| Show the crippled lady of 0 Peri bonka blonka by james oliver curwood I 1 i service A 1929 double dona A co ine 1 04 STORY FROM THE START introducing c in some ot of the th people of til tb a pretty little french canadian village v a s of P Peri ri bonka bonk particularly ali t b crippled Cripp ld lady lad idol of the simple ample inhabitants paul kirke isa i a descends descendant ngot ot a sister liter of molly brant sister bister of joseph bra brant I 1 great indian chief he has ban inh inherited merited many indian characteristics his hl father to li powerful ner no york financier paul in marries s arien claire durand daughter of bis father partner tie lie Is I 1 in charge of engineering work near P Peri ri bonka paul paula wife in I 1 in 2 europe drope she dislike th the e paul becomes interested an t d in C carla a raa village teacher paul writes write bigwife bis wife to join ill him CHAPTER IV continued 7 he sealed and addressed address aed the letter and put it in the companas comp anys mall what a glory life would be if his wife would come at last I 1 ue had bad pointed a picture for or her in the letter her ber golden beauty a part of the blue of open skies shies a aang ping near dear and wonderful for or him to have but when he went out into the night and looked at the row of lighted cottages on the hill bill bethought be thought of curia carla and a yearn ins ing to be near her possessed him again this impulse bewildered him he be went to his bis bachelor quarters and tried to read one by one the houses grew dark still he endeavored to make his books and magazines interest him never had bad his bis nerves been more sleeplessly alert and their ob st inacy persisted after lie he had undressed and gone to bed something kept him awake on incessant stream ot of things passing through tits his mind detached illogical and always bringing him hack in one wily way or jo tarla and her mother he getup got up and dressed it ii was after midnight over her the pit hung bung to an illumination which reached up tip into the sky like the glow dom join a volcano he turned down the cinder path and was soon BOOD among the men no one was on the job who did not know I 1 him even in the night shifts shifty many of them spoke keto to him tonight but their friendliness failed to wipe away the disquiet of mind which bad compelled him to get out of bed he looked look edat I 1 at his watch and found it was vr as one when be rea plied elied the tar far end of the w workings or kIngs A gravel made road led to the forest trail higher up and he be took thle this road out of the pit after a tittle little the be came to the row of cottages there was a lichtin light in the home and he be found himself wondering what carls did with the long nighta in which sho walled waited for the coming of death was it possible for her to sleep or did she sit bit alone through dragging drag glnn hours watch ing her mother praying tor the dayl day he stopped at the gate to the picket fence which enclosed tier her flower gar ar dens and his bis evis caught a sound which did not come from the pit pil it II was like a cry he opened the gate cate quietly and went in A window was wag open somewhere and he could deaf beat clearly a voice that was sobbing it was carla I 1 no one else to in the cottage could be crying like that surely oot not carlas mother ulm ula heart thumped against his bis ribs his breath came a little short ue he went to the door and knocked against it gently then more loudly some one came and thedoor the door opened he entered and stood beside carla slie she had mot cot been in bed had oot not undressed she was its as be had left her hours before except that her face and eyes were stricken with a grief that tei terrified rifled him then in the dim ligot light a miracle happened she smiled at him through tears team 1 was hoping tor for you she said 1 I was passing heard you crying he said no more because he had cad guessed only half the truth lie was careful to speak so that his voice would not awaken carlas mother it if she were asleep nis his mind was was not working quickly he was bewildered and frightened by the agony to in arias face the way she turned and went want ahead of him into thu big room with mrs mra haldane Hal Hai dans empty chair near the window and from that to another room that was full of light and from which the sobbing must have come at the gate in the open door of this room carla waited and without turning her head bead gave wm him her hand band it wal wai a cold lifee lifeless sa little band with no DO ephr left of the warmth and thrill which lie he had felt in it a afew few tours hours before ile he closed ble own oyer it tightly for the hand more than carlas fare face end and eyes struck the truth to his bis heart went to tn alm mr baldan lay in bet bed her face baci was lighted with peace her lips were gently smiling sha was tos very white and very still par pan new she was dead carla drew him nearer when thoy they were beside her mother she looked up D at aw uw fie eyes eye poised 4 waa their pain were bright almod with pride almost with story beautiful she ehe whispered the word breaking in her paul boned his head bead yes tee she to Is beautiful autI ful 11 he said fighting to keep his hie voice even the band which was not holding h 0 iding car corlas 1 he be placed on her white ehlt fre forehead head for a few moments they ahey stood in this thin way then the samo same impulse which had ba drawn draw him bla boyish lips to his mothers mot hen cold tae face ta e when alien her soul foul was aone rande made him bend over and kiss the smooth amo otti white brow where his hand had bad lain A tittle little cry tore itself from carlo carias s breast and freeing her hand blind trum from bauls she sunk funk down upon her ber knees knee and pressed her face closely against her mother for an eternity it seemed to him heswood he stood over beran eternity in ID which he could find no words wards tor for his 18 tips lips to say nothing which might help a little to pase ease the grief which had halcome come so suddenly and crushingly upon her ber slowly he put out n hand until it rested on carlas arias hen head d then he gently stroked her hair and after a little the tenseness went out of cartas carlos body and she seemed to be sleeping beside her ber mother ciot lier sleeping with wide open misty eyes which paul could i not see while through the partly open window came to them the drone and grind and distant tumult of the pit CHAPTER V on tuesday they went to peri part bonka for thirty minutes luiere wn silence in the pit the first time in three years cars the pit demanded it it cared nothing for james kirke oo on whose millions it fed but foy foi farla it held a warm affection out of the pit lilt came tributes of ff bowers iwers which az it was carial no one elsa EISA in the cottage could be crying like that smothered the little cottage on the and when carla slid and her mother went to Perl bonka the soul ot of the pit went with them for the first time blaul looked down upon it and almost loved it the next day carla was among her children in the school this woe was the most amazing part of her fortitude two days later paul was called unexpectedly to new york the new life which submerged him for a fortnight its passionate bu idAess details its conferences the talk of still more millions and of greater activities was nas like a plunge into a maelstrom ills his father and durand had bad perfected a fresh scheme for bringing in another hundred million dollars of other peoples money each jay day they were struggling to reach a little further arther their huge new dew office building with its appalling efficiency and ad ceaseless Pc less rush of living creatures oppressed and dismayed him and be was startled by its ita unexpected effect upon him it was worse thul thal the pit for cor the pit had bad its redeeming edge of wilderness and ita lt humen human forces at work with their naked bands in rock and clay here his bis mind seemed dulled his wits blunted his senses sense overwhelmed by the magnitude of the things which he knew were happening without the physical use of hands and bodies without the flesh and blood vigor the strain of brawn and muscle which had bad made the pit en durable tor for him lie he made no great effort to enter into it or to understand it it the house where tits his mother had lived seemed no longer even the husk busk of a home it was filled III led with a cat cathedral stillness wrapped up tip packed away moth protected tike like a palace whose occupants had suddenly died a place guarded by soft footed and oti ot seq ulous servants who made him shiver balver it was a sepulcher ae of hopes for him a place of gaiety and laugh ter and entertainment for clat claere m here he be felt about him a clinging empel ness a great loneliness a haunting unrest and in this sume same environment claire would find and awu amusement anu ano lisp gilliess when she returned the truth of the thing added to his heaviness of heart A new note had come coma into his thoughts he was wae beginning enning be to ask himself if claire wills all her ber wealth and freedom were wen really tappy happy and it if to tn any way tt it were possible for him to make her happy TO BE BB CONTINUED |
