Show I 1 the cr crippled IP pled la lady of Peri bonka 4 y r I 1 curwood am slee doubleday doren dorb A col co inc IM CHAPTER XIII continued 50 20 he bed bad an odil add feeling of not know lug ing what was going to happen as ai tie be left Enne ennerdale and entered tits nil ho home me he could feel blin self a train roused by thi the e nearness of which it t was wan Cl atres right to henr bear and MB his duty to lo moke make it 11 would be hard to ti talk folk about aria as an he must most even should calairi in her wisdom ask for or nothing C claere was waiting nailing tor for him in ID bet be room this ait act of thoughtfulness thoughtful nes pleased him she knew that in a 6 peculiarly embarras embarrassing aging I 1 moment ninn ieni the should he alone bulb were tivee the each aeb in a little littler earful or of what one or the other might betray to in their first greeting tie lie was thinking when he went to her As an her door closed behind him blin tilt his first Impress impression loll was waa of a room tilled with flowers claire like aria loved them the air was delicately fragrant with theli perfume claire was bending over a 41 mass of white roses when he be entered and then runic came toward him with twin hands held out otIL she did not put her arms about him or oner offer him her lips yet ret never neer had bad he seen such a light of happiness to in tier her eyes he made a ni to iniss her but she drew back to in such a way that her act seemed scarcely to be repelling him not now paul not until we have talked then if you xou want to kiss me you rally may she was waa astonishingly free of the tension which he had anticipated and as slie site stood with her fingers clasped warmly about his big telling him bow glad she was that tie ne was nas alive and how doomed to despair and unhappy ness she would have been it he be bad not lived to return rerun to her he won dered it if it wre wore claere hib blu wite wife who was talking to him ur or another claere some one he had never known for foi she seemed all at once to have drawn herself farther away from him than she had ever been b but al in such a ow et and friendly way tint that the change in her seemed one which could not bring hurt with it lu it was claires CI alres fight that was bard est it was BS gain to take a joan ot of are arc courage to say what she eh had bad planned cosay slie she maile made him sit near her so the were facing fici ann each other insul we are going to be honest you will pron promise fise me that tie lie knew he be was preparing ca cate te as he gave his word A lie to saie aa e claire from hurt was more cred table liable than truth the impulse to shield her to keep crom her all sus sua clelon of his love for or carla swept over him as he looked at tier her slip she henix was like the it flowers en the table as easily crushed he be thought more vividly than ever be saw the differ ence between her and carla carla won would id fight on through tragedy even to death claire suffering more would droop and fade like a petal to in a rose shrinking from the quicker and more physical action which the 0 ther other would find for himself lie was not analyzing himself him seit or her the thought like a picture impressed pressed lin itself upon him and claire claere gazing at him in these epic introspective mo me ments as it if partly seeing the swift visioning in bis big mind surprised him by baying raying paul I 1 wonder it you know lust just how much I 1 honor bucur and respect you 1 wonder it if you realize how line fine you are I 1 have failed to play ray my part as your wife I 1 ha hat bae t not let lei you know these things as ar I 1 should the fault in our lives Is not yours it Is mine I 1 think I 1 could have mode made you love me ma yet I 1 saw the unfairness of it unless I 1 could make myself love loe you first I 1 hoped and prayed for that thal there baan t love when we were married on other either side you did not love me not in the way you wanted to love a 8 woman oilman and my feeling tot for you was an immeasurable respect and admiration tor for an gentle man it seem trite and superficial to say any that the interests of our tarn falu illes brought us together does it doll not but it Is true I 1 wanted to love you but I 1 discovered after a little while that something was to in my way 11 1 know he found himself saying you love au an animal I alre I 1 was that until the day you came calne to the mistassini I 1 have been blind and brutal god knows I 1 am only half w worthy orthy of youl and varla carlo 7 go bo softly did tits ills wife ife speak carlas name that for a moment it seemed as if he had not heard it it we have promised ourselves to be honest she continued do you re member a letter I 1 wrote you from paris in which I 1 bald said I 1 was coming to you and that I 1 was sure a mine im thing would happen tor for us lit in your woods than iny any journey like your promised one arcand the world could give ive 71 yes yea I 1 remember do you know now why I 1 told you yon that 1 I time have only wondered it was wasI because I 1 had seen because I 1 bad ead between the file lines of 0 your letters bemuse because I 1 knew at al anat cat a great love had COOP come into your life and that carla laldan flardan bad brought it to you yoo yoi donot no not love me you lore caria and loving nor her you would sacrifice for or my sake tits his fabric ot of lies was gone his soul laid bare under the gaze of his wires eyes 1 I 1 want to hear bear you say guy it paul she was repeating ing carla a words swords wilts wills to him in the blackness of the earth that Is why I 1 came to you there A woman may bide tier ner love from rum it a man but not from another woman and it was for carla carlu to keep her secret from me yours was still open though I 1 sav aw you making a benl enl fight I 1 know paul baul but I 1 want wall to hear it from rom your alp I 1 mut must hear bear it do F you ou love carla huldana Hul dant I yes I 1 love tier her chiore than any other woman in ID the world 1 I 1 could only love one woman in that wily way ile he aasc wua consi ons loui clous of 0 having struck blow a hurt lie he would rather have hae died than inflict upon claire tl alre it had dragged itself from him hill in spite 0 of f his and he walled waited for his punishment its effect on her claires Cl alres eyes did not waver she did not flinch tich A starry radiant light ca came n I 1 e into her faie face and she gave a bulf bait articulate cry not ot of shock sheik or of pain but of joy he saw the ne blood flushing her cheeks the tenseness leaving her body and they est eat for a time in silence neither making oo an effort to speak then he said 1 I 1 thought I 1 would hurt you yon and you fire are glad I 1 yes I 1 am glad I 1 thank god you yoo love tarla aria she rose to tier her feet and took a letter from the table slie site was trying to keep from crying as she gave it to him 1 I 1 want you to tend it and then come rink back to me she said this thin evening it if you will paul I 1 laik lack the courage to tell you things you will understand when you open it alone lie he went to the kirke durand build ing find and lost himself in the human stream going up with the file elenira elen lra on one of the floors was waa an office al wa ways ya ready fur for him lie shut himself in and locked the door tie he opened the letter there were n many pages puffs closely written in claires hand witt lah almost childish candor they began to tell him of a womans comans tight to triumph over herself like 1 ake an indestructible redolence they bralit hed the sureness of claires Cl alres faith in herself without emotional effort she told 11 him I 1 in that unless carla had bad conle come into tits his life site she would never hav hae e I 1 let et h him tin kno know w w what I 1 1 a I 1 all she e was about to reveal chere aber e was w as no nian man la in tho the world more worthy or of a wom nus ans love than lie he she said yet ret from the beginning site she had been unable to build her respect and admiration into greater things she should have given him that was waa one reason why repelling lie file thought of making him care greatly for her when she could not love him site she had kept herself away from him so much ones passion for another in its holiest hollest form was nas guided by a single force one might stem that and hold it back but it was impossible to make it die such it a love was carlas for him then she spoke of another man it was nas of jimmy Enner dule the sculptor who was driving his way so persistently to success she had accepted jim my almost as a brother during her bee girlhood but very soon after her mar alice the truth had come to her she said and had grown stronger with ft ath each year she cared for Enne ennerdale just as carla cared ared for him it was paul who might have been her broth er with such frank and unembarrassed simplicity did she confide in him she knew that Enne ennerdale loved tier her and repeated that a man inan could not conceal that fact from a woman though he did not express it in words and she was sure jimmy had no idea of her sentiment toward him film this love tor for jimmy was the other renson reason the more vital of the two which had bad held field tier her aloof from paul she loved jimmys work and wanted to become a part of it she had never held it to be possible and had not thought of it in that way until she knew that he be loved carla TO BE BB CONTINUED |