White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1930-05-16
! The Crippled Lady
! Of P eribonka or By } s=:...
wNU Service O@A Doubleday Doran& Co. Inc)
"a, 1923. Doubleday Doran 9 Co.. Inc,


hers. He did not tell her this. The
thought Of explainin. to her that he
was about to make q 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 MIN feel scarcely
closer to her than seine of the many
friends she had. 1t wan thing which
lie could not tear down even In mo
nlents when some impulse or situation
seemed to draw them very close to.
gether. He knew that Claire felt II
as well as himself Facing 1t, sml
ing at each other, waiting for some
force greater than themselves to break
the way for them, they said nothing
about 1t. Each was hoping, and strug
Cling, that this thing between them
might be triumphed over, But 1t per.
sisted In spite Of them.
Each day he found something new
and unexpected in Claire to increase
his admiration for her She became
acquainted with the pit. She put on
rubber boots and explored its muddy
depths with him. She made no dis
elimination among his friends, and
nodded and smiled MS pleasantly at a
foreman or labOrer as she did al
the others ON the hill. More puzzling
to him than these things was her in
timacy with Carla tlaidan. 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,
classes about the boys and girls in
other lands, and came to know their
mothers, until she began to fill little
of Carla's place among them
Carla came to his office again, but
always with Claire. She was unlike
the Carla who had brought him flow
ers so different from har that he was
left with duly painful sense of loss
when he was alone and thinking about
her, as II someone very dear to him
had died. leaving only memories be
hind. The paraioXical reason for this
emotion in him was that Carla ap-
peared TO be strangely and forgetfully
happy. She was lively and gay, aud
Joined freely in the small social affairs
of the camp from which she had al.
ways held herself more or less apart
She talked only little of Peribonka,
n,,1 Nm, f.,c u ne
which he knew she loved put seemed
to hold her heart when listening to
Claire's colorful descril lions of inter
esting places his wife had visited The
two had real affection for each
other. No matter how uncertainty
might cloud his judgment In other
ways, there could be no doubt about
this sentiment of mutt al regard witch
had grown up quickly between them.
One evening Claire said to him:
'lt is strange how deeply | care for
Carla. There Is something about hel
which drags me out Ut myself to her
Yet ! am finding II more and more i'm
possib,. to paint her as want her
she is so completely changed Where
is the real Carla Paul? What has
happened to her? DO you known
Her head was bowed over bit of
lace work in her lap, and she did not
look at Paul.
II have noticed the change in her."
he said. III has happened since you
came. l think you have helped to
bring aer out Of he terrible grief
which oppressed her after her moth
er's death"
Claire smiled gently at her nus
band. For a few moments con
tetnplative light lay N her eyes. rs II
she were looking-not at him-bui
at a lid
"You think she is happier---snce
came?"
"There is no doubi Of IT." he de
clared.
"But cannct paint her. And 1t Is
because there Is so much unlinppi
ness behind what siit Is trying to
make us see in her face"
In his puzzled silence. she added:
IL am wondering Why she tries so
iilrd to make me believe she is happy.
Paul"
BEFORE ne could answer she began
to ell him about her talk to tile chill
,lren in CnrlnS schon THAT day.
u n n