| Show the crippled lady y of Plim ibi oliver 1 e y r iames curwood carwood K ser aloo 0 1019 1029 doubleday doran 6 go co lav y STORY FROM THE START in introducing trod acing bom of the peo plis pi ot of the pretty pr 0 tty little fr french canadian vil village I 1 go of P Perl e ri bonka particularly the crip crippled pled lady idol of the simple inhabitants paul kirke to li a descendant of a of molly brant sister later ot of joseph brant great indian chief he has he inherited many indian characteristics H ahli a father li Is a powerful new york tork financier paul marries clalra durand daughter of his father partner us he to I 1 in charge of engineering work near pet leonka paul wife i li in E europa u she dislike the he woo wooda P paul lopoo su become L mes interested dar es in 11 carla a age teacher paul writes his wife to loin join him carlas mother long an dinv inv invalid fd dies die 41 CHAPTER V continued ile he had written to her bar immediately after the death of carlas arias mother motherland mot herand and toward the end of the fortnight he be sent cent her another letter he wanted her mure more than ever and in this lost last letter his third since he be bad heard from her he told old odthe of the loneliness of the groat erat house its emptiness its ita old aass uess and how only her golden pres ence could bring it back bach to life in he be thilde a suggestion augee atlon if she would come back bach end and spend only a tittle little while with him film upon the he would take her anywhere she might want lantto to go when the job was off his hands around the world it if that would please her it would tie be rattier rather wo darful it around the world just they two I 1 ile he asked the question with almost boyish hope and earnestness he was glad when the day arrived tor for litin him to leave tor for tile the for there seemed to be something of homem home ness about the pit for him now the company boat met him at roberval Bo berval across the lake inks when he first caught the gleam of sunlight on the white bare walls of the monastery at the mouth of the Perl bonka he felt as 1 L a soothing and friendly influence bad come to possess him A press of busl business ness awaited him at his hl office and not until the day after his return did he seo see carlo carla she was among her children in the closing hour of school in tin afternoon tile the tragic strain which he b bad observed in her face before her bar mothers death had bud disappeared A deeper and more permanent thing had bad taken laken its place and though it was less poignant tt it stirred him film for a moment with a sensation of uneasiness as if be bad personally lost something he could not tell just what tt it was then or afterward she seemed older as it if he he had bad been away two years instead of two weeks and he felt in an unaccountable way as if a distance as wide as the pit itself bad come between them even the little tremble of gladness in her voice when she greeted him did not dispel this effect he walked with her to the cottage and she gave gare him flowers for his ollice office and when be returned with them and put them on his bis desk be was oppressed still more by the sense of having mined an important and necessary tiling thing which he had expected to find when he came back to the pit lie he was sure that carla had bad been glad to see him but she was not the same carls carla be had taken over the blueberry plains to Perl Peri bonka he doubted d if site alie would personally come to his office with flowers again in this he was mistaken she came on saturday morning with an armful of asters another night or two of frost and they would all be gone she said she blie asked about claere and they talked for a few minutes ot of his visit to tbt abe city she did not dot speak of her mother or or anything that had bad to do with herself except her flowers and her school As she arranged the flowers she bint bent over his desk so that the silky head bead which lie be bad stroked with his hand band wua wain very near him and suil slid deuly denly he felt himself overwhelmed by a same came that left no part of him an touched when carlas deft fingers finished their task she found paul looking at her with a face that nas as wholly indian once more lie ile thanked her as he might have thanked her a 8 year ago bis hand touched hirs hers for just a moment and a swift throb came in carlas throat their eyes met carlas faultlessly cle clear ar and pure and tilled filled with a shining f ight with a somber bomber settled gramness fa far r back in thern them at ills his door they paused another r moment then carla left him it was her last visit to his office within an hour baur after she had find gone paul was driving to Perl bonka alone the roads hall had hardened bardene cl and he made it quickly in his car the asters and a bunch of 0 roses which had come to him from Ko Ito berval he be placed on mrs hirs grave carla had been there for the grave was well cared for or arid and covered with flowers bowers from her garden most of them faded and shriveled shrivel d by ibe abe frosts these he gathered in a cluster and placed in a pot by themselves near his roses he fie bared that corla carla loved flowers even when their color and life were gone fie be made no effort to blind himself to tile the fact which had leaped upon him so irresistibly when he ha had bad looked at carlat carla bead twill ovet over his desk the futility of such evasion struck him with almost equal tone form lie ile wanted carla und nd that want was as murti much a part of him as ag hla his vision or his bis sense ot of the obligations of life it was she who nho had bad brought him back to the with a feeling that he was wag on OD ills 1118 way home ills regard for her was not a irruption brought about by a physical or emotional rest I 1 less nesa which might have been t stirred by her neatness nearness and her i beauty lie ile could took look back nod and see where it bad been rowing growing in him slowly bowly over a period of three years so slowly that it had not been difficult for him to escape its true significance but now there was no longer the pos mobility of either avoidance or self deception ile fie knew that carlo caria m meant e a nt more to him than friendship an andl d that only a miracle hid had held field his arma from tailing her into them ile fie also believed that a flash of un der ferstanding standIng had come into her eyes when she looked at him and saw in his face the grim shadowing of the fight which v hleb from that thai moment be was bound to make after this vaul was more than ever filled ailed with the desare to go among the men and work iab his bla hands and he was seldom in his bis office every ans cle in his body yearned tor for the strenuous activity of 0 work which he saw plied piled upon others and lie fie let down the bars which his position had compelled hani han to accept until at times one coming upon him in the pit would have taken him for a laborer tie he was waa skillful with tile the ax and one day late in october he had finished hewing a saddle into a apary timber when ban ne be i turned about to find caria ata anding a deiv feet away looking at him she had come to the fir far edge of tile the pit to I 1 ifland find tile the father of one of her boys and for a moment it seemed to paul that ho be caught in her MIR a look which bridged in a few seconds the th aby sinal gulf which he had bad felt growing between them since her mothers death he went to her breathing quickly because of ills his exertions exert Inns and carla laughed softly almost with a little triumph la in her throat when he showed her his hands blackened bluck ened by pine pitch jle he went to Perl bonka frequently during these autumn days and once a w week eek he be bad loners flowers scat to him from roberval tor for mrs hire Ilai dans grave cra carla knew ol of hla his visits to the little cemetery and paul made no effort to conceal them from her he never went onS on Sunday which was carlas day with her mother when she tried to express to him tho depth of her gratitude he talked as aa if it were the spirit of his own mother he was thinking of when he took flowers to perl bonka banka but be felt be was not hiding biding the truth from her and was rather glad of it it it was a satisfaction for him to know that carla was conscious of his thoughts about her it made his tight fight easier gave it a certain thrill which comes to a man when he Is aware that some one cne he cares for Is watching him and the knowledge of it could not harm carla in whose life another love had fastened itself so go securely that no corner of her heart could be filled with an emotion responsive to his own they made no effort to avoid each other except that he did not take her to Perl bonka and she did not come to his bis office any more and one day when they were together he be asked her frankly why she did not marry no sooner were the words spoken than he was sorry ile he could see the hurt game dame up for ao an instant la in her eyes eves like a fire from which a curtain bad been suddenly snatched away and then it outs out leaving her face a little whiter hut but smiling at him gently as it if s ene were apologizing for letting it affect her in that way then she told him it was almost traditional in their family that a woman should have but one love and she had loved a man still loved him with all her heart and sout soul though he was gone from tier her forever the love had bad corae come into tier her life a long time ago she emphasized this tact fact gazing garing away from him with hor her long lashes veiling eyes filled with rays mystic itle visions viston 3 TO BE BB CONTINUED |
