| Show ef U ins quit K r 0 4 by oliver III curwood A duall CH i evat ayi WW f ct ii t eu si s i rn v imi r CI ij it wr THE STORY CHAPTER 1 with hla his english wife catherine mid teelie year old son bon jeems 11 hi arl bblain settler in canada in mr 1749 VURIN ates a fertile farm faim adjacent adja ent vent to the eurie As the story opens the family in on its way home from a visit to the Tont euis eurs catherines wandering nR li rother hepsibah meets them CHAP CHAPTER FEU 11 as aa Is hiti his custom us tom has haa brought presents for or him ister and nd her faill family 10 lo iro items ht he hives gives a splendid piece of crimson vel vet let laughingly telling the boy bey it la Is to lie a present franj ro n jeems to toinette Tot Tol nett nette tonte 1 ir small daughter of the sel kneur hev hep albah also rives gives items deems a pistol bedd ng him perfect himself tin in ill i art for the people of the lonther lont ler art Li instantly in fear dar of raid I 1 by indian war parties allies of alif tb t n g CHAPTER III continued teems jeems lind hail seen the tragedy of the misdirected mud and lie he know knew that hands and not pauls were pulling viciously at tits his hair there V I 1 a 11 hurt bers bears with it a sting or of satisfaction find and tills emotion pressed pleased apon teems jeems as he fought desperately tn front and felt himself attacked v brorn behind for paul was nas accountable for the mishap tu to tobnette Tol nette lind the other not dol dodged el in a cowardly cobai ily fashion fish fash lon allor ing the stuff staff to pus pals on oil to tier lier the tiling thing would not have happened hipp ened it did not take alke more moie than a few seconds for the inspiration rf ef this thought with its up parent justice arid and truth to file bilm with a determination debei ml nation beade which ills his former resolution sank to ince cance lie ile was is n longer lighting fighting far nipral but against t tier her against paul talie tache against all the world Tol tiette pulling palling fit at ills his hair heating tit at ills bm link k hul had raised ills struggle to cilc heights the strength of martyrdom filled tits his loan firms arms and aad body and lie fought fo with a renewed rene weil hei herce ceness riess eliat mode its his heavier but softer antagonist give way before the punishment and both went down to earth again toinette Tol tiette tell fell with thenn them I 1 her er long the activity of their legs hr her bg h hat hanging like it sunshade oer har fave lier her beautifully made curls and spotted with iv ath mud tier her hands heating angrily at whichever oi of the two chanced to come in her way teems jeems was asire of her presence and physicality of her con hati veness hut but in 11 the complexity of action a alon which sur bur fd ed over find and about him he could afford no discrimination i in the manner of using his arms lens teeth and head and at last finding i hen heisele elf disentangled Tol tobnette nette scram 1 bled to her feet considerably bruised and in such disorder that no one would have recognized refi nihed her as the splendid little baily of the sel i who had bad come so bo proudly to cussans Lus sans place a short time before her hand some hat bat was a rumpled Tuni pled wreck in the mud her dress wits was awl twisted sted and A b bedraggled dragg led tier her hands fiands and abid face were ya discolored with sll and her hair wax waa so tangled about her flint she was at al inest in it despite this condition tion tier her mental self was amov more than ever inflamed with th he ap e are ire to fight and upon tho the hard und and ke of a last years sunflower sin which lay iny in the dirt slie succeeded in aln it down with force that missing jeems it caught aught paul on the s side ide of the liend head ailing wd id laid him flat on ills his face this terminated the conflict for toninette Tol Tn nette Inette who gave gae a cry of app ann ann when site she what she had done paul had recovered from blow before je jems jema ms could talce ad mintage of it and what happened during the final round of contention ren aali lined largely a matter of speculation wi in jeems mind he was sitting up fh after a little and there was no one to strike at paul and tobnette Tot nette were out of his reach yet he heard their voices oddly andl indistinct r moving in the direction of lusgins Lus eins house lie he tried to th call out ing that tache was ahle a coward but something in af bit throat choked him until it was impossible for him to get breath breath enough to make inake a sound bound ile he made an elloit effar t to rise that li ho might junque hla his baten b aten enemy the earth about abou thim him swam dizzily ne H was gasping stcl at nn alond was drIp dripping from hii his picc A horrifying nought ht leapt upon him and so sudden was w as the shock of it that he sat staring straight ahead barely conscious of two figures emerging from the concealment of a thick growth of brushwood twenty paces away the thou thought alit became conviction lie ile had not whipped paul tachel tache I 1 paul had whipped him blin and his ene mys accomplishment had been no thorough that he could still feel the of the world or id about him as aa lie ile drew himself to his fits feet ills eyes ees and head bead cleared as the of detent defeat swept over him then he fie recognized the two who had appeared in the edge of the open one was his uncle the other Tol father noth both were grinning broadly nt fit the spectacle which he aride and as they drew nearer he be heard Tont eurs voice in what was meant to he be a confidential whisper Ts Is it really your petit neven friend adams or one of cussans Lus sans pigs come coma out of its wallow hold me or what I 1 liae have ceeil seen will make me split but jeems heard beard no response front from for the traders face suddenly lost its humor and in place of it came n look 1001 which had no glint of smile or laughter in it CHAPTER IV next net sunday morning jeems set out for manor with the thought deeply In trenched in ills his mind that he would not fight paul tache that lay day no matter what might ht be in tits his path lie ile had told hs his mother whore he was going and what he was avas planning to do and with her encouragement to spur him on he felt eager arid and hopeful sis as lie he made his way toward the urle ie this ahls feeling was unlike the one with which he lind hid set out to fight paul paid and what hp he lind had to do loomed even more important lhnn tiny any physical which tie hp bring upon tits ills rival to toften soften heart now so bitterly against him to bring brick back the friendliness of tier her smile and to see her eyes ees alight with the sweetness which she had been on the point of yielding to him at lus sans place were foremost in his mind ve he was anxious to see ro inette and to olter lter her all that ills his small world held if thereby lie he could make amends for the ruin nad and humiliation he had find brought upon her A spirit of chivalry in him older than ua his years rose above the lowly consideration of rights and wrongs wron ps lie ile was sure he was right yet he wanted to say he was wrong though lie he did not know it years tears had passed parsed since ance two days ago and he was a new jeems going to ft new tobnette Tol nette ills fear of her had vanished he be was no longer borne down by a feeling of littleness and unimportance and for the first time he wa was s visiting minor manor without the thought thou slit of inferiority sending its misgivings through his soul in some mysterious way which lie he tit did not understand der stand but which lie he strongly felt lie he had passed away avay from yesterday forever soon ills feet were in the path which led to the manor it was so still lie he could have hae believed that every one was asleep us lis lie he courageously mounted the sidesteps wide steps to the door of home on this door was a great blach ln ocler of battered batt red tred iron the face of the enocher was arts a grinning ogre a gara head which from his earliest memory of it had fixed itself upon him as n symbol of the grim and spirit that guarded the rooms within ills hand reached out to awaken the full dull thunder of its voice ills fiti fingers gerg touched the cold iron lie ile hesitated in the moment lie he was lifting it tr lie he observed that the door was open by a space of a few inches Inci ioB through this aperture a voice came to him clearly it was a high biting angry voice and he recognized it us its madame Tont eurs ile he raised the wel weight from its metal panel and would have knocked when he heard beard a name which made him film pause in rigid silence it was his own lie ile heard Tol netteN mother say bay Ill eurl bblain was a fool for marrying this good for nothing english woman and edmond Is a gre breitter itter fool for not driving her from tile country when her breed Is murdering and killing almost at our doors the woman was made for a spy despite the pretty prett y face wrilen nas eci va camonas monas B siny heart hear t a and nd that boy of hers Is no less english than she the two should not be allowed to live so near to 16 us yet maintains they are his friends the place they have built should be burned and the english woman and her boy sent where they belong let bblain go with them thein if he chooses to be a renegade instead of a frenchman I 1 fie upon you tor for such thoughts 1 elir lette chided the milder voice of madame tache 1 I despise the english as much as you or Tol tobnette nette but it Is unfair to voice such invective against these two even though the woman Is proud of tier her pretty face and her boy Is a mud little wretch edmond Is a beg man and simply befriends them out of pital are you angry because of that Il enriette 1 I am angry because she Is english and her boy Is english and yet they are allowed to live among us as if they were french I 1 tell you they will be traitors when the time for treachery comes compel I 1 jeems had stood with his fingers clenched clench pd at the unyielding iron of the knocker now he heard another voice and knew it was Tol 1 I think deems mother Is nice she said put but jeems la Is a detestable little english beast I 1 and some day that beast will help to cut our throats added her mother unpleasantly the great iron knocker fell with a crash and almost before the sound of it readied reached a servants ears the door swung open and beemis stalked in the women were speechless its as he stood in the wide opening to the room in which they were seated ile he scarce ly ay seemed to realize they were there and looked only at tobnette Tol nette re he remained for a moment without movement or speech his slim figure tense and gripped then he bowed hIs head bead in a courtesy which catherine had carefully taught him film when he spoke his words were as calm calin as aa those of cadaine tache had been 1 I have come to tell you I 1 am sorry because of what happened at lusi f fe IV rj 1 ask you to forgive me sans sang place Tol toinette nette he said and he bent his head a little lower toward her 1 I ask you to forgive me even Il enriette could not have thought of him hilin as a beast after that tor for pride and fearlessness were in his bearing in spite of the whiteness of his face As the occupants of the room stared at him unable to find their voices lie he drew back quietly and was gone as suddenly as he had appeared the big door closed behind him and turning to it window near he her r tobnette Tol nette saw him go down the steps an exclamation of indignation and amazement came at last from her ma mother ther but this she lid not hear her eyes were following jeems ile he went across the open and into the fields As aa he drew near the foot of hill odd came cautiously forth to io meet him but not until they reached their old resting place at the cres crest t of the ascent did he pause or seem to notice the dog then he looked back upon the A bit of iron had sunk into his soul ills eyes were seeing with a new and darker vision from tho the rich valley which had been the fount of all hii beams dreams they turned to the faint glean gleam of distant water in the south where lay lake champlain Champl aln and beyond which not fur far away were the mo alo hawks and abd the english and the land of his mothers people it was the blood of that land running red and strong in ills his veins which tobnette Tol nette and tier her mother hated ile he dropped a hand upon odds odda head and the two started over ever the homeward trall trail the dog watched the forest and caught its scents but lie he watched and guarded alone tor for jekins pave gave small email to the passing interests of nf HIP bonds ind to be continued |
