The indicator., 1904-10-22

~ that the fight was still to
come, for deep in Owens heart were
thoughts whose pain made her forget
all other.
WAS 1t God let me fall?' she asked
abruptly one day, and tlte Pilot knew
the fight was on, but he only answered,
looking fearlessly into her eyes:
''Yes, Gwen, dear"
"Why did he let me fall7" And her
voice was very deliberate
Il don't know. Gwen. dear" snid the
Pilot steadily. He knows"
"And does he know shall never ride
again? Does he know how long the
days are and the night when can't
sleep? Does he know?'
Eyes, Gwen, dear" said the Pilot,
and the tears were standing in his eyes,
though his voice was still steady
enough.
"Are you sure he knowsr The voice
was painfully intense
Listen to me. Gwen" began the
Pilot In great distress. but she cut him
short.
Are you quite sure he knows? An
swer mel" she cried with her old i'm
periousness.
"Yes, Gwen. he knows all about you"
'Then what do you think of him, just
because he's big and strong, treating a
little girl that way?" Then she added
viciously: II hate him! don't care!
hate him!"
But the Pilot did not vince. | Won
dered how he would solve that problem
that was puzzling not only Gwen but
her father and the Duke and all of us
the why of human pain.
Gwen" said the Pilot, as If changing
the subject. did 1t hurt to put on the
plaster jncket7"
"You Just bet!" said Gwen. lapsing
In her English. MS the Duke was not
present at was worse thnn anything
awful! They had to strnighten me
out. you know" And she shuddered at
the memory of that pain.
what pity your father or the Duke
was not here!" said the Pilot earnestly.
"Why, they were both here!
"What a cruel shame!' burst out the
Pilot. Don't they care for you any
more7"
"Of course they do" said Gwen indis-
nantly.
"Why didn't they stop the doctors
from hurting you so cruelly2"
"Why. they let the doctors. 1t is go
Ing to help me to sit up and perhaps to
walk about little" answered Gwen,
with blue gray eyes open wide.
"Oh." said the Pilot. "it was very
mean to stand by and see you hurt like
that"
"Why, you silly" replied Gwen i'm
patiently. they want my back to get
straight and strong"
"Oh, then they didn't do it just for
fun or for nothing?" said the Pilot In
nocently.
Gwen gazed at him in amazed and
speechless wrath. and he went on:
II mean they love you though they
let you be hurt, or. rather, they let the
doctors hurt you because they loved
you and wanted to make you better"
Gwen kept her eyes fixed with curl
GUS earnestness upon his face till the
light began to dawn.
"Do you mean," she began slowly,
that though God let me fall he loves
meY
The Pilot nodded. He could not trust
his voice.
II wonder II that can be true" she
said, as If to herself, and soon we said
goodby and came away-the Pilot limp
and voiceless, but triumphant, for I
began to see little light for Gwen.
But the tight was by no means over.
Indeed It WINS hardly well begun. For
when the autumn came, with its misty,
purple days, most glorious Of all days
In the cattle country, the old restless
ness came back and the fierce refusal
OF her lot. Then came the day Of the
round up. Why should she have to stay
while all went after the cattle? The
Duke would have remained, but she
sent him away. She was
weary and hcnrtsick, and. worst of all.
she began to feel that most terrible Of
burdens, the burden Of her life to 9TH
sss. was much relieved when the
Pilot came in fresh and bright waving
q bunch of wild flowers in his hand
II thought they were all gone" he
cried. "Whcre do you think I found
themf Right down by the big elm
root" And. though he saw by the set
tied gloom of her face that the storm
was coming. he went bravely on pictur-
ing the canyon in all the splendor Of its