Show r 5 crippled P effs 1 e L cad of ogiver W service I 1 INC 14 co SYNOPSIS CHAPTER I 1 introducing some ot of the people of the pretty emle french canadian village of Perl Peri bonka particularly the crippled lady idol of th the simple inhabitants and heroine of an pic epic destined to live long in the vi village annais annaa CHAPTER IL II how tho the romance ut molly brant sister bister ot of the gibat indian chief joseph josep brant and sir william johnson in p e o revolutionary days comes down to today with the birth ot of a son paul to at molly olly kerke e wife of 0 a PO now new york 1 1 r and her death when paul la Is thirteen years old nolly molly kirke was a descendant seen dant ant of molly brant and her boy has many or of the indian characteristics at thirty two paul marries claire durand daughter of his fathers business partner ile ha la Is in charge of an immense engineering work on the river near Peri bonka which his millionaire father lias has undertaken but his indian blood deplores the destruction st of the wilderness and hla his thoughts are more of carla haldan not th then the crippled lady than ot of his bis work CHAPTER III pauls palls wife la Is in europe she having no inclination to live in those horrible woods ile he comes to see in carla daughter of a central sentral european immigrant with ner her devotion to her invalid mother and her work of edu educating catina the village children his ideal of womanhood CHAPTER IV paul writes to his wife urging her to loin join him tho though ah carla la is the he inspiration of the latuer letter later that evening passing the holdan home he hears carla crying tip he enters the cottage mrs haldan long iong it a hopeless invalid Is dead pauls efforts to comfort carla he feels bring them closer together CHAPTER V V claire announces her intention of joining paul on the mis in a short tinne time she also writes to carla of whom she has heard from paul a letter of it india sympathy Mn Pathy on the death benth of her mother CHAPTER VI paul goes to quebec 10 0 o meet claire and brings her to its his temporary home though she Is apparently glad to be with hm and evinces warm friendship for carli caria and pauls other friends ho he feels she he Is only there because she feela it hor duty she Is not really tappy ile he becomes aware of a gulf between him and his wife ite fie wit not vry ars vu ariit i ut or speak sinak but brushed her thick wot wet hair buck back and pressed his face close to hers and waited in her first consciousness carlas arms arias crept about his neck ter ber lips breathed Ms name words were futile for a little while only in silence could they claim each other oilier a fil silence lence of voice where other sound was moaning and throbbing shout them both knew what it meant us its the seconds counted themselves ies ort oil ibey bad come through the mouth of the gorge and were caught in a sul sub bole of the earth chance K miracle god that they aliey nave have each other at last with the bur bar iler between them turn torn away this was carlas carias thought and her arms drew closer about paul he belonged to her now for thero there was no other oilier world horld than this a pit of gloom with cleath tor for its walla wall an aby abysmal sinal grave where love for a space would build tor toe them the great worlds altar stairs that slope through darkness op to god she almost spoke the words in stead she whispered it was right for me ma to come paul COB are glad 1 I 1 know isnow now that I 1 expected y on bold paul I 1 F CHAPTER IX alter afier a time they were standing in tho the blackness more distinctly the hollow rumbling sound bound about them began to impinge itself upon their ears as paul supported lup ported carla against his breast they listened as it if for a voice his ups lips pressing against her hair where they had bad so ao long wanted to rest what that they heard was unlike anything out lint in the world of sun run and sky the roaring and walling waiting were gone and in heir place was a phantomlike phantom like cadence that moved and stirred about them but which seemed to come mostly front a vast dome over their heads it was uce like something trying to escape throb bing bang until it seemed to be beating with little clubs at the drums of their WS ears when it was nearest then leaving them to intone and hum like a tinge tuning timing fork through the abut ln in ea of gloom there was no break in the sonorous sameness of it it was ot of sound without change in IX a little while it could drive a living thing mad 1 I am not afraid carla said are you her voice was no different than it if the sun bun had been shining Ding and there waa avas something in it tor for him which had never been there before A kind of exultation came with it a gladness which trembled in the darkness tin and which sent shame and triumph sweeping over him in a submerging emotion afraid good G d no not slie she drew herself out of his arms and stood beside him with her hand in lils ills their voices had broken down a tenseness about them and ufa life drew closer more sure lie wanted to tg goc ee fie her randif ff mate T 16 f BE sodden pocket for his metal box of matches rm im going to strike a light carla I 1 want to look at you youl 11 A flare ot of yellow flame made a hole la in the blackness until it died out their eyes devoured each other carla was like an angel love transforming death into a happy incident was an uncovered glory in her eyes at last clearly revealed for mm him to ste eve he knew that only the of their fate could make her took look at him like this with claire living and nd waiting in another world outside claire seemed infinitely removed fron from him film a century away a glow of memory like star dust yet he thought of her as the match went out ills his wife would go eo on living ile he and carla were about to die tie he bad seen understanding der standing and sureness in the shining depths of carlas eyes when the tiny flame had bad illumined their faces she had bad lot let him know without words that earth bonds were stricken from her because there was no longer an earth for either of them for a few hours they were to be in a world at all their own then their couch of everlasting sleep together ue felt a spiritual reaction from the oppression of horror and fear which find come upon him to feel sure that carla knew and that she had given herself to him because of her knowledge e d ge that slie she was not afraid but was happy in the freedom which an approaching preaching pro aching termination of life made possible tor for thera filled hirn him with on an emotion which took from their brief future its stark and ugly grimness and gave to it an almost joyous aspect P act As if she bad been a partner in the few seconds of his thoughts carla spoke softly giving hlin him her hand band again in the night which shut then them in 1 I 1 want to hear bear you say it paul I 1 1 have dreamed and even prayed in MY iny wickedness and have fancied your voice telling me the story for that I 1 have many times throes asked god to forgive me but now it Is right and luat just I 1 want to hear you say you love me 1 I do said blaul 1 I know now that I 1 have loved you from the beginning of time beffie I 1 mine came to the before I 1 was born in W this 11 life a thousand or a million years I 1 have worshiped the soul that to Is you yon sometime it may have been ages ago I 1 know that you belonged to roe me 1 I lia hae ve always belonged to you said carla yours Is the love I 1 thought was hopelessly gone from me up there but to die with you la Is my right can there be such a thing as doubt tor for us now 1 I am sure there cannot tie he sald said you would like to live without you n 1 and there Is no chance no hope of saving ourselves 1 I can conceive of none no force could contend with the maelstroms mael stroms in the throat of the chasm at the other end all physical matter la Is ground to pulp as the water comes out through the gorge we are caught between tile the two I 1 ile he calmly and frankly spoke the i truth to tier her she made no reply tn in words but he could eel feel her response creeping through her finger taps to him could feel the tremble anti and thrill of tt it in her body lie ile had bad not frightened fri glit tier her but had dai dispelled belled from her the beginning of a fear she did not want to tire live the truth seized upon and helped him with a kind of shock yet tet it was a simple thing one lie r should hould have known without intuition or discovery for carla was not only a woman but a soul back there tn in claires Cl alres world slie she would be lost loat to him no matter whit what lie he might do in the way other men had solved such problems anly aly here it IL a beginning and an end fill all their own could she belong to him again she was in its his heart listening to his thoughts it Is strange but I 1 want to sing tn in this darkness she said 1 I did not know that blindness could bo be so beautiful I 1 1 nor 11 II he be answered CHAPTER X during the night following pauls paulb accident and carlas carlias Car liis leap men wera 4 active below the gorge derwent lost no time in racing back to the mastas still and the presence of a hundred men below the chasm before midnight was the result every device of engineering gi science and unlimited resource which might be employed came with them the big pool at the foot of the gorge was a glare of tion and wen men went down the river with walh their fla flaming torches tor thes afoot along its banks and in canoes between themi them for a shred of something which a few hours victore night might have been a part of paul ot 01 carla to be continued |