The Winslow mail., 1923-08-31

I1OlH TIC Sduule, ne TORE the whip from
, her hands. 1t was not that action on
his part, or the sudden strong master
fulness of his look, so much as the
lVld mark on his face where the whip
had lashed that quieted, if it did not
check, her fury.
That's nothing" he said, with some
thing of his old audacity. "That's
nothing to how you've hurt me-"
Madeline battled with herself for
control. This man would not be de-
MED. About him now there was only
the ghost of that finer, gentler man
she had helped to bring into being.
The piercing dark eyes he bent upon
her burned her. went through her as
II he were looking into her soul. Then
Madeline's quick sight caught fleet
ing doubt, wistfulness, a surprised
ana Saddened certainty in his eyes,
saw it shade and pass away. Her
Woman's intuition, as keen as her
sight, told her Stewart in that moment
had sustained a shock of bitter, final
truth.
For the third time he repeated his
question to her. Madeline did not an
swer; she could not speak.
you don't know l love you, do
you" he continued, passionately.
THAT ever since you stood before me
In that hole at Chiricahua I've loved
you? You can't see I've been another
man, loving you, working for you, liv-
turned my back on the old wild life.
that I've been decent and honorable
and happy and useful-your kind of
a cowboy? You couldn't tell, though
loved you. that I never wanted you
to know it, that 1 never dared to
think OF you except as my angel, my
holy Virgin? What do you know of
mans heart and soul? How could
you tell of the love, the salvation of
man who's lived his life in the ST.
lence and loneliness? Who could teach
you the actual truth-that wild cow
boy, faithless to mother and sister, ex-
cept in memory, riding hard, drunk
en- trail straight to hell, had looked
into the face, the eyes of a beautiful
woman infinitely beyond him, above
him, and had so loved her that he was
saved-that he became faithful again
that he saw her face in every flow
er and her eyes in the blue heaven?'
Madeline was mute. She heard her
heart laundering in her ears.
Stewart leaped at her. His power
full hand closed on her arm. She
trembled. His action presaged the
old instructive violence.
"No; but you think 1 kept Bonita
up in the mountains, that l went Sc
cretly to meet her, that all the while
l served you I was Oh, l know
what you think! I know now. L
never knew till 1 made you look at
me. Now, say it! Speak!'
White-hot, blinded, utterly in the
fiery grasp of passion, powerless to
stem the rush of a word both shame
full and revealing and fatal, Madeline
cried:
"Yes!"
He had wrenched that word from
her, but he was not subtle enough, not
versed in the mystery of woman's
motive enough, to divine the deep
significance Of her reply.
For him the word had only literal
meaning confirming the dishonor in
which she held him. Dropping her
arm, he shrank back, a strange action
for the savage and crude man she
judged him to be.
"But that day at Chiricahua you
spoke of faith,' he burst out. "YOu
said the greatest thing in the world
was faith in human nature. You said
you had faith in me! You made me
have faith in myselfl'
His reproach, without bitterness or
scorn, was a lash to her old egoistic
belief in her fairness. She had |
preached a beautiful principle that |
she had failed to live up to-
'You think I am vile," he said. you |
think that about Bonita! And all the |
time I've been l could make
you ashamed-I could tell you"
His passionate utterance ceased
with snap of his teeth. His lips set
III d lllu, DILleF line. 1ue agitation
of his face preceded a conclusive
wrestling of his shoulders.
mo, not" he painted. Was it his
answer to some mighty temptation?
Then, like bent sapling released, he
sprang erect. But I'll be the man
the dog-you think mel"
He laid hold of her arm with rude,
powerful clutch. One pull drew her
sliding half out of the saddle into his
arms. She fell with ner breast against
his, not wholly free of stirrups or
horse, and there she hung, utterly
Maddened. writhing, she
tore to release herself All she could
accomplish was to twist herself, raise
herself high enough to see his face.
That almost paralyzed her. Did he
mean to kill her? Then he wrapped
his arms around her and crushed her
tighter, close to him. She felt the
.fI J., In,. |