THE OMINECA HERALD, WEDNESDAY, MARCH. 14, 1934

———————=

“1 was passIng—heard you crying-—*

He said no more, because he had
guessed only half the truth. He was
careful to speak so that his volce
would not awaken Carla’s mother, if
she were asleep. His mind was not
working quickly, he was bewildered
und frightened by the agony in Carla's
fnoce, the way she turned and went
ahead of him Into the big room with
Mrs, Haldan's empty. chalr 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 walted, and without turn-
ing her head gave ‘him her hand. It
was a cold, lifeless Httle hand, with no
spark left of the warmth and thrill
which he had felt in it a few hours
before. He closed his own over. It
tightly, for the hand, more than Carla’s
face and eyes, struck the truth to his
heart, They went Ix, Mrs, -Hiuldan
lay in her bed. Her face wus Ughted
with peace, her lips were gently smil-
ing. She was very white and very
still, Paul knew she was dead.

Carla drew him nearer.
were beside her motner she looked
up et him. Her eyes, flooded with

The-€ rif Dee

When they

their pain, were sturry bright, almost ;

with pride, almost with glary. «

“Beautiful,” she whispered, the word .

breaking in her throut. ,

Paul bowed his head. “Yes, she is
beautiful,” he said, fighting to ‘keep
his voice even.

The hand which was not holding
Carla’s he placed on her -mothers
white forehead. For o few moments
they stood in this way, Then the
same impulse which had drawn his
boyish lips to his mother's cold face
when her soul was gone made him
bend over and kiss the smooth, white
brow where his hand had lain. A
ttle ery tore ttself from Carla's
breast, and freeing her hand trom
Paul's she sank down upon her knees
and pressed her fuce closely agalnst
her mother. For an eternity, it seemed
to him, he stood over her—an eternity
In which he could find no words for
hig ling to say, nothing which might
help a Uttle to ease the grief which
had come so suddenly and: crushingly
upon her,

Slowly he put out a hand until it
rested on Caria’s  hend.
gently stroked her hair, and after.a
little the tenseness went out
Carla's body, and she seemed te be
sleeping beside her mother—sleeping

Then he’

of :

with wide-open, misty eres. which -
Paul could not see. while through the
partly open window came te rhem the

drone and grind and distant tumult of
the pit

CHAPTER V

On Tuesday they’ went to Perl-
honka..

For thirty minutes Shere wns silence
in the plt, the first time In three
years, ‘The pit demanded it. It enred
nothing for James Kirke, on whose
miliions it fed, but for Carla Haldan
it held a warm effection, Out of the
pit came tributes of flowers which
smothered the litte cottage on the
hil, and when Carla and her mother
went to Perfbonka the soul of the pit
went with them. For the first time
Paul looked down upon it and almost
loved it,’

The ‘next’ day Carla was among her
children in-the school,, This wag the
most ‘amazing * part of her fortitude.
Two days ‘later Paul was, called un-
expectedly. to New York.

The new ite which ‘submerged him
for-a fortnight, Its passlonate business
detailg, ite eonferences, the talk of

still more. ‘millions, and. of grenter.

activities, - Was. Ike a plunge into a
maelstrom, His father ond Durand

: for him to leave for the Mistassini, for
. there seemed to be something of home-

‘bare walls of the monustery at the

“wide ad the pit itself had ¢ome be

ertbonke

Oliver

Curwood

WN
Service

had perfected a fresh scheme for
bringing In another hundred miilien
dollars of other people's money. Hach
day they were struggling to reach a
little farther. Their huge new office
building, with its appalling efficlency
and ceaseless rush of living creatures,
oppressed and dismayed him, and he
was startled by Its unexpected. effect
upon him. It was.worse than the pit,
for the’ pit had its redeeming edge
of wilderness and [ts human forces
at. work with thelr naked hands fa
rock and. clay. Here is. mind seemed
dulled, hig wits blunted, his. senses
overwhelmed by the magnitude of the
things which he knew were happen-
ing without the physical nse of hands
and hodies, without the flesh and
blood vigur—the strain of brawn and
muscle—which had made the pit en-
durable for him. He made no great
effort to enter into it or to under-
fund it. ‘The house where his mother
had Lived seemed no lunger even the
husk of a home. It was filled with a
cathedral stillness, wrapped up, packed
awny, moth-protected, ike a palace.
whose occupants had suddenly died, #
place guarded by soft-footed and ob-
sequious servants who made him
shiver. It was.a sepulcher of hopes
for him, a place of guyety and Jaugh-
ter and entertalnment for Claire. Here
he felt about him a clinging empttl-
ness, a great loneliness, a haunting
mnrest—and in this same environment
Claire would find amusement and hap-
piness when she returned. The truth
of the thing added to. his heaviness
of henrt. A new note had come into
his thoughts, He was beginning to
ask himself if Clalre, with all her
wealth and freedom, were really
happy. And if, In any way, it were
possible for him to muke her happy.
He had written to her immediately
after the death of Carla's mother, and
toward the end of the fortnight he
sent her. another letter, He wanted
her more than ever, and in this last
letter, his third since he had henrd
from her, he told of the loneliness of
the great house, its emptiness, its cold-
ness, and haw only ber golden pres-
ence could bring it back to Ufe. In-
splrationally he.made a suggestion,
If she would come. back and: spend
onty a lttte while with him upon the
Mistussini, he would take her any-
where she might want co go when the

job was of his hunds—around the
world, ff that wonld please her. .It
would be rather wonderful, wouldn't

{t? Around the world—just they twat
He asked the question with almost
boylsh hope and earnestness.

Fle wus glad when the day arrived

ness about the pit for him now, The
company boat met him at Roberval,
across the Jake, When he first canght
the .gleam of sunlight on the white,

mouth of the Peribonka, he felt as if
a soothing and friendly influence had
come to possess him,

‘A press of. business awaited him at
his ofllve, and not until the diay. after
his return did he see Carla. She was
among her children. in the closing
hour of school in the afternoon, The
tragic strain which he had observed
In her fice before her mother's death
had disappeared. A deeper ond more
permanent thing had.taken its place,
and though It waa less poignant, It
stirred, him for a moment with a sen-'
sation of ‘uneasiness, £8 if’ he ‘had
personally lost gomething, “He could
not tell ‘Just what tH was, then or
afterward, She seemed older, as if he"
had ‘been away two years instead. of
two weeks, and he felt, In‘an wunac-
countable way, ag if-a distance as

tween them, Hven the Uttle tremble
of glidness In her volee when she

.by: the frosts.

4:few feet away, looking at him.

greeted him did not dispel this effect.

Be walked with her to the cottage,
and she gave him flowers for his
office, and when: he -returned . with
them and put them on his desk, he
was oppressed still more by the sense
of having missed an important, and
necessary thing which he had expected
to find when he came back to the pit,
He wag sure that Carla had been glad
to see him, But she was not the same
Caria he had teken over the blue-
berry plaing to Peribonka, He doibted
if she would pergonally, come to his
office with, flowers ‘again, © , a

In this he was mistaken, She came
on Saturday. morning with an armful
of usters. Another plght or two of
frost. and they would all be gone,
she sald. She asked about Claire,
and they talked for a few minutes of
his visit to the clfty. She ald not
speak of her mother, ot Perlbonka,

or anything that had to do with her-”

self—except her  fiowers and ‘her.
school. As she arranged ‘the® flowers
she bent over his desk so that the

silky head which he had stroked with
his hand was .yery near him, and sud-
denly he felt himself overwhelmed by
a flume that left no part of him un-
touched. When Carla's deft fingers
finished their, task, she found Paul
looking at her with a face that was
wholly Indian once more, He thanked,
her ag he. might have thanked her a
year ago, His hand touched hers for
Just a moment, and a swift throb
came im Carla’s throat. Their eyes
met, Carla’s faultlessly clear and pure
and filled with a shining light—Paul's
with a somber, settled grimness far
hack in them.

At his door they paused another
moment, Then’ Carla left him.

It was her last visit to his office.

Within an hour after she had gone
Paul was driving to, Peribonka alone.
The roads had hardened, and he made
jt quickly in his car: The asters and
a bunch of roses which had come. to
him from Roberval he placed on Mrs,
Haldan's grave. Carla had been there,
for the grave was well cared for and
covered with flowers from her gar-
dlen,-most of them faded and shriveled
These he gathered in a
cluster and placed in a pot, by them-
selves,. near. hig, roses, He remem-
bered that Carla loved flowers even
when their color and life were gone.

He made no effort to blind himself
to the fact which had leaped upon him
40 irresistibly when he had looked at
Carla's head bent over his desk, The
futility of such evasion struck him

-Wwith almost equal force. He wanted

Carla, and that want was as much a
part of him as his vision or hig sense
of the obligationg of life, It was she
who had brought him back to the
Mistassini with a feeling’that he was
on his way home. His regard for her
was not a sudden Irruptlon brought
about by a physical or emotional rest-
lessness, which might have heen
stirred by her nearness and = her
benuty. He could look back and see
where It had been growing in him
slowly 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-
sibility of elther avoidance or self.
(leception, He knew that Carla’ meant
more to him than frlendship, and that
only a miracle had held his‘arms from
taking her into them.

He also believed that a flash of un-
derstinding had come into her eyes
when she looked at him and saw In
his fnee the grim shadowing of the
fight which from that moment he wags
bound to make.

After this Paul wag more than ever
filled with the Gesire to go among the

Wen and work with his hands; and he

was seldom in his office, Bvery.mus-
ele in his body yearned for the stren- |.
uous activity of work which be saw
piled upon others, and he let down:
the bars which his pusition ‘had com:
pelled him to accept, until, at times,
one coming upon him in the pit would

‘have token him for a laborer, He waa

skillful with the'ax, and one day late
{n October he had finished hewlng a
saddle. Into.a heavy .itmber. when he
turned about to find Carla standing a

She,
had come to the far edge of the pit to
find the father of one of her boys, and.
for a moment.it seemed to Paul that
he caught in. her, face .a. look which
bridged.in a few. seconds the abysinal |

. gulf which. he had felt’ growlng be- |

tween them since her mother’s death,
He went to her, breathing quickly be- |.

use. of his exertlons;-and Carla

laughed softly, almost with ‘a Tete

‘chelped him.

—

triumph In her throat, when he showed, .

her “hig hands blackened by pine pitch.’

He went to. Peribonka freqnently,

during:these autumn days, and once a.
week he-had flowers sent to him from
Roberval. for Mrs. Haldan’s grave,
Carla knew of his: ‘visits to the lttle
cemetery, and Paul made no effort ta
conceal them from her. He never
Went’’on “Sinday, whlch was Carla’s:
day with her mother. When she tried
to express to hlm the depth of her
gratitude, ‘he talked as if-it were the.
apirit of his own mother he wes think-
‘ing of whenShe took flowers-to Perl-
‘bonka. But ‘He felt he was not hiding
, the - “truth from her, and was rather
‘glad of it It’ was. 4 ‘satisfaction for
‘him to know that Carla was conscious
of his thoughts about her. it made
hs fight “easier, guve ‘It a certain
thrill, which comes to a man when he
is aware that some one he ctres for
ts “watching ‘him. “ ARd ‘tha knowledge
of it could not harm Carla, in whose
life another love had fastened itself
so securely that no eorner of her
heart could be, filled with an emotion
responsive to his own. | They mnade-no
effort to avoid each other, except that
he did not take her to Peribonkna: and
she did not come-to his -office any
more, ‘and one’ day when they were
together he asked her frankly why
she did: not’ marry, No sooner were
the words spoken than he-wuas sorry.
He could see the hurt. flame up for
an instant fn her eyes, like -a fire
“from which a: curtain, had been .sud-
denly snatched away; and then it dled
out, leaving her face a Nttle whiter,
but solling at. him gently. as if she
wert apologizing for letting it affect
her in that way. .Then she told him,
It ‘wus almost traditional In their fum-
Ny that a woman should have but one
love, And she had toved a ninn, still
loved him, with - all) her heart atid
saul, though he was gone. from: her
forever.. The lave had come into her
life a jong time ago. She emphnsized
this fact, gazing away from hiin with
her long lashes veillngz. eyes" filled with
mystic visions,

He wns giud he had heard the’
words fram her own lips. [t built up
& new comradeship between them and
made him more: positive of his .trlumph
over hiniself. . A-ctetter from Claire
His wife laughed at him
pleasantly for hls whimsicul sugges-

Hon of q journey around the. world,
und then painted In her picturesque
and vivid way the torture which she
knew such a trip would be for him.
“Without your forests, your open
skies, your big outdoors, you would
die before we got half around, Paul,”
she wrote him. “It would be merci-
less of me to make you puy in that
way for my presence up at the Mis-
tassini, I am coming, and Just because
I want to come,
seelng ‘something very wonderfnl up
“there, something . which . will mean
greatly more to you and me than six
months or a year rambling around the
earth. As for such a trip, with you
in it’—and then she went on to tell
him . more about himself: than he.
‘thought she had ever known.
ter thrilled him. It gave him a new
visian - of Claire, who hdd never
anulyzed him in thig gentle ‘and un-
derstanding way, portraying for him
the life which he loved as though it
‘were eB part of herself. But ln ‘the
end, after assuring him again that she
was coming to him und wags ‘looking
forward to the time when they would
be together, she said’ her return to

America might be postponed until the.

.following May or June, Could he

walt that long?

Carla also received a letter from
Claire.” It was filed with a womanly
tenderness and sympathy for’ one who
had suffered n great loss, and. was
filled with thé intimate knowledge and
“gentinient which could only. have been:
given and ‘inspired by Paul. Carla let.
‘him read It. Her eyes were strangely
allght, though she had prepared her-
self to show {t. to him.

“You told me once that mititone
could not buy sentiment,” she “pald.
“And millions could not bring -what
has come in her letter. It 4s her
heart speaking to me,”

Carla became so deeply absorbed iw |
work: outelde of her school that he did |

not talk with. her again for a week,
She formed evening classes, in which
she tanght English to-the adults: who
wanted to™come to them, and the few
spore hours of her afternoons were.
apent among the, mothers of her school
children, With the coming of winter
Paul buried. himself more passlonately

in the actual stress of outdvor: Inbor, .

I am_.anticlpating -

The let-

ig his oiiew routlne Targdy to Bee

and the change benefited him.
"Caria, on the other hand, seemed to
phaye: assumed too great a burden. The
strain, if: It, “were that, began to show
dts Ceffect.‘on_ her, until Lucy-Belle
noted it and remonstrated with Paul.

~~ “Bvery-day-she is -grewing leas like &

the Carln we knew before her mother
died,” she told him. “She Is breaking

under an““‘effort: to’ keep’ her mind 3

away. from herself, -Yesterday I
dropned into her cottage for’ a mo- ;

ment when’ I knew ‘she was there, and i

I fonnd -her‘crying.:; She is growing ¥

paler, and it frightens me to see the |
loveliness. fading slowly out of her
face, You must do something, Paul, /
make her drop her night classes, send
her away for a vacation If you can.

Ithink T am the only: one she confides ~

in at all, and I should not betray her: - :

confidence—not even what ‘I have
guessed about her, But something is‘
eating at her life which Isn’t entirely
the loss of her mother.
that her night work {fs a pleasure,
says she is feeling well and doesn't
want to go awuy. But I know of @

dream she ‘lias’ always hed of visiting } ai

her mother’s country. Ifthe company

She- insists |

could arrange something like that—-" ¢

Faul saw Carla the next day, a cold
Sunday with snow on the ground. For
the first time in many weeks they had
a long walk together, and at the be-
ginning of it she-settled any sugres-
tions be might have had {% bis mind.

It was as if she saw written in his @

fice What Lucy-Belle had said to him.
.She mentioned Mrs.. Derwent’s visit

*

and told him what she had said about ==

her work, smiling the other's fears AM

away 4s. absurd and without reason, ¢ :

and udding with a very decisive little

note in her volce that to give up this ' a |

work or go away, a8 Lucy-Belle hac
suggested, -
would think of doing,

‘She had heard again: from his wife.

was the last thing. she |

It was lier third letter, and came from | a

Capri, where she was spending the
winter, painting.-. Claire had sent her

a little sketch of the vineyards and BM

the picturesque houses on. thelr rock oa

cllffs. + These letters, Carla sald, would
alwasg remain brightly in her mem-
orles,.they-were so friendly anid cheer-

ing She had answered: them, and had @

tried-.to tell .Claire. a: “little: about her
own work, and of the glory and beauty

of the great forests and. mighty rivers Him

near them. But she lacked the crea-
tive ‘soul,’ which | hig” wife possessed,

and could not’ ‘adequately describe g

them.

Paul knew that something of Carla’ 3 Co

raul soul was gone even as she talked ¥

to him. ;
His. own dragged heavily through Soe
the winter, Spring cama, and ils

days at the pit
August would see -his work finished.

-He did not know what he would dof

then, be told Curia. ‘Things were hap-
pening In- South America,
go there, Curtn’s future was settled
for another yeur.

were ‘almost over.

‘He rmlght: =

The government El

had: offered her A contract to remalng

the . children on the Mistassini,»
She hoped

with,.
and. she. “hads. aceepted.

that within a year or two she mighty
place In: Ferlbonkag ls

be able to. find: a

near. lier, another. .
“Late in May: ‘Taurs wife: ned from

‘Cherbonrg .and, to. his. surprise, wary

‘coming. straleht, to: ‘Quebec to Join hing

; COphAt Is: wonderful’ “of. her," gald

Carla, ter. eyes ‘shining with the lg ; 7 :

which wasealways in‘them when shq

wis thinking or speaking of Clatrdll

“She Is coming directly to you!”

The day be left for Quebec lie az a

her for a few ulvments to say guod-by

“I wish I were & man-—and you.
she sald,

A radiance was In her face when h ae ae

left her,

That evening, at dinner, Luey-Bells oe

‘suid to her husband: “Carla’s schocf
-was closed this afternoon. Beryl told
‘me she dismissed theichitdren becausig
she had a headache, We must gq
over and see her,” ~ 1

_"I hava been there,” replled Derg
went. “I was a bit worrled when ong
of the boys told me what had hap

! q

pened, so I’ went over: to see if eh® 2
needed me,” and found her—crying.” Ho

pies

” She sald nothing more to ‘her | nl
band about ‘Oarla Haldan. ; H

: ws

wee - Continued Next Weel a

‘Silver glares on’ the Toronto: markgae
were ip’ ‘soinewhat the ‘tues of a

week... -o 7 : fi.

“No 1 ae