RED CLOUD, NEBRASKA, CHIEF
THE BRANDING IRON
By Katharine Nevvlin Burt
Copyright by Kathartna N. Dart
"SHE LEAVE LETTER"
Jonn Iandln, rlRhtrnn yenra
old, wife of IMcrre, la the tfniiK'i
ter of John Cnrver, who murdered
her mother for adultery. Her
lonely life, with her father. In n
Wyoming cnliln, unhparnhlo. Jonn
leaven him to work In r hotel In
a nenrby town. Jonn rnnetii
Plorre. nml the two, mutually at
tracted, are married. Cnrver trjla
riorro atory of Joan's mother.
Pierre forces a cattle brand.
Frank IIolllwull, yotinR mlnlater,
prcHontfl lionlcn to Jonn. I'lorre
forlililH her to rend them. Mad
drned by Jealousy. Pierre tlm
Jonn nnd hums the Two-Har
hrnnd Into her shoulder. Ilenr
ln? her arrcnriin, u stranger
bursts Into the house nnd nliootn
Pierre. The RtrutiKor revlvH
Joan, tcllltiK her Pierre Ih dend,
urjjeit her to no with tilrn. At
the KirniiRer'n hottiu Joan's In
JurlfH nr intended to. Hho In
Introduced to u new world of
hooks nnd fine clothing by the
stratiKcr. Prosper Onle. a writer.
Onle becomes Interested In Joan,
who responds In part.
CHAPTER XIII Continued.
10
"There's hooks about everything,
nln't there? Isn't there Mr. f?nel7
Why, there's hooks nhotit lovln' an'
sickness nn' nhotit cuttle nn' what-not.
nn nhotit women nn' children " She
wns shirking the knowledge of her
"case," hut nt Inst film pressed her
lips together nnd opened the hook.
She fell to rending; growing anxiety
possessed her fnre; she Rut down on
the nearest ehiilr; she turned page
lifter pnge. Suddenly 8ho gave lilm a
look of anger.
"I nln't none of this, Mr. Gael." she
rnld, smote tho page, roso with dig
nltv, and returned tho hook.
Ho laughed so long and heartily
that she wns nt Inst forced to Join
lilut. "You wns you were dobbin'
too. wnsn't you?" she finld, sighing
relief. "Did you know whnt thnt vol
ume snld? It said like this I'll read
you ahout It" She took tho volume,
found the place nnd rend In n low tone
of horror, he helping her with the
hnrd words: MOno of the most fre
quent forms of phohln, common In
cases of psychic neurnsthentn, Is ngro
phohln In which piitlents the moment
they come Into nn open spnee nro op
pressed by nn exaggerated feeling of
nnxlety. They mny break Into n pro
fuse perspiration and nssert thnt they
feel os If chained to the ground . . .'
And hore, listen to this, 'bntophohln,
tho fear that high things will full;
ntrophobla, fenr of thunder nnd light
ning; pantophobia, tho fenr of every
thing nnd everyone' . . . Well, now,
nln't thnt too nwful? An you menn
folks rcnlly get thnt way?"
Their tnlk wns for somo time of
nervous diseases, Jonn's horror In
creasing. "Well, sir," said she, "lead mo out
nn' shoot mo If I get nnywnys like
thnt! I hcltcTG It's caused by nil thnt
queer dressln' nn' whnt-not. I feel like
somothln' renl todny In this shirt nn'
nil, nn' when I get through somo work
I'll feel n whole lot better. Don't you
eny I'm ono of those nervous break
downs nguln, though, will you?" she
pleaded.
"No, I won't. Joan. But don't mnke
one of mo, will you?"
"How's thnt?"
"Ily wearing those clothes nil dny
nnd hnlf tho night If you expect me
to tench you, you'll hnvo to do some
thing for me, td mnke up for running
nwny. You might put on pretty things
for dinner, don't you think? Your
nervous system could stand that?"
"My nervous system," drnwlcd Jonn,
nnd added startllngly, for she did not
often swenr, "G dl" It wns nn onth
of scorn, nnd again Prosper laughed.
Hut he heard with a sort of terror
the sound of her "njan's work," to
which sho energetically applied her
self. It meant the return of her
strength, of her Independence. It
meant the shortenlnc of her captivity.
Itefore long spring would rush up tho
canyon In a wave of melting snow,
crested with dazzling green, and the
vnlley would He opn to Joan. She
would go unless hai he really failed
bo utterly to touch Iter henrt?
Was she without passion, this woman
with the deep, savage eyes, tho lips, so
f-ensuous nnd pure, the body so mngnlfl
eently made for living? She wns not
defended by any training, sho had no
moral standards, no i rejudlces, none of
tho "Ideals." She wrU completely open
to approach, a savage. If he failed, It
wns a personal fnll'iro. Perhaps he
had been too subtle, too restrained.
Sho did not yet know, perhaps, what he
desired of her. Hut he was afraid of
rousing her hatred, which would he
fully as simple and s savage as her
love.
Thnt evening, after sho had dressed
to plenso him, and rtat In her chair,
tired, but with tho beautiful, clean
look of outdoor weariness on her face,
and tried, battling with drowsiness, to
glvo her mind to his reading and his
talk, ho came to her and knelt down,
drawing down her hands to htm, press
ing his forehead on them.
For a moment she was stiff and still,
then. "What Is It, Mr. duel?" she asked
In n frightened half-voice.
Ho felt, through her body, the slight
recoil of spirit, and drew away, and
arose to his feet.
"You're angry?"
He laughed.
"Oh, no. I'm not angry; why should
I he? I'm n superman. I'm made
let's say of alabaster. Women with
prent eyes and wonderful voices and
the beauty of broad-browed nymph
walking gravely down iiuler forest
$-
arches, such women glvo mo only a
great, great longing to read uloud very
slowly nnd carefully n 'Clilld'w History
of tho English Knee' I" Ho took the
book, tossed It across the room, then
stood, nshnmed and dellnut, laughing
n little, it boy In dlsgruce.
Joan looked ut him lu profound be
wilderment and dawning distress.
"Now," sho said, "you ure ungry with
me. You always uro when you talk
that queer way. Won't you please ex
plain It to me, Mr. Gael?"
"Nol" said he sharply. "I won't."
And he added after n moment, "You'd
better go to bed. You're sleepy und
as stupid as nn owl."
"Oh I"
"Yes. And you've destroyed whnt
little superstitious heller I hud left con
cerning something they tell little Igno
rant hoys about n woman's Intuition.
You haven't got n bit. You're stupid
and I'm tired of you No, Jonn, I'm
not. Don't mind me. I'm only In fun,
Please I D nt I've hurt your feel
ings." Her lips were quivering, her eyes
full. "I try so awful hard," she said.
It was n lovely, broken trail of music,
"Dear child I Joan, don't you ever
think of mo?"
"Yes, yes; nil the while I'm think
ing of you. I wlsht I could do more
for you. Why do I make you so nngryf
I know I'm nwful awfully stupid nnd
Ignorant. I I must drive you most
crazy, hut truly" hero she turned
quickly In his arm and put her hands
about his neck and laid her cheek
against his shoulder "truly, Mr. Gael,
I'm nwful fond of you." Then she
diew quickly away, quivered hack Into
tho other corner of her great chair,
put her face to her hands. "Only I
can't help seeln' Pierre."
Just her tone showed him that still
and ghastly youth, and ngnln he saw
the brown hand that moved. He had
stood between her and that sight. The
man ought to hnvo died. Ho did not
deserve his life nor this love of hers.
Kven though he hnd failed to kilt the
man. ho would not fall to kill her
love for him, sooner or Inter, thought
Prosper. If only tho hateful spring
would glvo him time. Ho must move
her from her memory. Sho had put
her hands about his neck, she hnd
laid her head ngnlnst his sholuder,
and, If It hnd been the nctlon of n
child, then sho would not hnve started
from htm with thnt sharp memory of
Pierre.
Joan hnd made her plnns. She
would wnlt till spring, partly to get
bnck her full strength, pnrtly to make
further progress In her studies, but
Mm
She Was Truly Sorry Thnt She Had
Hurt Him by Runnlnn Away.
mostly In order not to hurt this hos
pitable Prosper Gael. The naivete of
her gratitude, of her delicate consid
oration for his feelings, which con
tinually triumphed over irti Instinctive
fenr, would have filled him with
amusement, perhaps with compunc
tion, had ho been capable or under
standing them. She was truly sorry
that she had hurt him by running
away. She told herself she would not
do thnt again. In the spring she would
make him n speech of thankfulness
and of farewell, and then she would
tramp back to Pierre's homestead and
win and hold Pierre's land. As yet.
you see, Prosper entered very little
Into her conscious life. Somewhere,
Tar down In her, there was a disturb
ance, a growing doubt, a something
vague and troubling loan
had not learnt to probe her own heart.
A sensation was not. or It was. She
was puzzled by the feeling Prosper
was beginning to cause her, a feeling
of miserable complexity; but she was
not yet mentally equipped for the con
fronting of complexity. It was neces
sary for an emotion to rush at Jiein
and throw down as It were, her heart
before she recognized It; even then
she might not give It n name. She
would act. however, and with vio
lence. So now she planned and worked and
grew beautiful with work nnd plan
ning, while Prosper worked, too, and
hW Instruments were delicate ami
deiiijlv and his plans made no account
of hers lie worked nn her subcon
sciousness undermining her path,
and at nidus nnd In her sleep she
gn nwiten of iiim
. P" 'n his cool and pas-
1:1 ' moments of
reaction, oni at Inst thnt camt near
to wrecking hi purpose.
"Your clothes are about done for,
Joan," Prosper laughed ono morning,
watching her belt In her tattered
shirt ; you'll soon look like Cophetuu's
beggar maid."
"I'm not quite barefoot yet" 8he
held up u cracked boot.
"I wns going to tell yon thnt there
nrc ii skirt und n sort of coat In In
n closet In the hall. Do you want to
use them?"
She went out to look. In five min
utes ho heard her laugh, nnd, gtin
laughing, she opened the door again.
"Oh. Mr. Gael, were you really
thinking thnt I could wear these?
1X10K."
lie turned and looked nt her. She
hnd crowded her strong, Iltho frnrne
Into a brown tweed suit, a world too
narrow for her, and she wns Inughlng
to show him the mlsllt.
"These things, Mr. Gnel," she snld
"they must hnvo been mnde for n tall
child."
Prosper hnd too fnr tempted his
pnln. nnd In her vivid phrase It came
to life before him. She hnd painted
n startling picture and ho had seen
flint suit, so smnll nnd trim, before.
Joan saw his face grow white, his
eyes stnred through her. Ho drew n
quick brenth and winced nwny fiom
her, hiding his face In his hands. A
moment Inter he was weeping convul
sively, with violence, his head down
between his hands. Jonn started
townrd him, but ho mnde n wicked
nnd repellent gesture. She fled Into
her room nnd snt, bewildered, on her
bed.
All nt once tho question enmo to
her; for whom had the delicate fabrics
been bought, for whom had this suit
been made? "If was his wife and she
Is dead." thought Joan, nnd very piti
fully she took orr the suit, laid It
and the other things nwny, nnd sitting
by her window rested her chin in her
hands nnd stared out through the blue
pines. Tears ran down her fnce be
cause she was so sorry for Prosper'.s
pain. And again, thought Joan, she
had caused It, she who owed him ev
erything. Yes. she was deeply sorry
for Prosper, deeply; her whole heart
was stirred. For the first time she
had a longing to comfort him with
her hands.
1'or all thnt dny Prosper fled the
house and went across tho country,
now fording a flood of melted snow,
now floundering through a drift, now
walking on springy sod, unaware of
the sort spring, conscious only of n
sort or lire In his breast. He suffered
nnd ho resented his suffering, nnd he
would have killed his heart If, by so
doing, he could have given It peace.
And all day he did not once think of
Joan, but only of tho "tall child" for
whom the gay ennyon refuge had been
built, but who had never set her slim
foot upon tho threshold. Sunset found
him miles away In the foothills of n
low, many-folded range ncross the
plain. He wns dog tired, so thnt for
very exlinustlon his hrnln hnd stopped
Its tormenting work. He lit n fire and
sat by It. huddled in his cont, smoking,
dozing, not able really to sleep for
cold nnd hunger. Prosper hated the
night and Its beautiful desolation ho
hated the God that had made this
land. He cursed tho dnwn when It
came delicately, spreading n green urc
of radiance ncross the enst. And
then, us he nrose stlflly, stamped out
his flro nnd started slowly on his way
back, he was conscious of a passion
nte homesickness, not for the old life
he had lost, but for his cabin, his
blight hearth, his shut-In solitude, his
Joan. Very dear nnd renl nnd huinnn
she wns, nnd her laughter had been
sweet. And she must be nnxlous
about him. Sho would have sot up by
the lire all night. . . . Ills eager
ness for her slighted comfort gave his
lagging steps n certain vigor, tho long
walk back seemed very long Indeed.
Noon was hot, but ho found water,
and by sundown ho came to the can
yon trail. Ho wanted Joan ns badly
now as n hurt child wants Its mother.
Ho came, haggard nnd breathless, to
the door, called "Joan," canio Into tho
warm llttlu room and found It empty.
Wen Ho, to ho sure, pattered to meet
him.
"Mister Gael been gone n long time,
velly, long, nil night. Wen Ho, ho
IK bed, llx brenkfast oh, the lady?
She gone out estlddy, not come hack.
She leave n letter for him, there on
tho table."
Prosper took It, vvnvod Wen Ho out,
and, dropping Into tho big chair,
opened the paper. There was Joan's
big handwriting, that ho himself had
taught her. Hefore, sho could only
sign her name.
".Mister Gael, dero frond:
"You have ben too good to me nn
It has ben too hard for you to keen
mo when you were all tho wile amissln
In'r an It hurts me to think or how It
must Iiiivb ben terrible hard Tor you
all this winter to see me where von
had ben ust to seeln her an me wearin
her pretty things all tho wile. Now
(lore frend this must not be no more.
I will not stuy to trouble you. You
have hen awful free-hearted. When
.vou come hack from ,vour wnnderln an
tr.vln to get over your beln so unhappy
you will llud your house quiet an
peaceful an jou will not he hurt by
me no more. I am not able to say nil
I am feelln about jour goodness r.n I
hev not always ben as kind to yoi. In
m.v thoughts an axlons but that has
hen my own fault not yonr. I wnnf
you to bolcuve this. Mister Gael. 1
am goln back to Pierre's ranch to
work on his land an somo day I will
he liopln to see you come rhlln in an
I will keep on leurnln as well as I
can an iiiebbe you will not be nshnmed
of me. 1 feel nwful had to go hut 1
would feel more bad to stay when It
must hurt you so. Ilrspcrtiihly
"JOAN."
(TO Ufc2 CONTINUED.)
CLOTHES FO&
ftwro0ooocHWwao0pa0a0OJWflna
1-Kt.i I Y JUINIUR FALL HATS
ILJ.
'TplIK lure of outdoors Is never
stronger thnn during the crisp
days of autumn. Cool winds carry an
Invitation to Invigorating exercise, and
with the new materials, In outer wear
to choose from, the problem of appro
priate nnd comfortable apparel grows
more nnd more simple. In knitted
materials particularly there has been
n tremendous development with tho
pportB idea growing stronger all the
time. These fabrics have "caught on"
PS3tmSH
K. 4
Sport Suit and
and remain with us ns established
parts In the scheme of things in wom
an's apparel.
A new wenvo In brushed camel's
hnlr Is used for making the attractive
costume shown In the picture. A
wide brown stripe In the ninterlal is
manipulated to make tho collnr and
cuffs, and It also appears as a band
about the Jacket and skirt. Tho pock
eta nnd Jucket opening are faced with
the lighter material.
A costume of this kind mny bo worn
for nny number of outdoor activities.
Various Hat
it is Ideal for country club weiu or .
for active bports und Is not out of :
placo as a street suit In town.
Tho material combines warmth with
lightness und what Is equally desir
able, It has a breezy, youthful look.
Utility is tho second consideration
in somo of tho new sport costumes
thot have lotely made their appear
ance. These are dressy affairs made
of hrlglrt-colored silk or wool and nro
embroidered with all-over designs In
equally brilliant colors. An Interest
ing model is of putty-colored silk,
loosely crocheted, with alternate
bands of soft, buff-colored suede.
Ono Is apt to run across a young'
Ish grandmother trying on lints de
ilgned for tho debutante these days,
rrjjwjsjjw-jK' "'"ii"js;;;m " '
vth j w-- ., "v ;j( .bw. .i. .: f-. . fi
A .-HH HVW . W 4 I W Vl ' T'.A...'VtiaVI'' KM
4r bKwB f i if i JK?7iB av Lv,4- j
ll1"" Mini II 1MW .
4
OUTBOORING;
for Junior styles In millinery follow
the modes for grownups to some de
gree. This Is more apparent In mn
terluls thnn In trimmings, nnd In thq
smnll, close-fitting shapes tho differ
ence In styles, for different nges, seems
sometimes to bo only a difference. In
bend size.
In the group of young girls' lints
shown here, velvet, embroideries, sec
tlonnl crowns nnd shapes all hnvo
their prototypes In the autumn styles
Knitted Fabric
for grown people. But these styles are
skillfully modified to mnke this dressy
hendwenr for Juniors In keeping with
their years. A velvet picture hnt nt,
the top Is faced with taffeta and edged
with a toffeta-llned frill in n bright
color. It adopts a Fash of wide, soft
ribbon for trimming and might be worn
by girls from thirteen to seventeen at
least. The velvet hat Just below It,
"Vlth sectlonnl crown and embroidered,
upturned brim, Is equally adaptable. A
duvetlno model, at tho left, Is more
deilnltely childish, with a soft crown
Styles for Girls.
gathered at the center nnd sketchy,
chain-stitch embroidery, in colored silk
and band of narrow ribbon tied at side
The last hat In the group, of velvet,
with upturned brim, has a youthful
crown In which an embroidered disk
supplies the center, with tho scant side
crown .shirred and Joined to It. Shirred
velvet covers tho brim, but tho shir
ring Is simple nnd not full. 4 flnt
flower mndo of velvet, having Its petals
finished with btltches, Is set In stems,
Indicated In tho samo way, and velvet
leaves.
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Let Cuticura Be
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Soap 25c, Ointment 25 and 50c, Talcum 23c.
HrothcrhotHl of man must be proof
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MOTHER! GIVE SICK CHILD
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Insist upon genulir "California Fig
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There Is no Jealousy If ono doesn't
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If you uv Red Cross Ball Blue lr
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W. N. U., LINCOLN, NO, 44-1923
