looked up and saw her countenance the matter jen she asked sharply wrong with you will the girl whispered what about will lie he came running along the path and went down toward the rt steam e am ra mill 1111 jenny said hunning like he be was awful mad silence for a long moment and marra marm pierce nodded in slow comprehension well it was bound to come she said halt half to herself iles hes found out somehow about seth Il humphreys r but granny jenny cried 1 I 1 marm pierce shook her head bead nought to do child she said gently nought but set and wait wills fou found n d out hes made a bad trade but hes the only one can get him out of it and she came to the girl and put her arm around jennys shoulder rest you jen she said its the hard part a woman has to stay quiet while her mans in danger but theres no other way I 1 CHAPTER IV it would be a long time before jenny knew the full tale of that days events the latter part of the drama she witnessed and had in it a part but the beginning was hidden from roin her for the time it if during these months since he brought huldy home ills his wife had become a byword by word in the valley and in the wide region roundabout will as Is apt to be the case was the last to know this yet he was not wholly in ignorance lie he might not admit even to himself doubt or misgiving tor for there was in this man a fine loyalty nevertheless he was not witless nor wholly blind nor could any nan man lov loving ing huldy as intensely as he did be unc unconscious on of those withdrawals and evasions and scornful mockeries mock moc eries kerles which she offered him film behind the screen of her arrogantly yielding smile he never even shaped doubt of her in his thoughts yet just as one walking alone through a deep wood may be conscious of a movement behind him so will was conscious of many things thing that happened just beyond his sight or ken tie ile was thus in some degree prepared for what occurred this day it was not that he be had known anything before but rather that with a sixth sense be felt certain things and was brought into a frame of mind where full comprehension and belief were made easy eany where it needed no more than one tangible peg la in order for him to pick up and hang bang upon it the whole web of his cifes deceptions he be had been all the long summer bummer I 1 very busy about the farm the pwe and meadows untended for one summer season had already alread begun to surrender to the seduction of the forest all about permitting the encroach ments of small email shoots and seedlings which must now be grubbed grubb cil back and cut away will had worked steadily and dusk each day found him bone tired so co that he might nod at the supper table and presently thereafter go quick and heavily to bed and sleep till dawn ile he loved guldy but after the first rapture of possession passed he loved also this farm of his bis fa fathers thees and with an almost equal ardor serving it with the alie full measure of his bis strength and energy at night he was hungry only for sleep and he rose to work again at dawn but huldy needed no more sleep than a cat sometimes will drowsing in his chair after supper waked to find her watching him with a disquieting eye and more than once on summer nights she had roused him shaking him by the shoulder a hot fury lo in her tones demanding that reprove he prove himself something more than a dormouse of a man so when the time did come he was prepared for comprehension there had been many visitors at the farm that summer will at first discovered in these visits no more than the natural curiosity of 0 his neighbors to see this bride of 0 whom he was a so proud bart carey came and old win haven not infrequently and then seth humpheys whom will and had bad known in augusta steam mill to the hafley valley also others who had known huldy in augusta came to lodge at barts and fish the brook below although they had never come before will when he wooed auldy knew her popularity yet he was continually being reminded of it now he might return from the fields at dusk to find J 57 I 1 N k Z somebody might come along some stranger sitting with her in the kitchen in an easy familiarity and on his bis arrival tile the stranger and huldy were apt to fall silent and the man presently to take himself away on this day when jenny saw will run toward seth humphreys mill he had planned to go to liberty to get some lumber for a piece of repair work on the barn some studding and a bundle of shingles ile he set out in the farm wagon behind his slow team lean fluddy asked whether lie would be home in time for dinner will thought not dont have me on your mind ill pick up a bite when I 1 get back he said ile he took the steep road up the hill bill and a little above the house he met seth humphreys big truck seth at the wheel descending will lifted a hand band to the other man as they passed by seth was hauling Ws hs sawed lumber to north fr fraternity terril ty but the easier road tte back to ane mill would haye have brought him to the valley at its foot three or four miles lower down WI will 11 was mildly surprised that seth should have come this way yet the matter stayed not long in his mind lie he thought ca stally that seth might mean to stop at bart careys carels Ca reys ills his horses plodded slowly up the steep I 1 grade he breathed them twice and so came to the ridge road and turned south toward liberty he was fifteen or twenty minutes from the house when the right rear wheel of his bis wagon dropped off and will alighting to investigate loudd found that he be had bad lost the nut cut which held the wheel in place the incident might have crooked ked a less composed man to irritation but will accepted it calmly enough ue ile walked back along the road searching in the ditch and by the roadside for the lost nut cut but the weeds were tall in the ditch and the out nut escaped his search it was always possible that he be might have dropped it a considerable time before the wheel slowly revolving worked oft off the axle and let so go in the end as the quicker way will decided to cut down through the woods to his bis farm where he could find a spare nut cut among the miscellaneous litter of hardware which accumulates in every farmer ees shed so ho he returned to the wagon and led the horses horse off the tha road to lot lee casual traffic pass by and tied them there then he set out to walk home it was not far in a straight line hoe through the woods five minutes fast walking brought him into his upper field with the house lo in plain sight below he paid it no particular heed at first coming on rapidly to do this errand but as he drew nearer lye he saw stopped in the road in front of the house seth humphreys truck seth passing by must have slighted alighted tor for a word with huldy there was in this nothing unusual yet will vaguely resented it the inconvenience of the lost nut had faintly frayed his temper the sight of beths truck stopped here seth must have been with huldy tor for a long halt half hour made wills cheek hot his pulse fretful tie he went on toward the house more swiftly and across the barri barnyard yard to the kitchen door the door was closed and this was as in some degree surprising for the day was warm will opened the door and stepped in neither huldy nor detri setri was in tile the kitchen and when will saw the kitchen empty he stood rooted in his tracks for an instant that may have been longer then he called harshly his hia cifes name there was no reply beyond the kitchen lay the dining room will crossed to the dining room door the bedroom opened off the dining room in the front of the house toward the road the bedroom door was closed but will heard movement there and strode that way ufa ills cheek was white as stone before he could come to the door however it opened and huldy confronted him she stood smiling insolently as though she were just awakened from deep sleep lie he said hoarsely what you doing 1 I laid down a spell she told him wheres seth gone to he demanded I 1 seth her tone was amused derisive ills trucks in the road outside there was a window in the bedroom on the side toward the |