Show ALLIE IF el L IC S 4 by bt ben ame am williams by bg ben ames L L L acl ams altos ellb w SYNOPSIS at a gathering of 0 cronies in the tit use sato of liberty maine jim saladine Salad lne listens to the history of 0 the neighboring hostile valley its past tragedies its superb fishing streams and above pill 11 II the my mysterious f gerlous ter lous enticing huldy wife ot of W will lit ferrin ferran interested he be drives to the valley lor for a days fishing though admitting to elf his chief glamorous desire Is 1 to see se the glamorous huldy farrin old marm pierce and her year old granddaughter jenny live in the valley since childhood jenny has lia deeply loved young will ferrin older than she he and who re cards her as still a child will leaves to take lake employment in nea nearly rby augusta ufa his father death brings brines will back to the valley but he returns to au rusts ansta still unconscious g of jennys jenny a womanhood and love neighbors ot of the th pierces are bart and amy carey brother and sister bister bart u unmarried and something of a a neer do well Is attracted by jenny the girl repulses pulses him definitely learning that win will is I 1 coming home jenny exulting sets seta his hi long empty house to rights and has dinner ready tor for him lie he comes bringing his wife huldy the girls world collapses colla paes huldy becomes the tn object ot of unfavorable gossip in the tha valley entering his home unlooked unlocked tor for will finds seemingly damning evidence of his cifes unfaithfulness its a a man be knows Is seth humph toys breaks from the house will overtakes him and chokes h him m to death although humphreys shatters his leg with a bullet at marm pierces cea house the ter leg Is amputated jenny goes to break the news to huldy and finds her with bart carey huldy makes a nock ot of jennys sympathy declaring she be has no use for or halt half a man and Is leaving will to Is legally exonerated and with it a homemade home made artificial leg lee and carries on hiring it I 1 helper e iper zeke baco bac months later huldy comes back CHAPTER V continued 9 huldy stood leasing leaning indolently against the jamb ot of the door smiling at them all ne he dont have to hurry burry I 1 might bight decide to stay she said softly 1 I like handsome men said huldy drawling and even it he dont like me hes bes handsome as they come zekes aekes eyes were black with finger anger she laughed at his rage and she said lo in soft tones you can see he dont like me will ill have to make him like me before I 1 go zeke cried in choking exasperation youve got one man out outside sidel I 1 how many huldy looked over her shoulder then back to zeke again you go out and tell him he can go she said tell him bim tm pin through with him and when he be hesitated hes just a little man inan the urged derisively cajoling youve no call to be afraid I 1 zeke appealed to will with a glance and will spoke wearily go ahead zeke he said bald submitting this heres huldis home if ashes a mind to stay huldy took off her hat bat and laid it aside she touched her hair with her hands bands jenny stood up and moved toward the door but huldy bald softly dont doat you got gol theres room enough for the both ot of us I 1 dont want your will protested heavily huldy if you stay here have to mend your ways I 1 huldy was suddenly denly vicious dangerous dont talk to met me she retorted after fetching her in here the minute I 1 was gone I 1 aim to stay and if you try to boss me around ill howl bowl her name up tip and down the valley till people hold their noses when they see herl you better mend your own ways will perrin Ferr ln zeke touched wills arm let me throw her out WIN will he protested dont you go and take her in 1 I have to zeke will confessed zeke stared at the other man hot scornful corn ful furious all right he said then contemptuously it yore that kind im quitting have to get on an without me but huldy moved slowly to zekes aekes adde dont you quit she said and touched his bla hand be glad you stayed bayed zeke seemed choking he said at lasts last grudgingly ill finish out the week I 1 reckon and huldy smiled contentedly but zenny jenny could bear no more moving loving slowly lowly she went out through the shed and the barn and down the orchard path to the brook she c time came through the deep woods home A As I 1 she opened the kitchen door warm marm pierce looked up inquiringly and then in quick alarm at what she saw the she rose to her feet but there was no need of a question jenny ny spoke J huldis Hul dys back she he said through trembling lips ashes she come homell home I 1 marm pierce exclaimed in quick reassurance dont you g grieve jenny I 1 1 shell never stay jenny shook her head bead almost atoll sall ing pitifully she aim to slie she just come to fetch her clothes she said aid but she saw zeke dace and now ashes going to stay etayl I 1 e from huldaa return u until jim sala gala dine came at last to 11 hostile stile valley two years year intervened and during ehg this though her heart was as tits his for over ver jenny saw will not at all in the country as to in the city it Is pos po abble to go for or years without glimpsing your next door neighbor jenny and her grandmother lived off the traveled road and even if that had not been tho tha case cae will when he had occasion to BO 90 into the outside world took the road up the ridge from his house aliouse and in the opposite direction jenny herself might venture into the woods down the valley toward the brook but will since he had now but one good leg never came to the stream to fish and jenny never crossed the brook so their paths did not intersect A accident might have brought them face to face but neither the girl nor will would design an encounter jenny loved him deeply and completely and the very fact that they did not see one another served in some fashion tas lilon to intensify the girls devotion this love of hers for will springing out of the years of tier her childhood growing in stature and in depth as she become became a woman seemed to feed on denial lacking the man himself she kept his remembered image in tier her heart and was wistfully contented so sometimes marm alarm pierce wished jenny might find happiness elsewhere but jenny was not unhappy and the older woman came by and by to tk understand certain it was the girl wore no mask of grief she wits was nowadays a woman bloing with a deep radiance life and maturity became her well and it sometimes seemed to the older woman that jennys love for will must communicate itself to him in silent ways and at first she blamed him for that he did not throw headlong out of his home and his I 1 life I 1 fe so that he might turn to jenny and she spoke this thought to jenny but ell the e girl shook her head not L will she said lies iles not the kind to long as she lives hell stand by her harm alarm pierce indignantly insisted theres nothing so dumb as a goed man got rolled mixed up with a bad woman and ive a mind to go tell will so jenny smiled wisely not she said you never will and marm pierce perceiving in the girl a wisdom greater than her own never did in the weeks after huldis return amy carey fell more and more into the habit of coming through the woods to see the old woman and the girt girl who dwelt here in this house divided win havens side of the house bouse fell nowadays more and more into disrepair the roof was broken the shutters hung by one hinge and banged in the wind the floor timbers were rotted and crumbling it would not be long unless measures of repair were taken till that half of the house bouse sagged gagged weakly downward into a 9 collapsed ruin marm alarm pierce shut tier eyes to this sure eventuality yer yec the matter presented practical problems too sometimes when rain drove through the roof on the other side it seeped through baseboard or through plaster to damage marm alarm pierces Pl erces own part of the house and made a nuisance there once jenny proposed taking tar paper and like material to proof the other side of the walls against moisture but the old woman would not consent 1 I would nr give win the oon she declared when amy came to stop a while with these two in the warm kitchen she could not dot fall to remark the increasing disrepair and she urged marm alarm pierce to take measures of prevention ven refit tion lon have to she said because win wont neverda never do anything ile he was to our house the other night and talked about it and he be lows iowa to be round when his side of the house falls and to watch and see the trouble it makes for you brags that it if you try to mend anything hell take a shotgun to you I 1 he around again la is be hel marm alarm pierce demanded tartly 1 I know but hed died in a gutter before now lie he comes to our place right along amy assured them theres a new steam mill putting in ID down brook below here opposite where beths mill used to be they come in from liberty village win hes working there he cornea comes up and him and bart set and drink and brag she added hu huskily kl win hes shining up to huldy too that old foell alarm pierce exclaimed you cant go to blame him amy said ruefully seems like she takes a kind of satisfaction in fretting a man and getting him haired up and laughing at him dim after and she sald said slowly but I 1 dont know as she ashes 8 bothering with anyone only zeke now jenny caught some accent in the girls tone her perceptions were perhaps quickened by her own love for will but mann alarm pierce in this matter not dot so 80 wise said sharply zekea as big a fool as any of them I 1 lowed he had more sense than that zekes zeke aekes all right amy said in humble defense orly he be her eye filled with slow glow tears he used to come down and set with ith me she confessed always joking and laughing he was aekes zekes a hand to make a joke out of n th things but I 1 aint seen him lately so marm alarm pierce understood and her lips set la in anger id lp it to ghe that hussy bussy a piece of ml ID the tie cried impotently amy whispered sometimes 1 im ul seared scared she shivered uneasily dunno what im seared scared of either but the men that have seen tier her sometimes they come donn to our place and halt half crazy kind of dart bart he hates the sl sight ht of her ile he cant say anything hard enough of tier her iles hes always been a good friend to will and to have her treat will so frets hart bart awful and win haven hell come down and cuss and rave and rant about her like he wanted to twist tier her neck but zeke he dont over ever come down nor will jenny guessed will he stays up there amy assented him film and zeke the girl shuddered 1 I dunno going to come of it she admitted fearfully and site she said bart talks about licking zeke ile he says ought to long as will cant do it himself alarm pierce asked sharply cant will take a gun to him or a cart stave it lie he had any gumption in him 1 wills got gumption en enough cough amy assured them she looked at jenny bart told me here about a week ago lie he was up tip there and auldy said something about you jenny will vill most times hes bes gentle to her but bart says will he got up at that and he says to her auldy dy he says you keep heep your tongue oft off jenny or ill r rip IP it out of your mouth 1 jenny felt a fierce surge of pride and happiness but she bid her eyes 1 I might decide to stay she said softly so that these others might not see marm alarm pierce exclaimed in a deep exasperation asper atlon 1 I abd think as much I 1 abard she say to that she shut her mouth 1 amy reported bart said she kind of laughed but she did bush apt up ile he said will was enough to terrify a body the way he be looked at her and she reflected will it if he be does get mad it dont pay to fool W with ith h him I 1 M 1 I there ere other days when aul am came th thus us to be with them they were remote from the ferrin farm but amy was not DOL from wills place down to carey bridge was a scant quarter mile so amy had bad almost dally word of what passed on the hill and her deep trouble increased its like a sore place up there she said one day like a sore bound to spread it you dour dont scrub it out and burn it out and she cried theres times id like tot tol even eien bart alart he be aint the same with that woman on his mind all the time she shook her ber head seems like they all hate bate auldy she confessed con lessed bart and will like that time when she talked about you and win alarea when she goads him and hart bart says even zeke when ashes meatier meaner than usual lie he gets mad at her but they cant seem to stay htay away from her vin im seared scared ills pierce it surprise me a mile if a arod crowd of them went up there some day and rode her right out of the valley I 1 good enough for her V the old wom an declared 1 I wisht they would 1 but this did not dot happen and after a time dart bart was forced to cease hla his visits to wills tarin farm one day amy came running breathlessly through the woods to fetch warm marm pierce barts hurt awful I 1 site cried zeke beat him pretty near to death youve got to come and take care of him hurt how the old woman questioned already preparing to obey this summons sum summons moni they had a light fight amy panted 1 I was in the house and I 1 heard beard them and run out and they was at it down by the bridge fighting and rolling around la in the ditch and getting up and scrabbling at each other and going down again and she gasped 1 I tried to do something but they rolled into me anil and knocked we me down garments were soiled with the mud of the road they kep at it spite of all I 1 could do till zeke he had the best of it backed oft off finally aud and left bart laying there in the road harm alarin pierce had bad collects at random certain salve and ointments which she thought might b be of use jenny said ill carry them granny I 1 you stay where you be the old woman retorted decisively neep keep out ot of this it if I 1 need you ill let yoi yo i know amy where bart now 1 I got him as aa far as the house bouse amy explained but he cant hardly move maam hes all cut and bloody and sick jenny compelled by the older wom ans insistence stayed behind with tier her thoughts for company her thoughts as always alway centered first on will this matter on the surface con berned huldy and him whom she loved so she waited in a sort of desperation for her grandmothers return the day was in late september with lowering clouds and a long threat of rain which became toward dusk an actuality a thin unpleasant drizzle that would be worse alarm pierce returned at first dark and she flirted the moisture off her shawl the flying drops hissing on the hot stove her feet were wet act she changed into dry stockings and shoes and jenny tended her without questions for a while not till the old woman was waa warm and dry again and the kettle boiling and supper under way did jenny ask cart bart hurt bad Is lie he nought bought to mention alarm pierce assured her took a licking all bunged banged eye and his mouth Is all cut and a couple of teeth loosened up and I 1 wonder if he got a rib cracked zeke handled him certain she chuckled good thing for him she reflected barts been needing to have bare his comb trimmed tor for a long time why jenny protested puzzled by this 1 I hate a strutting man or a sneak ins ing one alarm pierce said obscurely ur or a liar I 1 barts kind of big and bold jenny assented but hes bes always been right friendly and I 1 never knowel him to ile alel I 1 oh barts all right the older woman said indifferently it a body likes him she added irascibly the thing Is that woman at wills she gets all the men with their combs up anil and looking tor for a fight and bart hes as bad as the rest of them lie dont go up there only to see W will 11 1 J jenny any urged defensively and she asked ilow how come him and zeke to light fight alarm pierce started |