THE OMINECA HERALD, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21, 1934

_CHAPTER VI

The ‘crowning point of anticipation
in T'aul’s. six years of married life
wis lis Journey to meet Claire: From
the Mistassini to Roberval, from Rob-
civil to Metebechewan,” and from
there down to Chicoutimi, whera he
turk the -cross-wiiderness train to
(ruchee, he built steadily to the visions
whieh the tnereasing Interest and com-
ridestip in hig wife's letters had
helped him tq ereate during the long
winter, That she: was not following
her usual. precedent of going to New
York, but was coming to him, gave
hia an emotional thrill which tt had
nol previously been hig happiness to
experience’ in his. relationship with
her, He helleved that for Claire to
tlivert herself in this.way from home,
her own people, and u host of friends
after an absence of neuriy a year,
that she might come to him In a
wilderness which she frankly detested,
vas ulinost dramatically significant of
a change in her attitude toward: him,
it was: the mystery. of this change
which withheld. from his feeling the
one thing which might have made it
a real passion of expectancy and joy.
In none of her letters, which had
(Irawn her nearer te him than she had
ever been, had she spoken of love,
Iven.in. response to the warmest
of his communications to her she had
given him no definite satisfaction, ex-
cept to write him in a way which,
without openly avowing herself, drew
her closer to him, and gnve ‘to his
ideals of her a glowing, fleshly reality
which exelted and possessed him as he
went to meet her.

He could not keep Carla out of his
mind. She came to him vividly when
he stood in the shadow of the ancient
chapel of the Ursullnes, at Quebec,
where he had seen through the chan-
cel grating the lovely nun whose face
and eyes had looked so much Like
Carla’s, In Lower Town he went into
the little eld church of Notre Dame
des Victolres, and he felt as If she
were standing at his side. She seemed
to be a’ part of the. composure and

‘landing walk,

beauty and. age-old enchantment of .

these quaint and hallowed spots

which he loved, as if In some past day |
her soul had helped to mold and -ftt .

their destinies.

Here, like himself, °

Curia could dream, and see ghosts and :
mystic fabrics of forgetien things

where others saw only slow dissolu-
tlon and ruin of brick and mortar and
wood. In her eyes were the deep and
slumbering lights which linked the
memories of the past with the mys-
terles of the future—in Claire's the
vibrant life of a glorloug present. To-
gether, he thought, these two women
held the world in their breasts, from
Its beginning to its end.

t

He was at the dock an hour shead -

of the ship, When It arrived he drew
himself back. of the waiting people,
for he knew that Claire would not be
in the rush of disembarking pnssen-
gers, hor would she be along the rail

Coudltions are apparently improving
in the United Stutes—the whole coun-
- Uy is seething with strikes and threat-
ened . strikes... Possibly. the men think
the manufacturers are. getting too big
a slice of the twenty billion dollars the
tresident: wes allowed to spend. : The,
men might be right at that. One
thing is -certain--n job-is not much
vood if the wages are aaray below the
cost of! living, ~: tay roe
oe * .
7 Poin ‘Uphit of.’ Fornle . entertalnea
the legislature last wek-one afternoon
ant: the: new. members begin to think
there is.some compensation for spend-
Ing all those weeks saying “Yes, Sir!

hel Tif ay OF

James

niet

WNW.
Service

She Ralsed Her Lips and Kiseed Him,
With the Light Touch of Her Mouth,
Which Was a Part of Claire.

in the crush that always gathered to
wave their greetings to friends and
relatives, It surprised him when he
funnd her to be one of the first on the

be picked out of a thousand. He
could always expect Claire like that, a:
wife any man would be enormously
proud to possess, He wnved his hat,
and she saw him, A swift. beautiful
sinfle passed over her face, and ip hig
engerness to rench her he mide bis
way a Vittle roughly through the
crowd. [is heart was jumping, He
wus inecthi# her -zlone—no one put
himself to greet Her, while always be-

fore there had heen many. One dream
had come wie! .
“When they mét he held out his
arms. Tut that was not Clalre’s way,
She was alwaysarlelit, never forgetful
of the fitness of things—nand gave hin
her hands. Her fingers closed wirmly
about lis, She raised her ‘lps and
kissed htm, with the tight toueh of ber
mouth which was. a part of Claire,

“Dear old Duul!” she said. “At lust
I'm home!"
* * * x * .- 6

Three days after ber arrival Clalre
was mistress of the. bunmnlow: which
her husbind had prepared for her
visit, Thereafter Pant! could look from
the window of his office to the physical
realization of ‘the second of hls dreds.
Claire wrs at last one of the wives
who Hved In the row ef ‘cutiazes on
the hill, While this dream. Ike the
friendly but dispagsionnte greeting. of
his wife In Quehee, missed something
In ita fulfilment, it hud opened doors
through whichyhe wns looking to: still
greater things for hiniself,:dind the
won who’ wes miking this fight
tigalnet prejudice and environment for
him,

“Phiy time I Am: foing. to satiny until
you become.tired of me und send me
home,” she told’ him, :

‘The change Ih her was inexplicable
unless, he accepted It-ns one of sheer
sportsmanship. . Thig -he .dld,.and. wag
warmed: -by..tha,. thought of what, ha
waa “bound -to - -glve‘in: return for -it,
Behind her effort it wag not: dificult
for him to see'‘the ‘truth—her struggle
against instincts and impulses as deep-
ly inborn rs wis hig own Indian blood

As8 she came down he.
could see that she was looking for:
him. She was the seme Claire, tall, ;
slim, exquisitely dressed, a woman to’

its sunny cheer and friendliness, -was
an inspiration to him, and strength
ened his resolution to twist and bend
hia life, so that it would ft in with
hers. He did -not--tell her this. The
thought. of explaining to her that, he
was about to make a mighty endeavor
to cross the gulf which lay between
them was embarrassing to him, Claire
had said nothing about her own :ef-
fort. Her actions had shown him the
way. This lack “of intimacy between
them at-times-made him-feel- scarcely
closer to her than some of the many
friends she had; It.was a thing which
he could not-tear down even in-mo-
ments when: some impuise or situation
seemed’ to draw them. very’ close to-
gether. He knew that Claire felt it
as well as himself. Facing it, smil-
ing at each other, waiting for some
force greater than themselves to break
the way for them, they said nothing
about it, Each was hoping, and strug-
gling, that this. thing between them
might be triumphed over, . But it per-
sisted in spite.of them.

Each day he found «something new
and unexpected in Claire to increase
his admiration for her. She became
acaye alnted with the pit. She put on
rubber boots and explored tts muddy
depths with him, She made no dis-

nodded and smiled as pleasantly at a
foreman or a laborer as she did at
the others on the hill, More puzzling
to him than these things was her in-
timacy with Carla Haldin, After her
first few days on the Mistassini they
were together much of the time when
Carla was not at her work. Even In
this Claire joined her now and then,
and talked to the children fn Caria’s
classes about the boys and girls in
other lands, and came to know their
mothers, until’she began to fill g little
of Carla's place among them,

Carla came to his office again, but
always with Claire. She was uudlike
the Carla who had brought ‘him tiow-
ers, so different from her that he was
left with a dully painful sense of loss
when he was alone and thinking about
her, as if someone-very dear to him
had died, leaving only memories: be-
hind, The paradoxical reason for this
emotion in him was that Carla ap-
peared to be strangely and forgetfully
happy. She was lively and gay, and
Joined freely in the small social affairs
of the camp from which she had al-
ways held herself more or less apart.
She tniked only a little of Peribonka,
and the forests, and.of the. places
which he knew she loved, but seemed
to hold her heart when Hstenlng to
Clalre’s colorful descriptions of. inter-
esting places hig wife had visited, -The
two had- a real ‘affection for each
other, No. matter how uncertuinty
might claud his judgment in other
wiys, there could be'tno doubt about
this sentiment of mutual regard which
hud grown up quickly between them.

One evening Claire.said. to -hinr:

“It ts strange how deeply I care for
Cnfli. There is something about her
which drags me out ‘of myself, to her,
Yet Iam finding it more and more im-
pussible to paint her as I want her,

is the reat Carla, Panl? What has
happened to her? Do you know?"

Her’ head. was’ bowed over a bit of
Inve work In her lap, and she did net
look at Poul, x

“I have noticed the change in her,"
he said, “It has happened since you
aime. 1 think you have helped -to
wring her out .of the terrible grief
which oppvessed her after her moth-
erg death.”

Claire smiled gently at her Nase
band. For a féw moments & con-
tenplative Ught lay In her eyes, as tf
she were ‘looking—not at him—but
ut a child,

“You think ahe js happler—since }
came?"

“There is-no. doubt ‘of It," he de-
olnred, :

' "Bat I eannot’ paint. her, And It is
hecause—there is so much unhappl-
heas behind ‘what~she is trying to
make us see in her face.”

In his puzzled pilence, she added:

“Y am wondering why: she tries so
hard to make me belleve she fg happy,
Paul.” .

» Before > he could ‘answer ‘ahe began

The roads ‘have become. worse during
the past week and several cars have
been stuck between. Two Mile and the
old town, ‘There is practically ‘no one.

time yet before they will dry ont, .

4

in himself. ‘Thy desire. to please “him,

crimination among his friends, and-

he could almost make himself believe

.to the george, with Paul at the head

she is sa completely changed, Where -

descends into a chasm whose’ rock

| which was continually absorbing mols:
ture from the river, so that it had7

|) Tandseape

on the roads now and it will be some :

to tell’him about her talk to the chik:}

dren in: Carla's schooi that day.

CHAPTER vil

Claire. cnnie to the Mistassint on the
first of June.» It was the. fifteenth
when they went to what Paul called
the Big gorge, ten miles back In the
tocky ferests, This is the date which
‘Will remaln- a Jong: time on the calen-
dars of the simple-hearted folk north
of Lac St. Jeun, becanse of the miracle
which happened on it. Tt is a date
almost te be canonized, T'riests spealk
of it, and people pulnt it out, as a
day of infallible proof of the .omnip-
otence af God,

‘Luey-Relle _{is not remembered,
though it was she ‘who planned the
expedition to the gorge. . Tn it, hesides
herself, -were her husband and - Paul,
Claire and Carla: For. two days pre-
eeding the journey Pavl hid men on
the rough and narrow trall clearing it
of obstructions and overhanging |mbs
and brush so that they might travel
over it on horseback.

Pnul had seen Claire turn white and
tremble at the fonming unrest of the
Mistassini beating eternally against
Its. recks, just as he had felt. her
aliver, one evening, in a deep and
gloomy place In the forest, where the
wind was. whistling. throngh the pine
tops over their heads, He hud, taken!
her hand, and her fingers hands chine
tightly to-his, as if these things which
he loved sent a horror through her.
On the morning of this eventful fit-
teenth of June, with sunshine. and
hirds abort them, he and Derwent
rode a little behind their wives and:
Carla, and never had: CInlre looked
so lovely to him. Her benutlful body
seemed vibrant with the thrill of the
day, her voice was sweet to hear, her
eyes were filled with langhter, until

she layed the things which she was
facing, and which had ‘so completely
conquered her until qow. Her un-
hatted golden head and Caria’s dark
one rode side by’ side, one a shining
Tadiance in the sun, the other richly
lustrous, with gleamy pools and”‘seas
of darker shadow in ft. For half o
mile they followed. trail so close
to the river that its roaring tumult
drowned their voiges and colnwebby
drifts of. spray enme to wet: thelr
faces, Through this Paul rode -close
to the side of his.wife, and saw her
smile and fight to hide its effect upon
her. ‘Then they struck Indlan Ale Inty
the narrow, rocky, deeply rooted: trail

of the little procession atid Derwent
following last. Oveasionally the trail
widened so that Panl could drop back
and ride heside Claire, and ench time
he noted a little more in her face and
eyes the thing she was fieliting against,
her dislike of the black forests and.
the earthly smelling swamps and the
rock fiazments of hills they were
traveling through,
Townrd mid- ufternoon they cume to
the Big gorke, Those who have seen
it enn never forget the spectacle of
its thundering water tearing, itself out
of a finger of the cavernous’ Lanren-
tinns, crashing throtigh the’ open for
a space in whirling mkelstroms,. then
narrowing into a sullen, oily-looking
avalanche of Irresistible force us it

walls hecome higher and closer, wntil,
at last, its fury and voice disappear
agiin into the bowels of, the Lauren-
tinns, making the earth tremble - with
its snbterranean rumble and rear,
Its effect on Clnire was not what
Paul had anticipated. , Lo his amaze.

ment [t was she who suggested they
sprend their luncheon on the edge of
a great slab of rock which projected
into the stream, aud from where they:
could look upon’ the wonderful play of
water below them, This rock, several
ucres in extent,.was covered with. soll

clothed Itself with: a curpet, of flowers
and grass until it was dent ousis of
beauty in the heart of a rock-visaged
whieh otherwise w ould have
pussesned Httle to offset its more for-
bidding. aspects. It wis Claire who
also selected. the spot for thelr tuble-
cloth and’ who arranged thelr’ places
afterward’ so! ‘that ‘all Anight alt’ look:
‘Ing toward the mouth of ‘the overhung
chasm, several hundred yards’ down.

stream from the rock which ‘held ‘{ta/’

tenure Hké ‘an ‘indoriltable gudrdian’
bafure Ie. Between’ thelr ‘position. and

“Waa caught Ike a feather and ‘whipped @
‘with ithe speed of a bullet toward the jam

) curved Claire’a lps, then swiftly a.

| seacacaccecacacacicacacacecececacacececacaacces Hm

To His Amazement It Was She Who §
Suggested They Spread Their Lunch-
eon on the: Edue ofa Great Slab of
Rock.

memories of your J6ve Itke a garden
of beautiful flowers.” i

- It was os if a cathedral bell haa
tolled softly among them, go won- ,
derfully geutle and strange was Carla's }
voice. Carla knew,’ That was the
thought which gripped Paul, and it
held. the others, She had passed
through the fire at which hig wife and "4
Lucy-Belle were only ‘guessing, and It
was from her soul, not her lips, that
evidence had come, Claire gave a.
Uttle start at his side, and her. face
and eyes grew’ suddenly and vividly
Glled with light as she looked at Carla,
as ff all In a second a: ‘great and half-
expectéd ‘truth had: come to possess
her: ‘Stranger evin than: the..change
in hér'fade.was the- way-in which she
found: +Paul’s hand , and, held. ie. .ten-
derty::‘and: ‘warmly between her own. 4
Never had the thrill ofjher entered -
into him as during these .moments,
He closed. his hands, tightly . about
hers, But’ he: was looking at Carla!

Lucy-Belle sprang to her feet and
drew Derwent after her, |

“Let’s not get sentimental! r ghe
cried. “I’m. going to throw. all kinds j
of things down to my boa constrictor am
and see what he, does. with ‘them.
This to begin with—" ond she flung
out a paper plate which curved and
circled, unt, lighting gracefully upon i
the surface ‘of the torrent below, it & fa

maw of ihe -gorge, without so much as
getting, its inner side wet.

- Claire gave. Q gasp of amazement. i

“r dia: not: dream the water sped
as” swiftly as jthat !” she exclaimed,
“But see! Jt is as [ said! The plate ;
is: going—-lt hag disappeared: Into the Hi
tun dirand : not. once: “was! If" ,
OF;-upset. 1 Back. ‘where | the water is 3
‘breaking. and . Toarlyz ie. would’ have
been destroyed.” 7. wot

Wade |" said. “Derwent, - ‘He: rolled
the short log which they had used for
& seat to the edge of the cliff, and:
with Paul's help tilted it on end and
flung it over. “There goes a man,” he |
laughed.’ “Now see what happens!" am

They stood close to the sheer edye sj
of the table rock and saw the loz as 18
It struck the water. There wos an
olly splash, and for a few yards the
wood drifted away as smoothly as the
plnte. hid gone: A smile of triumph

frightened lool gathered in its place.
A hand had. reached up, -a .terrible,
unseen hand that had gripped the
log like a Ilving thing and draggei
it down until no. chip or shadow of it
rode the liquid serpenf under them.

“Hold your eyes nérr ‘the rock!"
commanded. Derwent.

es ee

Continued Next Week

B, C. LAND SURVEYOR #4
Je Allen Rutherford

Surveys promptly executed *

F

Smithers, B.C