Western news and the Libby times. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1920-1933, 1931-02-19

demanded
She might have asked that same
question In those unimportant years
when lie had dared to visit Tonteur
manor With his foolish gifts WHY
was lie hcre2 lie turned I'm the tlrec-
ton from Which he had come and
held out his band, moi for her to take.
but ms a Voice. She Understood what
his burden had heen Tears? Such
trivial things could moi exist In the
after heat of the holocaust that had
consumed them. Pride, defyng grief.
raised her chin little rs she obeyed
| .Ieems She knew to what she was
going. And when she came to the
place which .Ieems had prepared. she
was like white angel who had an.
| peared to gaze for moment or two
upon the dead.
With tool he had found, Jeems
had made d grave. 1t was shallow
and made less unheautiful with bed
Of golden grass. Tonteur did not seem
unhappy as he lay upon it. The top
OF his head was covered so TOinette
could not see. SHE knelt and prayed,
and Jeems drew back. feeling that to
kneel with her. with the marks OF her
hatred on his face and body, would be
sacrilege
Even now. when 1t should have
known better, the mill wheel continued
to whine and scream and suddenly 1t
occurred to Ieems that 1t could not
have been that way yesterday when
| Tonteur was alive. A devil must have
come to abide at the top Of the mill
He waited. scanning the horizons
that were thinning Of their smoke
| Death had passed and death might re-
! turn over its own hackened trail.
! Toinette, beside her father. made him
] think Of that. 1t seemed long time
before she rose to face him. She was
not crying. Her eyes were blue stars
/ IN 4 eunntenance as pale as marble.
Tie sun shone on her and gave nm
nnearlhly radiance to her hair Her
| beauty held him stricken lust IA his
/ own tprribeness forced from her
gasp Of protest when he drew off the
coat borrowed from one OF the dead
men and spread 1t over Tonteur But
she did not speak. Only tho mill wheel
continued its virnent plaint as the
loose earth fell on the baron Tnnette
looked steadily toward the sky. and
when Jecms was done She accom-
/ panied him back to the mill. She
/ watched him 20 for his how. where he
saw that the form lie had thought was
/ Tosnette WAS the wife Of Peter the
/ Younger
! He came back and spoke to her a
| with the musket barrel were swollen.
| and the brand across his forehead was
turning a dark and angry color. The
cloth he had twisted about his wound
ed arm was red. Sickness and pain
were forcing their way into his eyes.
Il must take ycu away" he said.
"There is not time to care for the
others. IF they come back
"They will not harm YOU she said.
Jeems made no answer but looked
away over the Richeien toward Cham
plain and Dieskau.
And they will not harm your father
or. your mother or anything that be-
I longs to the Bulains. hut will reward
them for their loyalty to murder and
outrage. Is not that true?"
Still Jeems did not answer, but
stood listening for sound to come out
OF the distance.
She saw the sickness gathering In
his face and eyes. hut pity for him
was as dead In her breast as her de-
sire to live. She knew where he would
take her. To his home-a place left
unscathed by the killers. To bis
mother, the soft and pretty woman In
whom her father had believed SO faith
fully. To Henri BulaIn, the traitor,
who had bartered his honor for an
English woman. Over her fathers
hill, In Forbidden valley, were safety
and mercy at the hands OF her coun-
trys enemies.
Her lips found way to cut him
deeper
Your father and mother are wait
Ing for you" she said. Co. and leave
me here. / prefer to wait for the
return of your Indian friends. And |
am not sorry because I tried to kill
you !"
He moved away from her to where
Hebert and Juchereau and the simple
minded Raudot lay on the ground.
This time 1t was the idiots coat he
took, fine coat made by the idiots
mother. The boy had loved birds and
flowers, and on the lapel OF the coat
was a faded geranium bloom. Jeems
took IL Off and tucked 1t between the
dead lads fingers.
Then he went back to Toinette and
said. I'VE had better 60" After that
he added. Il am sorry. but must go
to my mother and father FIRST
He staggered as he set out, and Ton
teur hin dipped and wobbled before
his eyes There was an ache like a
splinter twisting In his head, and as
she followed him, ToInette could see
the effect Of her unresisted blows with