Classic Audiobook Collection - The Branding Iron by Katharine Newlin Burt ~ Full Audiobook [romance]

Starting point is 00:00:00 book one chapter one of the branding iron by katherine newland bert book one the two bar brand chapter one joan reads by firelight there is no silence so fearful so breathless so searching as the night silence of a wild country buried five feet deep in snow for thirty miles or so north south east and west of the small half-smothered speck of gold in Pierre Landis's cabin window, there lay, on a certain December night, this silence, bathed in moonlight. The cold was intense. Below the bench, where Pierre's homestead lay, there rose from the twisted, rapid river, a cloud of steam, above which the hoar-frosted tops of cottonwood trees were perfectly distinct, trunk, branch, and twig against a the color of iris petals. The stars flared brilliantly, hardly dimmed by the full moon, and over the vast surface of the snow minute crystals kept up a steady shining of their own.

Starting point is 00:01:16 The range of sharp, wind-scraped mountains, uplifted 14,000 feet, rode across the country, northeast, southwest, dazzling in white armor, spears up to the sky, a sight, a sight seen suddenly to take the breath, like the crashing march of archangels militant. In the center of this ring of silent crystal, Pierre Landis's logs shut in a little square of warm and ruddy human darkness. Joan, his wife, made the heart of this defiant place, Joan, the one mind living in this ghostly area of night. She had put out the lamp, for Pierre, starting toward two days before, had warned her with a certain threatening sharpness not to waste oil, and she lay on the hearth, her rough head almost in the ashes, reading a book by the unsteady light of the flames.

Starting point is 00:02:16 She followed the printed lines with a strong, dark forefinger, and her lips framed the words with slow, whispering motions. It was a long, strong woman's body stretched there across the floor, heavily, if not sluggishly built, dressed rudely in warm stuffs and clumsy boots, and it was a heavy face too, unlit from within, but built on lines of perfect animal beauty. The head and throat had the massive look of a marble fragment stained to one even tone and dug up from attic earth. And she was reading thus heavily and slowly by firelight in the midst of this tremendous northern night, Keats' version of Boccaccio's tale of Isabella and the pot of Basel.

Starting point is 00:03:07 The story, for some reason, interested her. She felt that she could understand the love of young Lorenzo and of Isabella, the hatred of those two brothers, and Isabella's horrible tenderness for that young murdered head. There were even things in her own life that she compared with these. In fact, at every phrase she stopped, and, and she, and she was, she was a and staring ahead crudely and ignorantly visualized after her own experience what she had just read and in doing so she pictured her own life her love and pierre's her life before pierre came to put herself in isabella's place she felt back to the days before her love when she had lived in a desolation of bleak poverty up and away along lone river and her father shack. This log house of Pierre's was a castle by contrast. John Carver and his daughter had shared one room between them. Joan's bed curtained off with gunny-sacking in a corner. She slept on hides

Starting point is 00:04:18 and rolled herself up in old dingy patchwork quilts and worn blankets. On winter mornings, she would wake covered with the snow that had sifted in between the ill-matched logs. there had been a stove one leg gone and substituted for by a huge cobblestone there had been two chairs a long box a table shelves all rudely made by john there had been guns and traps and snow-shoes hides skins the wings of birds a couple of fishing-rods john made his living by legal and illegal trapping and killing he had looked like a trapped or hunted creature himself small furtive very dark with long fingers always working over his mouth a great crooked nose a hideous man surely a hideous father he hardly ever spoke but sometimes coming home from the town which he visited several times a year but to which he had never taken joan he would sit down over the stove and go over heavily for jones for jones for jones for joan's benefit the story of his crime and his escape joan always told herself that she would not listen whatever he said she would stop her ears but always the story fascinated her held her eyes widened on the figure by the stove he had sat huddled in his chair gnome-like his face contorting with the emotions of the story his own brilliant eyes fixed on the round round round

Starting point is 00:05:59 red mouth of the stove. The reflection of this scarlet circle was hideously noticeable in his pupils. A man's a right to kill his woman if she ain't honest with him, so the story began, if he finds out she's been tricking on him, playing him off for another man. That was your mother, gal. She was a bad woman. There followed a coarse and vivid description of her badness and the manner of it. That kind of thing no man can let pass by in his wife. I found her, again the rude details of his discovery, and I found him, and I let him go for the white-livered coward he was, but her I killed. I shot her dead after she'd said her prayers and asked God's mercy on her soul. Then I walked off, but they cotched me and I was

Starting point is 00:06:58 tried. They didn't swing me. Out in them parts, they knowed I was in my rights, so the boys held, but twas a life sentence. They took me by rail down to Dawson, and I give him a slip, handcuffs and all. Perhaps t'was only a half-hearted chase they made for me. Some of them fellas maybe had wives of their own. He always stopped to laugh at this point, and i cut off up country till i come to a smithy at the edge of a town i hung round for a spell till the smith he had gone off and i'd got into his place and rid me of the handcuffs twas a job but i wasn't cotched at it and i made myself free followed the story of his wanderings and his hardships and his coming to lone river and setting out his traps in them days there warn't no law agin trappin beaver a man could make an honest livin now they've took an made laws agin a man's bread an butter i ask ye if tain't wrong on a tuesday to trap yer beaver why tain't wrong the following tuesday i don't see it just because some fellers back there has made a law again it to suit themselves.

Starting point is 00:08:19 Anyway, the market for beaver hides is still prime. Maybe I'll leave you a fortune, gal. I've saved you from badness, anyhow. I risked a lot to go back and get you, but I'd done it. You was playing out in front of your aunt's house when I came for you. You was a three-year-old and a big youngster. Says I, what's your name? says you joan carver and i knowed you by your likeness to her by god i swore i'd save you i took you off with me though you put up a fight and i had to use you rough to silence you

Starting point is 00:09:00 there ain't a-goin to be no man in your life joan carver says i you and your big eyes is a-go-to be for me to do my work and to look after my comforts no pre-no pretty boys for you and no husbands either to go a shooting of you down for your sins he shivered and shook his head no here you stays with your father and grows up a good gal there ain't a gunn a gunn't a gunn't a gunn o'n't a gunn't a gunn't a gunn't a-goat but youth was stronger than the man's half crazy will and when she was seventeen joan ran away she found her way easily enough to the town for she was wise in the tracks of a wild country and john's trail townwards though so rarely used was to her eyes plain enough and very coolly she walked into the hotel past the group of loungers around the stove and asked at the desk where mrs upper sat if she could get a job mrs upper and the lounger stared for there were few women in this frontier country and those few were well known this great strong girl heavily graceful in her heavily awkward clothes bareheaded shod like a man her face and throat purely classic her eyes gray and wide and as secret in expression as an untamed beast's no one had ever seen the like of her before what's your name asked mrs upper suspiciously it was mormon day in the town there were celebrations and her house was full she needed extra hands but where this wild creature was concerned she was doubtful joan i'm john carver's daughter answered the girl at once comprehension dawned heads were nodded then craned for a better look

Starting point is 00:11:05 yes the town the whole country even had heard of john carver's imprisoned daughter sober and drunk he had boasted of her and of how there was to be no man in her life it was like dangling ripe fruit above the mouths of hungry boys to make such a boast and such a land but they were lazy it was a country of lazy slow-thinking slow-moving and slow-talking adventurers you will notice this ponderous inevitable quality of rolling stones and though men talked with humor not too fine of traveling up lone river for john's gal not a man had got there perhaps the men knew john carver for a coward that most dangerous animal to meet in his own lair now here stood the gal the mysterious secret goal of desire a splendid creature virginal savour as certainly designed for man as eve the men's eyes fastened upon her moved and dropped your father sent you down here for a job asked mrs upper incredulously no i come jones's grave gaze was unchanging i'm tired of it up there i ain't a-goin back i'm most eighteen now and i kind of want to change she had not meant to be funny but a gust of laughter rattled the room she shrank back it was more terrifying to her than any cruelty she had fancied meeting her in the town these were the men her father had forbidden these loud laughing crinkled faces she had turned to brave them a great surge of color in her brows

Starting point is 00:13:01 don't mind the boys dear spoke mrs upper they will laugh joke or none we ain't none of us blaming you it's a wonder ye ain't run off long afore now i can give you a job and welcome but you'll be green and unhandy well sir we can learn you you can turn your hand to chamber work and maybe help at the table maud will show you but joan what will dad do to you he'll be taken after you hot foot i reckon and be forgetting you back home as soon as he can joan did not change her look i'll not be goin back with him she said her slow deep voice chest notes of a musical vibration stirred the room the men were hers and gruffly said so a sudden warmth enveloped her from heart to foot she followed mrs upper to the initiation in her service clothed for the first time in human sympathies End of Book 1, Chapter 1. Recording by Roger Maline. Book 1, Chapter 2 of the branding iron by Catherine Newellyn Burt. This Librovoc's recording is in the public domain.

Starting point is 00:14:33 Recording by Roger Maline. Chapter 2 Pierre lays his hand on a heart. Maude Upper was the first girl of her own age that Joan had ever seen. Joan went in terror of her, and Maude knew this, and enjoyed her ascendancy over an untamed creature twice her size.

Starting point is 00:14:58 There was the crack of a lion-tamer's whip in the tone of her instructions. That was after a day or two. At first, Maude had been horribly afraid of Joan. A wild thing like her, living off there in the hills with that man, why, ma, there's no telling what she might be doing to me she won't hurt you laughed mrs upper who had lived in the wilds herself having been a frontierman's wife before the days even of this frontier town and having married the hotel-keeper as a second venture

Starting point is 00:15:35 she knew that civilization this rude place being civilization to joan would cow the girl and she knew that maud's self-assertive buoyancy would frighten the soul of her maud was large-hipped high-bosomed with a small round waist much compressed she carried her head with its waved brown hair very high and shot blue glances down along a short broad nose her mouth was thin and determined her color high she had a curious shallow weak voice that sounded breathless she taught joan impatiently and laughed loudly she taught joan impatiently and laughed loudly but not unkindly at her ways gee she's awkward ain't she she would say to the men trail like a bull moose the men grinned but their eyes followed joan's movements as a matter of fact she was not awkward through her clumsy clothes the heaviness of her early youth in spite of all the fetters of her ignorance her wonderful long bones and her wonderful strength asserted themselves and she never hurried at first this apparent sluggishness infuriated maud get a gait on you joan carver she would scream above the din of the rough meals but soon she found that joan's slow movements accomplished a tremendous amount of work in an amazingly short time there was no pause in the girl's activity she poured out her strength as a python pour as his noiselessly evenly steadily no haste no waste and the men's eyes brooded upon her

Starting point is 00:17:28 if joan had stayed long at mrs uppers she would have begun inevitably to model herself on maud who was in her eyes a marvellous thing of beauty but just a week after her arrival there came to the inn pierre landis and for joan began the strange and terrible history of love in the lives of most women of the vast majority the clatter and clash of housewivery prelude and postlude the spring song of their years and the rattle of dishes of busy knives and forks the quick tapping of maud's attendant feet the sound of young and ravenous jaws at work these sounds were in jones's bewildered ears and the sights which they accompanied in her bewildered eyes just before she heard pierre's voice just before she saw his face it was dinner hour at the hotel an hour most dreadful to joan because of the hurry the strangeness and the crowd because of the responsibility of her work but chiefly because at that hour she expected the appearance of her father her eyes were often on the door it opened to admit the young men the riders and ranchers who hung up their hats swaggered with a little jingle of spurs to their chairs clean-faced clean-handed wet-haired murmuring low-voiced courtes pass me the gravy please i wouldn't be caring for any thank you and lifting to the faces of waiting girls now and again their strange young brooding eyes bold laughing and afraid hungry pathetic arrogant as the eyes of young men are tameless and untamable

Starting point is 00:19:29 but full of the pathos of the untamed. Joan's heart shook a little under their looks, but when Pierre lifted his eyes to her, her heart stood still. She had not seen them following her progress around the room. He had come in late, and finding no place at the long central table, sat apart at a smaller one under a high, uncurtained window.

Starting point is 00:19:56 By the time she met his eyes, they were charged with light. Smoky blue eyes they were. The iris heavily ringed with black. The pupils dilated a little. For the first time it occurred to Joan, looking down with a still heart into his eyes, that a man might be beautiful.

Starting point is 00:20:19 The blood came up from her heart to her face. Her eyes struggled away from his. What's your name, gal? murmured Pierre. Joan Carver. You run away from home? He too had heard of her. Yes.

Starting point is 00:20:40 Will your father be taking you back? I won't be going with him. She was about to pass on. Pierre cast a swift look about the table, bent heads and busy hands, eyes cast down, ears, he knew, alert. It was a land of few women and of many men. He must leave in the morning early, and for months he would not be back. He put out a long, hard hand, caught Joan's wrist,

Starting point is 00:21:14 and gave it a queer, urgent shake, the gesture of an impatient and beseeching child. "'Will you be coming home with me, gal?' asked Pierre hurriedly. she looked at him her lips apart and she shook her head maud's voice screamed at her from the kitchen door pierre let her go she went on very white she did not sleep at all that night her father's face pierre's face looked at her in the morning pierre would be gone she had heard maud say that the queer landis feller would be making tracks back to her in the morning pierre would be gone she had heard maud say that the queer landis feller would be making tracks back to to that ranch of his across the river. Yes, he would be gone. She might have been going with him. She felt the urgent pressure of his hand on her arm, in her heart. It shook her with such a longing for love, for all the unknown largesse of love, that she cried. The next morning, pale, she came down and went about her work. Pierre was not at

Starting point is 00:22:25 breakfast, and she felt a sinking of heart, though she had not known that she had built upon seeing him again. Then, as she stepped out at the back to empty a bucket, there he was. Not even the beauty of dawn could lend mystery to the hideous littered yard, untidy as the yards of frontier towns invariably are, to the board fence, to the trampled half-acre of dirt, known as the square, and to the ugly frame building straggled about it. But it could and did give an unearthly look of blessedness to the bare, gray-brown beutes that ringed the town and a glory to the sky. While upon Pierre, waiting at his pony's head, it shed a magical and tender light.

Starting point is 00:23:18 He was dressed in his cowboy's best, a white silk handkerchief, nodded under his chin, leather chaps, bright spurs, a sombrero on his head. His face was grave, excited, wistful. At sight of Joan he moved forward, the pony trailing after him at the full length of its reins. And stopping before her, Pierre took off the sombrero, slowly stripped the gauntlet from his right hand, pressing both hat and glove against his hip with the left hand held out the free clean palm to joan good-bye said he unless you'll be coming with me after all joan felt again that rush of fire to her brows she took his hand and her fingers closed around it like the frightened lonely fingers of a little girl she came near to him and looked up I'll be coming with you, Pierre," she said, just above her breath. He shot up a full inch, stiffened, searching her with smoldering eyes,

Starting point is 00:24:34 then held her hard against him. You'll not be sorry, Joan Carver, said he gently and put her away from him. Then, unsmiling, he bade her go in and get her belongings, while he got her a horse and told his news to Mrs. Upper. That ride was dreamlike to Joan. Pierre put her in her saddle, and she rode after him across the square, and along a road flanked by the ugly houses of the town.

Starting point is 00:25:08 Where are we a-going? she asked him, timidly. He stopped at that, turned, and, resting his hand on the cantle of his saddle, smiled at her for the first time don't you savvy the answer to that question joan she shook her head the smile faded we're going to be married said he sternly and they rode on they were married by the justice a pleasant silent fellow who with western courtesy asked no more questions than were absolutely needful and in fifteen minutes joan mounted her horse again a ring on the third finger of her left hand now said pierre standing at her stirrup his shining smoke-blue eyes lifted to her his hand on her boot you'll be wantin some things some clothes no said joan maud went with me and helped me buy things with my pay just yesterday i won't be needin anything all right said he we're off then and he flung himself with a sudden wild boyish whoop he on his pony gave a clip to jones's horse and his own

Starting point is 00:26:35 and away they galloped a pair of young wild things out from the town through a straggling street to where the road boldly stretched itself toward a great land of sagebrush of buttes humping their backs against the brilliant sky down the valley they rode trotting walking galloping till turning westward they mounted a sharp slope and came up above the plain below in the heart of the long narrow valley the river coiled and wandered divided and came together again into a swift stream amongst aspen islands and willow swine POMps. Beyond this strange, lonely riverbed, the cottonwoods began, and above them, the pine forests massed themselves and strode up the foothills of the gigantic range, that range of iron rocks, sharp, thin, and brittle where they scrape the sky. At the top of the hill, Pierre put out his hand and pulled Joan's rein, drawing her to a stop beside him. Over yonder's my ranch, said he.

Starting point is 00:27:53 Joan looked. There was not a sign of house or clearing, but she followed his gesture and nodded. Under the mountains, she said. At the foot of Thunder Canyon. You can see a gap in the pines. There's a waterfall just above, that white streak. Now you've got it.

Starting point is 00:28:16 where you come from's to the south away yonder joan would not turn her head yes said she i know suddenly tears rushed to her eyes she had a moment of unbearable longing and regret pierre said nothing he was not watching her come on said he or your father will be taken after us they rode at a gallop down the hill end of book one chapter two recording by roger maline book one chapter three of the branding iron by katherine newland bert this librivox recording is in the public domain recording by roger maline book one chapter three two pictures in the fire the period which followed had a quality of breath unethless, almost unearthly happiness. They were young, savage, simple, and their love, unanalyzed, was as joyous as the loves of animals, joyous with that clear gravity characteristic of the boy and girl. Pierre had been terribly alone before Joan came, and the building up of his ranch had occupied his mind day and night, except now and again for dreams. yet he was of a passionate nature joan felt in him sometimes a savage possibility of violence two incidents of this time blazed themselves especially on her memory the one her father's visit the other an irrelevant enough picture until after events threw back a glare upon it they had been at pierre's ranch for a fortnight before john carver found them

Starting point is 00:30:24 then one morning as pierre opened the door to go out to work jones saw a thin red pony tied to the fence and a small figure walking toward the cabin pierre it's father she said and pierre stopped in his tracks drew himself up and waited hands on his cartridge belt how mean and old and furtive her father looked in contrast to this beautiful young husband Joan was entirely unafraid. She leaned against the side of the door and watched, as silent and unconsulted as any squaw, while the two men settled their property rights in her. "'So you've took my gal,' said John Carver, stopping a foot or two in front of Pierre,

Starting point is 00:31:16 his eyes shifting up and down, one long hand fingering his lips. Pierre answered, courteously. Some man was bound to have her, Mr. Carver, sooner or late. You can't set your face again the laws of nature. Will you be stepping in? Joan will give you some breakfast. Carver paid no heed to the invitation. Have you married her? said he. The blood rose to Pierre's brown face. Sure I have. well sir you have married a daughter of a carver used a brutal word look out for her if you see her eyes looking and looking at another man you can know what's to come pierre was white

Starting point is 00:32:10 i've done with her she can never come home to me for bite or bed shoot her if you have to pierre landis but when she's cotched at her mother's game don't send her to her to her back to me that's all i come to say he turned with limber agility and went back to his horse he was on it and off galloping madly across the sagebrush flat pierre turned and walked into the house past joan without a word she still leaned against the door but her head was bent presently she went about her housework every now and then she shot a wistful look at Pierre. All morning long he sat there, his hands hanging between his knees, his eyes full of a brooding trouble. At noon he shook his head, got up, and still without word or caress, he strode out and did not come back till dark. Joan suffered heartache and terror. When he came, she ran into his arms. He kissed her, seemed quite himself again, and the strange interview was never mentioned by either of them they were silent people given to feelings and to action rather than to thoughts and words

Starting point is 00:33:33 the other memory was of a certain sunset hour when she came at pierre's call out to the shed he had built at one side of their cabin its open side faced the west and as joan came her shadow went before her and fell across pierre at work the flame of the west gave a weird pallor to the flames over which he bent he was whistling and hammering at a long piece of iron joan came and stood beside him suddenly he straightened up and held in the air a bar of metal the shaped end quite hot joan blinked that's our brand gal said pierre don't you forget it when i've made my fortune they'll be stock all over the country marked with them two bars that'll be famous the two bar brand don't you forget it joan and he brought the white iron close so that she felt its heat on her face and drew back flinching he laughed let it fall and kissed her joan was very glad and proud end of book one chapter three recording by roger maline book one chapter four of the branding iron by katherine newland bert this librivox recording is in the public domain recording by roger maline book one chapter four the sin buster in the fall when the whole country had turned to a great cup of gold purple rimmed under the sky pierre went out into the hills and the hills after his winter meat. Joan was left alone. She spent her time cleaning and arranging the two-room

Starting point is 00:35:36 cabin and tidying up outdoors and in grubbing sagebrush, a gigantic task, for the 150 acres of Pierre's homestead were covered for the most part by the sturdy, spicy growth, and every bush had to be dug out and burnt to clear the way for plowing and planting. joan worked with the deliberateness and intentness of a man she enjoyed the wholesome drudgery she was proud every sundown of the little clearing she had made and stood tired and content to watch the piled brush burn sending up aromatic smoke and curious dull flames very high into the still air she was so standing hands folded on her rake when on the other side of her conflagration, she perceived a man. He was steadily regarding her, and when her eyes fell upon him, he smiled and stepped forward. A tall, broad, very fair young man in a shooting coat, khaki riding-breeches, and puttees. He had a wide brow, clear blue eyes, and an eager,

Starting point is 00:36:53 sensitive, clean-shaven mouth and chin. He held out a big white hand. Mrs. Landis, he said in a crisp voice of an accent and finish strange to the girl. I wonder if you and your husband can put me up for the night. I'm Frank Hollowell. I'm on a round of parish visits, and as my parish is about sixty miles square, my poor old pony has gone lame. I know you're not my parishioners, though no doubt you should be, but I'm going to lay claim on your hospitality for all that, if I may."

Starting point is 00:37:33 Joan had moved her rake into the grasp of her left hand, and had taken the proffered palm into her other, all warm and fragrantly stained. You're the new sin-buster, ain't you? she asked gravely. The young man opened his blue and friendly eyes. Oh, that's what I am, eh? That's a new one to me. Yes, I suppose I am. It's rather a fine name to go by, Sin Buster.

Starting point is 00:38:05 And he laughed very low and very amusedly. Joan looked him over and slowly smiled. You look like you could bust anything you'd have mind to, she said, and led the way toward the house, her rake across her shoulder. Pierre, she told him when they were in the shining, clean log-house is off in the hills after his elk but i can make you up a bed in the set-in-room and serve you a supper and welcome oh thanks he rather doubtfully accepted evidently he did not know the ways and proprieties of this new parish of his but jones seemed to take the situation with an enormous calm impersonality he modelled his manner upon her

Starting point is 00:38:55 they sat at the table together joan silent save when he forced her to speak and entirely untroubled by her silence frank holliwell eating heartily helping her serve and talking a great deal he asked her a great many questions which she answered with direct simplicity by the end of dish-washing he had her history and more of her opinions probably than any other creature she had met What do you do when Landis is away?" She told him. But in the evenings, I mean, after work. Have you books? No, said Joan. It's right hard labor, reading.

Starting point is 00:39:43 Paul learned me my letters, and I can spell out bits from papers and advertisements and whatnot, but I ain't never read a book straight out. I don't know. she added presently, but as I'd like to. Pierre can read, she told him proudly. I'm sure you'd like to.

Starting point is 00:40:05 He considered her through the smoke of his pipe. He was sitting by the hearth now, and she, just threw with clearing up, stood by the corner of the mantel shelf, arranging the logs. The firelight danced over her face, so beautiful, so unlighted from within. how old are you joan landis he asked suddenly using her name without title for the first time eighteen is that all you must read books you know there's so much empty space there back of your brows

Starting point is 00:40:43 she looked up smiling a little her wide gray eyes puzzled yes joan you must read will you if i lend you some books she considered yes she said i'd read them if you'd be lending me some in the evenings when pierre's away i'm right lonesome i never was lonesome before not to know it it'll take me a long time to read one book though she added with an engaging mournfulness what do you like stories poetry magazines i'd like real books and stiff covers said joan and i don't like pictures this surprised the clergyman why not said he i like to notion how the folks look myself i like pictures of real places that has got to be like they are joan was talking a great deal and having trouble with her few simple words but i like folks and stories to look like I want them to look. Not the way the writer describes them? Yes, sir, but you can make up a whole lot on what the writer describes.

Starting point is 00:42:06 If he says her eyes is blue, you can see him dark blue or light blue or just blue, and you can see him shaped round or whatnot the way you think about folks that you've heard of and have never met. it was extraordinary how this effort of self-expression excited joan she was rarely self-conscious but she was usually passive or stolid now there was a brilliant flush in her face and her large eyes deepened and glowed i heard tell of you mr hollowell fellers come up here to see pierre once in a while and one or two of em spoke your name and i kind o figure you out as a weedy feller awful solemn like and of course you ain't but it's real hard for me to notion that there ain't too mr hollowells you and the weedy sin buster i've been picturing like as not i'll get to thinkin of you like two fellers joan sighed seems like when i once get a notion in my head it jest sticks there some way then the more wise notions you get the better i'll ride up here in a couple of weeks time with some books you may keep them as long as you will all winter if you like

Starting point is 00:43:33 when i get up here we can talk them over you and landis and i'll try to choose some without pictures there'll be stories and some poetry too i ain't never heard but one poem said joan and that was she had sat down on the floor by the hearth her head thrown back to lean against the cobbles of the chimney-piece her knees locked in her hands that magnificent long throat of hers ran up to the black coils of her hair which had slipped heavily down over her ears the light edged her round chin and her strongly modeled regular features the full firm mouth so savagely pure and sensuous and self-contained the eyes were mysterious under their thick lashes and dark long brows this throat and face and these strong hands were picked out in their full value of line and texture from the dark cotton dress she was wearing it's a poem on a card what father had stuck again the wall she began to recite her eyes fixed upon him with childlike gravity he maketh me to lie down in green pastures he leadeth me beside the still waters yea though i walk through the valley of shadows thou art with me thy rod and thy staff they comfort me hollowell had taken the pipe from between his teeth had straightened up her deep voice the slight swinging of her body to the rhythm she had unconsciously given to her lines the strange glow in her eyes

Starting point is 00:45:23 hollowell wondered why these things this brief sing-song recitation had given a light thrill to the surface of his skin had sent a tingling to his finger-tips he was the first person to wonder at that effect of jones's cadenced music the valley of the shadow she had missed a familiar phrase and added value to a too often repeated line joan joan said the sinbuster an exclamation drawn from him on a deep breath what an extraordinary girl you are what a marvelous woman you are going to be joan looked at him in a silence of pure astonishment and that was the end of their real talk end of book one chapter four recording by roger maline book one chapter five of the branding iron by katherine newland bert this librivox recording is in the public domain recording by roger maline book one chapter five pierre becomes alarmed about his property the next time hollowell came he brought the books and finding pierre at home he sat with his host after supper and talked men's talk of the country of game of ranching a little gossip stories of travel humorous experiences and jones sat in her place the books in her lap looking and listening john carver had used a phrase when you see her eyes looking and looking at another man.

Starting point is 00:47:18 And this phrase had stuck in Pierre's sensitive and jealous memory. What Joan felt for Hollowell was a sort of ignorant and respectful tenderness. The excitement of an intelligent child first moved to a knowledge of its own intelligence, the gratitude of savage loneliness toward the beautiful feat of exploration. A consciousness of her clean mind, consciousness of her young, untamed spirit, had come slowly to life in her since her talk with Hollowell. Joan was peculiarly a woman, that is, the passive and receptive being. Pierre had laid his hand on her heart, and she had followed him. Now this young parson had put a curious finger

Starting point is 00:48:04 on her brain. It followed him. Her husband saw the admiration, the gratitude, the tender excitement in her frank eyes, and the poisoned seed sewn by John Carver's hand shot out roots and tiny, deadly branches. But Joan and Hollowell were unaware. Pierre smoked rapidly, rolling cigarette after cigarette. He listened with a courteous air. He told stories in his soft, slow voice. Once he went out to bring in a fresh log, and coming back on noiseless feet, saw Joan and her instructor bent over one of the books, and Joan's face was almost that of a stranger, so eager, so flushed, with sparkles in the usually still gray eyes. It was not till a week or two after this second visit from the clergyman that Pierre's smoldering jealousy broke into flame. After clearing away the supper things,

Starting point is 00:49:06 with an absent air of eager expectation, Joan would dry her hands on her apron, and, taking down one of her books from their place in a shelf corner, she would draw her chair close to the lamp and begin to read, forgetful of Pierre. These had been the happiest hours for him. He would tell Joan about his day's work,

Starting point is 00:49:29 about his plans, about his past life. Wonderful it was to him, after his lonely, that she should be sitting there drinking in every word and loving him with her dumb wild eyes now there was no talk and no listening jones absorbed face was turned from him and bent over her book her lips moved she would stop and stare before her after a long while he would get up and go to bed but she would stay with her books till a restless movement from him would make her aware of the lamplight shut shining wakefulness upon him through the chinks in the partition wall. Then she would get up reluctantly, sighing, and come to bed. For ten evenings this went on, Pierre's heart slowly heating itself, until all at once the flame leaped.

Starting point is 00:50:25 Joan had untied her apron and reached up for her book. Pierre had been waiting, hoping that of her free will she might prefer his company to the parson fellers for in his ignorance those books were jealously personified but without a glance in his direction she had turned as usual to the shelf you gonna read pierre asked hoarsely it was a painful effort to speak she turned with a childish look of astonishment yes pierre he stood up with one of his lithe swift movements all in one rip pease. By God, you're not, though, said he, strode over to her, snatched the volume from her, threw it back into its place, and pointed her to her chair. You set down and give heed to me for a change, Joan Carver, he said, his smoke-colored eyes smoldering. I didn't fetch you up here to read Parsons' books and waste oil. I fetched you up here to—he stopped.

Starting point is 00:51:35 choked with a sudden enormous hurt tenderness and sat down and fell to smoking and staring hot-eyed into the fire and joan sat silent in her place puzzled wistful wounded her idle hands folded looking at him for a while then absently before her and he knew that her mind was busy again with the preacher feller's books if he had known better how to explain his heart if he had known better how to explain his heart if he had known better how to explain his heart if he had been a man she had known how to show him the impersonal eagerness of her awakening mind but savage and silent they sat there loving each other hurt but locked each into his own impenetrable life after that joan changed the hours of her study and neglected housework and sagebrush grabbing but none the less were pierre's evening spoiled perfection of intercourse is the most perishable of all life's commodities now when he talked he could not escape the consciousness of having constrained his audience she could not escape her knowledge of his jealousy the remembrance of his mysterious outbreak the irrepressible tug of the story she was reading so it went on till snow came and they were shut in man and wife with only each other to watch a tremendous test of good fellowship this searching intimacy came at a bad time just after hollowell's third visit when he had brought a fresh supply of books there's poetry this time he said get pierre to read it aloud to you the suggestion was met by a rude laugh from pierre i wouldn't be wasting my time he jeered

Starting point is 00:53:32 it was the first rift in his courtesy hollowell looked up in sharp surprise he saw a flash of the truth a little wriggle of the green serpent in pierre's eyes before the first rift in his courtesy hollowell looked up in sharp surprise he saw a flash of the truth a little wriggle of the green serpent in pierre's eyes before the they fell. He flushed and glanced at Joan. She stood by the table in the circle of lamplight, looking over the new books, but in her eagerness there was less simplicity. She wore an almost timorous air, accepted his remarks in silence, shot doubtful looks at Pierre before she answered questions, was an entirely different Joan. Now Hollowell was angry, and he saw, stiffened toward his host and hostess, dropped all his talk about the books, and smoke haughtily. He was young and oversensitive, no more master of himself in this instance, than Pierre and Joan. But before he left, after supper, refusing a bed, though Pierre conquered his dislike sufficiently

Starting point is 00:54:37 to urge it, Hollowell had a moment with Joan. It was very touching. He would tell about it after but for a long time he could not bear to remember it she tried to return his books coming with her arms full of them and lifting up eyes that were almost tragic with renunciation i can't be taken the time to read them mr hollowell she said that extraordinary over-expressive voice of hers running an octave of regret in some way pierre don't like that i should spend my evenings on them seems like he thinks i was setting myself up to be no one more than him she laughed ruefully me no one more in pierre it's laughable but anyways i don't want him to be thinking that so take the books please i like them she paused i love them she said hungrily and blinking thrust them into his hands he put them down in the table you're wrong joan he said quickly you mustn't give in to such a foolish idea you have rights of your own a life of your own pierre mustn't stand in the way of your learning you mustn't let him i'll speak to him oh no some intuition warned her of the danger in his doing this well then keep your books and talk to pierre about them try to persuade him to read aloud to you i shan't be back now till spring but i want you to read this winter read all the stuff that's there come joan to please me and he smiled coaxingly

Starting point is 00:56:30 i ain't a feared of pierre said jones slowly her pride was stung by the suggestion i'll keep the books she sighed good-bye when i see you in the spring i'll be a right learned school marm she held out her hand and he took and held it pressing it in his own he felt troubled about her unwilling to leave her in the snow-bound wilderness with that young young savage of the smoldering eyes. Goodbye, said Pierre behind him. His soft voice had a click. Hollowell turned to him. Goodbye, Landis. I shan't see either of you till the spring.

Starting point is 00:57:18 I wish you a good winter, and I hope. He broke off and held out his hand. Well, said he, you're pretty far out of everyone's way here. be good to each other damn your interference said pierre's eyes but he took the hand and even escorted hollowell to his horse snow came early and deep that winter it fell for long gray days and nights and then it came in hurricanes of drift wrapping the cabin in swirling white till only one window peered out and one gabled corner crocked itself above the crows crust. Pierre had cut and stacked his winter wood. He had sent his cows to a richer man's ranch for winter feeding. There was very little for him to do. After he had brought in two buckets of water from the well, and had cut, for the day's consumption, a piece of meat from his elk hanging outside

Starting point is 00:58:23 against the wall, he had only to sit and smoke, to read old magazines and papers, and to watch Joan. Then the poisonous roots of his jealousy struck deep. Always his brain, unaccustomed to physical idleness, was at work, falsely interpreting her wistful silence. She was thinking of the parson, hungry to read his books, longing for the open season and his coming again to the ranch. In December a man came in on snowshoes bringing the mail. one letter for pierre a communication which brought heat to his face the forest service threatened him with a loss of land it pointed to some flaw in his title part of his property the most valuable part had not yet been surveyed pierre looked up with set jaws every fighting instinct sharpened to hold what was his own i have put in two years hard work on them acres he told his visitor and i'm not planning to give them over to the first fool favored by the service my title is as clean as my hand

Starting point is 00:59:40 it'll take more in thievery and more in spite to take it away from me you'd better go to robinson advised the bearer of the letter can't get after them fellers too soon it's a country where you can easy come by what you want, but where it ain't so easy to hold on to it. If it ain't your land, it's your hosses. If it ain't your hosses, it's your wife. He looked at Joan and laughed. Pierre went white and dumb. The chance shot had inflamed his wound. He strapped on his snow shoes and bade a grim goodbye to Joan

Starting point is 01:00:21 after the man had left. Don't you be waste in oil while I'm away, he told her sharply, standing in the doorway, his head level with the steep wall of snow behind him, and he gave her a threatening look so that the tenderness in her heart was frozen. After he had gone, Pierre, say a real goodbye, say goodbye, she whispered. Her face cramped and tears came. She heard his steps lightly crunching across the heart. bright surface of the snow. They entered into the terrible frozen silence. Then she turned from the door, dried her eyes with her sleeve like a little village girl, and ran across the room to a certain

Starting point is 01:01:10 shelf. Pierre would be gone a week. She would not waste oil, but she would read. It was with the appetite of a starved creature that she fell upon her books. End of Book 1, Chapter 5. Recording by Roger Maline. Book 1, Chapter 6 of the branding iron by Catherine Newland Bert. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Roger Maline. Chapter 6.

Starting point is 01:01:51 Pierre takes steps to preserve his property. A log fell forward, and Joan lifted her head. She had not come to an end of Isabella's tragedy, nor of her own memories, but something other than the falling log had startled her, a light crunching step upon the snow. She looked toward the window. For an instant the room was almost dark, and the white night peered in at her,

Starting point is 01:02:21 its gigantic snow peaks pressing against the long horizontal window panes, and in that instant she saw a face the fire started up again the white knight dropped away the face shone close a moment longer then it too disappeared joan came to her feet with pounding pulses it had been pierre's face but at the same time the face of a stranger he had come back five days too soon and something terrible had happened surely his chancing to see her with her book would not make him look like that besides she was not wasting oil she had stood up but at first she was incapable of moving forward for the first time in her life she knew the paralysis of unreasoning fear then the door opened and pierre came in out of the crystal night what brought you back so soon asked joan too soon for you eh he strode over to the hearth where she had lain took up the book struck it with his hand as though it had been a hated face and flung it into the fire i seen you through the window he said so you been happy reading while i been away i'll get you supper i'll light the lamp jones stammered pierre's face was pale his black hair lay in wet streaks on his temples he must have travelled at furious speed through the bitter cold to be in such a sweat there was a mysterious controlled disorder in his look and there arose from him the odor of strong drink

Starting point is 01:04:13 but he was steady and sure in all his movements and his eyes were deadly cool and reasonable only it was the reasonableness of insanity reasonableness of insanity reasonableness based on the wildest premises of unreason i don't want no supper nor no light he said firelight's enough for you to read parson's books by it's enough for me to do what i oughter done long for to-night she stood in the middle of the small log-walled room arrested in the act of lighting a match and stared at him with troubled eyes she was no longer afraid after all strange as he looked more strangely as he talked he was her pierre her man the confidence of her heart had not been seriously shaken by his coldness and his moods during this winter there had been times of fierce possessive tenderness she was his own woman his property at this low counting did she rate herself a sane man does no injury to his own possessions and pierre of course was sane he was tired angry he had been drinking her ignorance her inexperience led her to put little emphasis on the effects of the poison sold at the town saloon when he was warm and fed and rested he would be quite himself again she went about preparing a meal in spite of his words he did not seem to notice this he had taken his eyes from her at last and was busy with the fire she too busy and reassured by the familiar occupation ceased to watch him

Starting point is 01:06:06 her pulses were quiet now she was even beginning to be glad of his return why had she been so frightened of course after such a terrible journey alone in the bitter cold he would look strange her father when he came back smelling of liquor had always been more than usually morose and unlike his everyday self he would sit over the stove and tell her the story of his crime they were horrible homecomings horrible evenings but the next morning they would seem like dreams to-morrow this strangeness of pier's would be mistlike and unreal i seen your sinbuster in town said pierre he was squatting on his heels over the fire which he had built up to a great blaze and glow and he spoke in a queer sing-song tone through his teeth he asked after you real kind he wanted to know how you was gettin on with the education he's been handing out to you i tell em that you was right satisfied with me in my ways and had quays and had quothed you he'd tell em that you was right satisfied with me in my ways and had quays and quit his books i didn't know as you was having such a good time during my absence joan was cruelly hurt his words seemed to fall heavily upon her heart i wasn't having a good time i was missing you pierre said she in a low tremolo of grieving music them books they seemed like they was all the company i had you looked like you was missing me he sneered the sin buster and i had words about you joan yeasum he gave me quite a line of preaching about you joan as how you had otter develop your own life in your own way along the lines laid out by him

Starting point is 01:08:07 i told him as how i knowed best what was right an fit'in for my own wife as how with a mother like yearn you needn't watch and more'n learning as how you belong to me and not to him and says he she don't belong to any man pierre landis he said neither to you nor to me she belongs to her own self i'll see that she belongs to me i said i'll fix her so she'll know it and every other feller will at that he turned from the fire and straightened to his feet joan moved backward slowly to the door. He had made no threatening sign or movement, but her fear had come overwhelmingly upon her, and every instinct urged her to flight. But before she touched the handle of the door, he flung himself with deadly swift force and silence across the room and took her in his arms. With all her wonderful young strength, Joan could not break away from him. He dragged her back to the hearth, tied her elbows behind her, with the scarf from his neck, that very scarf he had

Starting point is 01:09:23 worn when the dawn had shed a wistful beauty upon him, waiting for her on a morning not so very long ago. Joan went weak. Pierre, she cried pitifully. What are you going to do to me? He roped her to the heavy post of a set of shelves built against the wall. Then he stood away, breathing fast. now whose gal are you joan carver he asked her you know i'm yours pierre she sobbed you got no need to tie me to make me say that i got to tie you to make you do more and say it i got to make sure you are it hellfire won't take the sureness out of me after this she turned her head all that she could turn he was bending over it the fire, and when he straightened she saw that he held something in his hand, a long bar of metal, white at the shaped end. At once her memory showed her a broad glow of sunset falling over

Starting point is 01:10:31 Pierre at work. There'll be stock all over the country marked with them two bars, he had said. The two-bar brand, don't you forget it. She was not likely to forget it now. she shut her eyes he stepped close to her and jerked her blouse down from her shoulder she writhed away from him silent in her rage and fear and fighting dumbly she made no appeal at that moment her heart was so full of hatred that it was hardened to pride he lifted his brand and set it against the bare flesh of her shoulder then terribly she screamed again when he took the metal away she screamed afterwards there was a dreadful silence joan had not lost consciousness her healthy nerves staunchly received the anguish and the shock nor did she make any further outcry she pressed her forehead against the sharp edge of the shelf she drove her nails into her hands and at intervals she writhed from head to foot. Circles of pain spread from the deep burn in her shoulder,

Starting point is 01:11:52 spread and shrank, to spread and shrink again. The bones of her shoulder and arm ached terribly. Fire still seemed to be eating into her flesh. The air was full of the smell of scorched skin so that she tasted it herself. And hudder than her hurt, her heart burned, consuming its own tenderness and love and trust when this pain left her when she was free of her bonds no force nor fear would hold her to pierre she would leave him as she had left her father she would go away there was no place for her to go but what did that matter so long as she might escape from this horrible place and this infernal tormentor she did not look about to see the actuality of pierre's silence she thought that he had dropped the brand and was sitting near the table with his face hidden

Starting point is 01:12:52 how long the stillness of pain and fury and horror lasted there was no one to reckon it was most startlingly broken by a voice who screamed for help it said and at the same instant a draught of icy air smoke The door had opened with suddenness and violence. With difficulty, she mastered her pain and turned her head. Pierre had staggered to his feet. Opposite him, framed against the open door filled with the wan whiteness of the snow, stood a spare, tall figure. The man wore his fur collar turned up about his chin and ears, his fur cap pulled down about his brow,

Starting point is 01:13:40 a sharp aquiline nose stood out above frozen moustaches keen and brilliant eyes searched the room he carried his gun across his arm in readiness and snuffed the air like a suspicious hound then he advanced a step toward pierre what devil's work have you been at said he his voice cutting the ear in its sharpness of astonished rage and his hand slid down along the handle of his gun. Pierre, watching him like a lynx, sidestepped, crouched, whipped out his gun and fired. At almost the same second the other man's gun went off, Pierre dropped. This time, Joan's nerves gave way and the room, with its smell of scorched flesh, of powder, and of frost, went out from her horrified senses. For a moment the stranger's stern face and brilliant eyes made the approaching center of a great cloud of darkness. Then it too went out.

Starting point is 01:14:51 End of Book 1, Chapter 6. Recording by Roger Maline. Book 1, Chapter 7 of the branding iron by Catherine Newellyn Burt. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Roger Malene. Chapter 7 the judgment of god the man who had entered with such violence upon so violent a scene stood waiting till the smoke of pierre's discharge had cleared away then still holding his gun in readiness he stepped across the room and bent over the fallen man i've killed him he said just above his breath and added presently that was the judgment of god

Starting point is 01:15:47 he looked about taking in every detail of the scene the branding-iron that had burnt its mark deep into the boards where pierre had thrown it down the glowing fire heaped high and blazing dangerously in the small room the woman bound and burnt the white knight outside the uncurtained window afterwards he went over to the woman who drooped in her bonds with head hanging backward over the wounded shoulder he untied the silk scarf and the rope and carried her still unconscious into the bedroom where he laid her on the bed and bathed her face in water jones crown of hair had fallen about her neck and temples her bared throat and shoulder had the firm smoothness of marble her lifeless face its pure full lips fallen apart its long lids closed black fringed and black-browed owing little of its beauty to color or expression was at no loss in this death-like composure and whiteness the man dealt gently with her as though she had been a child he found clean rags which he soaked in oil and placed over her burn then he drew the coarse clothing about her and resumed his bathing of her forehead she gave a moaning sigh her face contracted woefully and she opened her eyes the man looked into them as a curious child might look into an open door did you see what happened he asked her when she had come fully to herself yes joan whispered her lips shaking

Starting point is 01:17:35 i've killed the brute her face became a classic mask of tragedy the drawn brows horrified eyes and widened mouth pierre killed her voice hardly more than a whisper filled the house with its agony are you sorry demanded her rescuer sternly was he in the habit of tying you up or was this branding a special diversion joan turned her face away writhed from head to foot put up her two hands between him and her agonizing memories the man rose and left her going softly into the next room there he stood in a tense attitude of thought sat down presently with his long narrow jaw in his hands and stared fixedly at pierre he was evidently trying to fight down the shock of the spectacle grimly telling himself to become used to the fact that here lay the body of a man that he had killed in a short time he seemed to be successful his face grew calm he looked away from pierre and turned his mind to the woman she can't stay here he said presently in the tone of a man who has fallen into the habit of talking aloud to himself he looked about in a hesitant doubtful fashion god he said abruptly and snapped his fingers and thumb he looked angry again he bent over pierre examined him with thoroughness and science his face becoming more and more calm at the end he rose and with an air of authority he went in again to joan she lay with her face turned to the wall it is impossible for you to stay here said he in a voice of command

Starting point is 01:19:40 you are not fit to take care of yourself and i can't stay and take care of you you must come with me i think you can manage that your husband if he is your husband is dead it may or may not be a matter for sorrow to you but i should say that it ought not to be anything but a merciful release women are queer creatures though however whether you are in grief or in rejoicing you can't stay here by to-morrow or next day you'll need more nursing than you do now i don't want to take you to a neighbor even if there was one near enough but i'll take you with me Will you get ready now?" His sure, even commanding voice evidently had a hypnotizing effect upon the dazed girl. Slowly, wincing, she stood up, and with his help gathered together some of her belongings, which he put in the pack he carried on his shoulders. She wrapped herself in her warmest outdoor clothing.

Starting point is 01:20:50 He then put his hand upon her arm and drew her toward the door. door of that outer room. She followed him blindly with no will of her own, but as he stopped to strap on his snowshoes, her face lightened with pain, and she made as if to run to Pierre's body. He stood before her. Don't touch him, said he, and, turning himself, he glanced back at Pierre. In that glance he saw one of the lean brown hands stir. his face became suddenly suffused even his eyes grew shot with blood standing carefully so as to obstruct her view he caught at the corner of an elk hide and threw it over pierre then he went to joan who stared at him white and shaking he put his arm around her and drew her out shutting the door of her home and leaning against it you can't go back said he gently and reasonably the man tried to kill you you can't go back surely you meant to go away

Starting point is 01:22:05 yes said joan yes i did mean to go away but-but it's pierre he bent and began to strap on her snow-shoes there was a fighting brilliance in his eyes and a strange look of hurry about him that had its effect on joan it's pierre no longer said he what can you do for him what can he do for you be sensible child come don't waste time there will be snow to-day in fact it was to-day the moon had set and a gray dawn possessed the world it was not nearly so cold and the great range had vanished in a bank of gray-black clouds moving steadily northward under a damp wind joan looked at this one living creature with wide fever-brightened eyes come said the man impatiently Joan bent her head and followed him across the snow end of book one chapter seven recording by roger maline book one chapter eight of the branding iron by katherine newland bert this librivox recording is in the public domain recording by roger maline chapter eight deline it is not the people that have led still and uneventful lives who are best prepared for emergencies they are not trained to face crises to make prompt and just decisions joan had made but two such resolutions in her life the first when she had followed pierre the second when she had kept hollowell's books in defiance of her husband's jealousy the leaving her father had been the result of long and painful thought now in a few hours events had crashed about her so that her whole life outer and inner had been shattered

Starting point is 01:24:24 beyond the pain and fever of her wound there was an utter confusion of her faculties before she fainted she had indeed made a distinct resolve to leave pierre it was this purpose working subconsciously on her will as much as the urgent pressure of the stranger that took her past pierre's body out into the dawn and sent her on that rash journey of hers in the footsteps of an unknown man this being seemed to her then hardly human mysteriously he had stepped in out of the night mysteriously he had condemned pierre and in self-defence for joan had seen pierre draw his gun and fire he had killed her husband now just as mysteriously as inevitably it seemed to her he took command of her life she was a passive shipwrecked thing a derelict She had little thought and no care for her life. As the silent day slowly brightened through its glare of clouds, she plodded on, setting her snowshoes in the tracks her leader made. The pain in her shoulder steadily increased,

Starting point is 01:25:42 more and more absorbed her consciousness. She saw little but the lean, resolute figure that went before her, turning back now and then with a look and a smile, that were a compelling mixture of encouragement pity and command she did not know that they were traveling north and west toward the wildest and most desolate country that every time she set down her foot she set it down farther from humanity she began soon to be a little light-headed and thought that she was following pierre at noon they entered the woods and her guide came beside her and led her through fallen timber and passed pitfalls of soft snow suddenly i can't go no more she sobbed and stopped swaying at that he took her in his arms and carried her a few hundred feet till they entered a cabin under the shelter of furs it's the ranger station said he the ranger told me that i could make use of it on my way back we can pass the night here joe knew that he had carried her across a strange room and put her on a strange bed he took off her snow-shoes and she lay watching him light a fire in the cold clean stove and cook a meal from supplies left by the owner of the house

Starting point is 01:27:10 she was trying now to remember who he was what had happened and why she was in such misery and pain sometimes she knew that he was her father and that she was at home in that wretched shack up lone river and an ineffable satisfaction would relax her cramped mind sometimes just as clearly she knew that he was pierre who had taken her away to some strange place and in this certainty she was even more content but always the horrible flame on her shoulder burnt her again to the confusion of half-consciousness he wasn't john carver he wasn't pierre who in god's name was he and why was she here alone with him she could not frame a question she had a fear that if she began to speak she would scream and rave would tell impossible secret sacred things. So she held herself to silence, to a savage watchfulness, to a battle with delirium. The man brought her a cup of strong coffee and held up her head so that she could drink it, but it nauseated her and she thrust it weakly away, asking for cold water. After she had drunk this, her mind cleared for an instant and she tried to stand up. I must go back to

Starting point is 01:28:40 Pierre now, she said, looking about with wild but resolute eyes. Lie still, said the stranger gently. You're not fit to stir. Trust me. It's all right. You're quite safe. Get rested and well. Then you may go wherever you like. I only want to help you. The reassuring tone, the promising words, coerced her, and she dropped back. presently in spite of pain she slept she woke and slept in fever for many hours vaguely aware at times that she was traveling she felt the motion of a sled under her and knew that she was lying on the warm hide of some freshly killed beast and that a blanket and a canvas covering protected her from a swirl of snow then she thought she heard a voice babbling queerly and that a blanket and a canvas covering protected her from a swirl of snow then she thought she heard a voice babbling queerly and saw a face quite terribly different from other human faces. The covering was taken from her,

Starting point is 01:29:47 snowflakes touched her cheek, a lantern shone shown in her eyes, and she was lifted and carried into a warm, pleasant-smelling place, from which were magically and completely banished all sound and bitterness of storm. She tried to see where she was, but her eyes looked on incredible colors and confusions, so she shut them and passively allowed herself to be handled by deft hands. She knew only that delicious coolness, cleanliness, and softness were given to her body, that the pain in her shoulder was soothed, that dreamlessly she slept. End of Book 1, Chapter 8. Recording by Roger Maline. Book 1, Chapter 9 of the Branding Iron by Catholic

Starting point is 01:30:45 Catherine Newland Bert. This Librovoc's recording is in the public domain. Recording by Roger Maline. Chapter 9. Dried Rose Leaves The house that Prosper Gale had built for himself and for the woman whom Joan came to think of as the tall child stood in a canyon, a deep secret fold of the hills, where a cliff stood behind it and where the pine-needled ground descended before its door under the far-flung greenish-brown shade of fir boughs to the lip of a green lake here the highest snow-peak toppled giddily down and reared giddily up from the crystal green to the ether blue furs massed into the center of the double image in january the lake was a glare of snow in which the big firs stood deep their branches heavily waited. Prosper had dug a tunnel from his door through a big drift which touched

Starting point is 01:31:51 his eaves. It was curious to see Wen Ho come pattering out of this northern cave, his yellow oriental face and slant eyes peering past the stalactite icicles, as though they felt their own incongruity almost with a sort of terror. The interior of the five-room house gave such an effect of bizarre and extravagant contrast, an effect too of luxury, though in truth it was furnished for the most part with stuffs and objects picked up at no very great expense in San Francisco shops. Nevertheless, there was nothing tawdry, and here and there, something really precious. Draperies on the walls, furniture made by Wen Ho and Prosper, lacquered in black and red, brass and copper, bright pewter, gay china, some fur rugs, a gorgeous oriental lamp, bookcases with volumes of a sober

Starting point is 01:32:53 richness, in fact, the costliest and most laborious of imports to this wilderness, small-paned horizontal windows curtained in some heavy green gold stuff which slipped along the black lacquered pole on rings of jade. All these and a hundred other points of softly brilliant color, gave to the living room a rare and striking look, while the bedrooms were matted, daintily furnished, carefully appointed as for a bride. Much thought and trouble, much detailed labor had gone to the making of this odd nest in a Wyoming canyon. Whatever one must think of Prospergale, it is difficult to shirk heartache on his account. A man of his temperament does not lightly undertake even a companion isolation in a winter land.

Starting point is 01:33:49 To picture what place of torment this well-appointed cabin was to him, before he brought to it Joan, as a lonely man brings in a wounded bird to nurse and cherish, stretches the fancy on a rack of varied painfulness. On that night, snow was pouring itself down the narrow canyon in a crowded whirl of dry, clean flakes. When Ho, watchful, for his master was already a day or so behind the promised date of his return, had started a fire on the hearth and spread a single cover on the table. He had drawn the green and gold curtains as though there had been anything but whirling whiteness to look in and stood warming himself with the rubbing of thin, dry hands before the open blaze. the real heat of the house and it was almost unbearably hot came from the stoves in kitchen and bedrooms but this fire gave its quota of warmth and more than its quota of that beauty so necessary to prosper gale

Starting point is 01:34:55 when ho put his head from one side to the other and stopped rubbing his hands he had heard the packing of snow under webs and runners after listening a moment he nodded to himself like a figure in a pantomime ran into the kitchen did something to the stove then lighted a lantern and pattered out along the tunnel dodging the icicle stalactites between the firs he stopped and held his lantern high so that it touched a moving radius of flakes to silver stars back of him through the open door streamed the glow of lamp and fire filling the evening icicles with blood and flushing the walls and the roof of the cave. Down the canyon, Prosper shouted, Wenho! Wenho! The Chinaman plunged down the trail, packed below the new-fallen snow by frequent passage,

Starting point is 01:35:56 and presently met the bent figure of his master pulling and breathing hard. Without speaking, Wen Ho laid hold of the sled rope and together the two men tugged up the last steep bit of the hill very heavy load said when prosper's eyes gleaming below the visor of his cap smiled half maliciously upon him it's a deer killed out of season he said and other cattle no maverick either fairly marked by its owner lend me a hand and will unload when showed no astonishment he removed the covering and peeped slantwise at the strange woman who stared at him unseeingly with large bright eyes she closed them frowning faintly as though she protested against the intrusion of a chinese face into her disturbed mental world the men took her up and carried her into the house where they dressed her wound and laid her with all possible gentlemen in one of the two beds of stripped and lacquered pine that stood in the bedroom facing the lake afterwards they moved the other bed and prosper went in to his meal he was too tired to eat soon he pushed his plate away turned his chair to face the fire and slipping down to the middle of his spine stuck out his lean long legs locked his hands back of his head let his chin

Starting point is 01:37:36 fall and stared into the flames. Wenho removed the dishes, glancing often at his master. You velly tired? he questioned softly. It was something of a pole in the storm. Very small dear, babbled the chinaman. Very big lady. Prosper smiled a queer smile that sucked in and down the corners of his mouth. She come after all? asked Wenho. Prosper's smile disappeared. He opened his eyes and turned a wicked, gleaming look upon his man. What with the white face and drawn mouth, the look was rather terrible.

Starting point is 01:38:23 Wenho vanished with an increase of speed and silence. Alone, Prosper twisted himself in his chair till his head rested on his arms. It was no relaxation of weariness or grief, but an attitude of cramped pain. His face, too, was cramped, when, a motionless hour later, he lifted it again. He got up then, broken with weariness, and went softly across the matted hall

Starting point is 01:38:53 into the room where Joan slept, and he stood beside her bed. A glow from the stove, and the light shining through the door, dimly illumined her. She was sleeping very quietly now. The flush of fever had left her face, and it was clear of pain, quite simple and sad. Prosper looked at her and looked about the room as though he felt what he saw to be a dream. He put his hand on one long strand of Joan's black hair. "'Poor child!' he said. "'Good child!'

Starting point is 01:39:32 and went out softly shutting the door in the bedroom where joan came again to altered consciousness of life there stood a blue china jar of popery rose-leaves dried and spiced till they stored all the richness of a southern summer jones's first question strangely enough was drawn from her by the persistence of this vague and pungent sweetness she was lying quietly with closed eyes prosper looking down at her his finger on her even pulse when without opening her long lids she asked what smells so good prosper started drew away his fingers then answered smiling it's a jar of dried rose leaves wait a moment i'll let you hold it he took the jar from the window-sill and carried it to her she looked at it took it in her hands and when he removed the lid she stirred the leaves curiously with her long forefinger i never seen roses she said and added what's basel prosper was startled for an instant all his suppositions as to joan were disturbed basel where did you ever hear of basel isabella and lorenzo murmured joan and her eyes darkened with her memories prosper found his heart beating faster than usual Who are you, you strange creature?

Starting point is 01:41:14 I think it's time you told me your name. Haven't you any curiosity about me? Yes, said Joan. I've thought a great deal about you. She wrinkled her wide brows. You must have been out after game, though it was out of season, and you must have heard me a crying out and come in. That was right courageous, stranger.

Starting point is 01:41:40 I would surely like you to know why I came away with you, she went on, wistful and weak, but I don't know as how I can make it plain to you. She paused, turning the blue jar in her hand. You're very strange to me, she said, and yet some ways you taken care of me so well and so, awful kind, her voice gave forth its tremolo of feeling, seems like I knowed you better than any other person in the world. A flush came into his face. I wouldn't like you to be thinking,

Starting point is 01:42:19 she stopped, a little breathless. He took the jar, sat down on the bed, and laid a hand firmly over both of hers. I won't be thinking anything, he said. Only what you would like me to think. Listen, when a man finds a wounded, bird out in the winter woods he'll bring it home to care for it and he won't be thinking the worse of its helplessness and tameness of course i know but tell me your name please joan landis at the name given painfully joan drew a weighted breath another then pushing herself up as though oppressed beyond endurance she caught at prosper's arm clenched her face

Starting point is 01:43:08 fingers upon it and bent her black head in a terrible paroxysm of grief it was like a tempest prosper thought of storm-driven rain-wet trees wild in a wind of music the prelude to fligenda hollanda jones weeping bent and rocked her he put his arm about her tried to soothe her at her cry of pierre pierre pierre he whitened but suddenly she broke from him and threw herself back amongst the pillows twas you that killed him she moaned what have i to do with you it was not the last time that bitter exclamation was to rise between them more and more fiercely it came to ring his peace and hers this time he bore it with a certain philosophy calmed her patiently how could i help it joan he pleaded you saw how it was as she grew quieter he talked i heard you scream like a person being tortured to death twice a gruesome enough sound let me tell you to hear in the dead of a white still night i didn't altogether want to break into your house i've heard some ugly stories about men venturing to disturb the work of murder But, you see, Joan, I've a fear of myself. I've a cruel brain. I can use it on my own failures.

Starting point is 01:44:48 I've been through some self-punishment. No, of course you don't understand all that. Anyway, I came in, in great fear of my life, and saw what I saw. A woman tied up and devilishly tortured, a man gloating over her helplessness. naturally before i spoke my mind as a man was bound to speak it under the pain and fury of such a spectacle i got ready to defend myself your pierre there was a biting contempt in his tone saw my gesture whipped out his gun and fired my shot was half a second later than his i might more readily have lost my life than taken his If he had lived, Joan, could you have forgiven him? No, sobbed Joan.

Starting point is 01:45:46 I think not. She trembled. He said terrible hard words to me. He didn't love me like I loved him. He planned to put a brand on me so as I could be his own, like as if I was a beast belonging to him. Mr. Hollowell said right. I don't belong to me.

Starting point is 01:46:07 man. I belong to my own self. The storm had passed into this troubled after tossing of thought. Can you tell me about it all? asked Prosper. Would it help? I couldn't, she moaned. No, I couldn't. Only, if I hadn't to left Pierre a lion there alone. A dog that had once loved him wouldn't have done that. She sat down. She sat up again, white and wild. That's why I must go back. I must surely go. I must. Oh, I must. Go back thirty miles through wet snow when you can't walk across the room, Joan? He smiled pityingly. Her hands twisting in his, she stared past him, out through the window, where the still, sunny day shone blue through shadowy pine branches.

Starting point is 01:47:07 Tears rolled down her face. "'Can't you go back?' she turned the desolate, haunted eyes upon him. "'Oh, can't you? To do some kindness to him? Can you ever stop a-thinking of him lying there?' Prosper's face was hard through its gentleness. "'I've seen too many dead men, less deserving of death. But hush, you lie down and go to sleep, I'll try to manage it. I'll try to get back and show him some kindness, as you say. There, will you be a good girl now?

Starting point is 01:47:48 She fell back, and her eyes shone their gratitude upon him. Oh, you are good, she said. When I'm well, I'll work for you. He shook his head, smiled, kissed her hand, and went out. She was in tariff. exhausted by her emotion, so that all her memories fell away from her and left her in a peaceful blankness. She trusted Prosper's word. With every fiber of her heart she trusted him, as simply, as singly, as foolishly as a child trusts God. End of Book 1, Chapter 9. Recording by Roger

Starting point is 01:48:34 Maline. by Catherine Newellyn Burt This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Roger Maline Chapter 10 Prosper comes to a decision Perhaps, in spite of his gruesome boast as to dead men, it was as much to satisfy his own spirit as to comfort Jones

Starting point is 01:49:10 that Prosper actually did undertake a journey to the cabin that had belonged to Pierre. it was true that prosper had never been able to stop thinking not so much of the tall slim youth lying so still across the floor all his beauty and strength turned to an ashen slackness as of a brown hand that stirred the motion of those fingers groping for life had continually disturbed him the man to prosper's mind was an incensate brute deserving of death even of torment most of deserving of Jones desertion. Nevertheless, it was not easy to harden his nerves against the picture of a man left, wounded and helpless, to die slowly alone. Prosser went back, expecting to find a dead man, went back as a murderer visits the scene of his crime. He dubbed himself more judge than murderer, but there was a restless misery of the imagination not to be

Starting point is 01:50:13 quieted by names. He went back stealthily at dusk, choosing a dusk of wind-driven snow, so that his tracks vanished as soon as made. It was very desolate, the blank surface of the world with its flying scud, the blank yellow-gray sky, the range, all iron and white, the blue-black scars of leafless trees, the green-black etching of furs. the wind cut across like a scythe sharp but making no stir above the drift it was all dead and dark an underground world which prosper felt never could have seen the sun had no memory of sun nor moon nor stars the roof of pierre's cabin made a dark ridge above the snow veiled in cloudy drift he reached it with a cold heart and slid down to its window cautiously bending his face near to the pane he expected an interior already dark from the snow piled around the window so he cupped his hands about his eyes at once he let himself drop out of sight below the sill there was a living presence in the house prosper had seen a bright fire the smoke of which had been hidden by the snow spray a cot was drawn up before the fire

Starting point is 01:51:44 and a big fair young man in tweeds whose face rosy sensitive and quiet was bent over the figure on the cot a pair of large white hands were carefully busy prosper crouched below the window considered what he had seen it was a week now since he had left landis for a dying man this big fellow in tweeds must have come soon after the shooting evidently he was not caring for a dead man the black head on the pillow had moved now there came the sound of speech just a bass murmur this time the black head turned itself slightly and prosper saw pierre's face he had seen it only twice before once when it had looked up fierce and crazed at his first entrance into the house once again when it lay with lifted chin and pale lips on the floor but even after so scarce a memory prosper was startled by the change before it had been the face of a man beside himself with drink and the lust of animal power and cruelty now it was the wistful face of pierre drawn into a tragic mask like jones when she came to herself a miserably haunted and harrowed face hopeless as though it too like the outside world had lost or had never had a memory of sun evidently he submitted to the dressing of his wound but with a shamed and pitiful look prosper's whole impression of the man was to his wound was to the same thing of his wound but with a shamed and pitiful look prosper's whole impression of the man was changed and with the change there began something like a struggle he was afflicted by a crossing of purposes and a stumbling of intention

Starting point is 01:53:42 he did not care to risk a second look he crept away and fled into the windy dusk he travelled with the wind like a blown rag and stopping only for a few hours rest at the ranger station made the journey home by morning of the second day and on the journey he definitely made up his mind concerning joan prosper gale was a man of deliberate though passionate imagination he did not often act upon impulse though his actions were often those attempted only by passion-driven or impulsive folk prosper could never plead thoughtlessness he justified carefully his every action to himself those were cold dark hours of deliberation as he let the wind drive him across the desolate land when the wind dropped and a splendid still dawn when the wind dropped and a splendid still dawn swept up into the clean sky he was at peace with his own mind and climbed up the mountain trail with a half smile on his face in the dawn awake on her pillows joan was listening for him and at the sound of his webs she sat up pale to her lips she did not know what she feared but she was filled with dread the restful stupor that had followed her storm of grief had spent itself and she was suffering again waves of longing for pierre of hatred for him alternately submerged her all these bleak gray hours of wind during which wen ho had pattered in and out with meals with wood for her stove with little questions as to her comfort she had suffered as people suffer in a dream

Starting point is 01:55:36 a restless misery like the misery of the pine branches that leaped up and down before her window the stillness of the dawn with its sound of nearing steps gave her a sickness of heart and brain so that when prosper came softly in at her door she saw him through a mist he moved quickly to her side knelt by her took her hands his touch at all times had a tingling charge of vitality and will. He has been cared for, Joan, said Prosper. Some friend of his came and did all that was left to be done. Some friend? In the pale, delicately expanding light, Joan's face gleamed between its black coils of hair

Starting point is 01:56:27 with eyes like enchanted tarns. In fact, they had been haunted during his absence by images to shake her soul. prosper could see in them reflections of those terrors that had been tormenting her his touch pressed reassurance upon her his eyes his voice my poor child my dear i'm glad i am back to take care of you cry let me comfort you he has been cared for he is not lying there alone he is dead let's forgive him joan He shook her hands a little, urgently, and a most painful memory of Pierre's beseeching grasp came upon Joan. She wrenched away and fell back, quivering, but she did not cry, only asked in her most moving

Starting point is 01:57:23 voice, Who took care of Pierre, after I went away and left him dead? Prosper got to his feet and stood with his arms folded, looking wearily down at her. his mouth had fallen into rather cynical lines and there were puckers at the corners of his eyes oh a big fair young man a rosy boy face serious-looking blue eyes joan was startled and turned round it was mr hollowell she said in a wondering tone did you talk with him did you tell him no hardly prosper shook his head i found out what he had done for your pierre without asking unnecessary questions i saw him but he did not see me he'll be comin to get me said joan it was an entirely unemotional statement of certainty prosper pressed his lips into a line and narrowed his eyes upon her oh he will yes he'll be taken after me he must have been scared by something pierre said in the town during their quarrel and have come up after him to look out what pierre would be doing to me i wished he'd a come in time what must he be thinking of me now to find pierre a lion there dead and me gone he'll be taken after me to bring me home

Starting point is 01:59:05 her then his sharp face was certainly at that moment the face of an inquisitor a set of keen and delicate instruments ready for probing but so weary and childlike did she look so weary and childlike was her speech that he forbore what did it matter after all what there was in her past she had done what she had done been what she had been if the fellow had branded her for her for her sin why she had suffered overmuch prosper admitted that unbranded as to skin he was scarcely fit to put his dirty civilized soul under her clean and savage foot was the big rosy chap her lover she had spoken of a quarrel between him and pierre but her manner of speaking of him was scarcely in keeping with the thought rather it was the manner of a child-soul relying on the shepherd who would be taken after some small lost one well he would have to be a superman to find her here with no trails to follow and no fingers to point pierre by now would have told his story and prosper knew in store instinctively that he would tell it straight whatever madness the young savage might perpetrate under the influence of drink and jealousy he would hardly with that harrowed face be apt at fabrications they would be looking for joan to come back to go to the town to some neighboring ranch they would make a search but winter would be against them with its teeth bared a blizzard was on its way by the time they found her thought prosper and he quoted one of jones quaint phrases to himself smiling with radiance as he did so she won't be cairn to leave me

Starting point is 02:01:06 in his gray little firelit room he sat stretched out lank and long in the low deep red lacquered chair dozing through the long day sipping strong coffee smoking reading he was singularly quiet and content the devil of disappointment and of thwarted desire that had wived him in his carefully appointed hiding-place stood away a little from him and that wizard imagination of his began to weave by dusk he was writing furiously and there was a glow of rapture on his face end of book one chapter ten recording by roger maline book one chapter eleven of the branding iron by katherine newland bert this librovoc's recording is in the public domain recording by roger maline chapter eleven the whole duty of woman joan waited for hollowell and waiting began inevitably to regain her strength one evening as when ho was spreading the table prosper looked up from his writing to see a tall gaunt girl clinging to the door jam she was dressed in heavy clothes which hung loose upon her long bones her throat was drawn up to support the sharpened and hollowed face in which her eyes had grown very large and wistful her hair was braided and wrapped across her brow her long strong hands smooth and only faintly brown were thither thin too and curiously expressive as they clung to the logs she was a moving figure piteous lovely rather like some graceful mountain beast its spirit half broken by wounds and imprisonment and human tending

Starting point is 02:03:17 but ready to leap into a savagery of flight or of attack they were wild those great eyes as well as wistful prosper looking suddenly up at them caught his breath he put down his book as quietly as though she had indeed been a wild easily startled thing and suppressing the impulse to rise stayed where he was leaning a trifle forward his hands on the arms of his chair jones eyes wandered curiously about the brilliant room and came to him at last prosper met them relaxed and smiled come in and dine with me joan he said tell me how you like it she felt her way weakly to the second large chair and sat down facing him across the hearth the chinaman's shadow thrown strongly by the lamp ran to and fro between and across them it was a strange scene truly and prosper felt with exhilaration all strangeness. This was no Darby and Joan fireside, a wizard with his enchanted leperdess, rather. He was half afraid of Joan and of himself. "'It's right beautiful,' said Joan, "'and right strange to me. I never seen anything like it before.'

Starting point is 02:04:47 "'That,' her eyes followed when Ho's departure half fearfully, "'that man and all.' Prosper laughed delightedly, stretching up his arms in full enjoyment of her splendid ignorance. "'The Chinaman? Does he look so strange to you?' "'Is that what he is? I—I didn't know.' She smiled rather sadly and ashamedly. "'I'm awful ignorant, Mr. Gale. I just can read, and I've only read two books.' She flushed and her pupils grew large.

Starting point is 02:05:25 prosper saw that this matter of reading trod closely on her pain yes he's a chinaman from san francisco you know where that is yes sir i've heard talk of it out on the pacific coast a big city full of bad yellow men and a few good ones of whom let's hope wen ho is one and full of bric-a-brac like all these things that surprise you so do you like bright colors joan she pondered in the unself-conscious and unhurried fashion of the west stroking the yellow spotted skin that lay over the black arm of her chair and letting her eyes flit like butterflies in a garden on a zigzag journey to one after another of the flowers of color in the room well sir she said i could take to em better if they was more one at a time i mean she pushed up the braid a little from wrinkling brows just blue is awful pretty and just green they're sort of cool and yellow that's sure fine you'd like to take it in your hands red is most too much like feeling things i dunno it most hurts and yet it warms ye up too if i had to live here prosper's eyebrows lifted a trifle i'd sure clear out the whole of this and she swept a ruthless hand again prosper made delighted use of that upward stretching of his arms he laughed and you'd clear me out too wouldn't you if you had to live here oh no said joan she paused and fastened her enormous grave look upon him

Starting point is 02:07:22 him. I'd like right soon now to begin to work for you. Again, Prosper laughed. Why, said he, you don't know the first thing about woman's work, Joan. What could you do? Joan straightened wrathfully. I sure do know. Sure I do. I can cook fine. I can make a room clean. I can launder. Oh, poo. the chinaman does all that as well no better than you ever could do it that's not woman's work jones saw all the business of femininity swept off the earth profound astonishment incredulity and alarm possessed her mind and so her face truly thought prosper it was like talking to a grave trustful and most impressionable child the way she sat there rather on the edge of her chair her hands folded letting everything he said disturb and astonish the whole pool of her thought but mr gale sweeping washin cookin ain't all that a woman's work men can do it so much better said prosper blowing forth a cloud of blue cigarette smoke and brushing it impatiently aside so that he could smite

Starting point is 02:08:52 at her evident offense and perplexity. But they don't do it better. They're as messy and uncomfortable as they can be when there ain't no woman to look after them. Not if they get good pay for keeping themselves and other people tidy. Look at Wenho. Oh, said Joan, that ain't properly a man.

Starting point is 02:09:19 Prosper laughed out again. It was good to be. be able to laugh. I've known plenty of real white men who could cook and wash better than any woman. But, but what is a woman's work? Prosper remained thoughtful for a while, his head thrown back a little, looking at her through his eyelashes. In this position he was extraordinarily striking. His thin, sharp face gained by the slight foreshortening, and his brilliant eyes, keen nose, and high brow did not quite so completely overbalance the sad and delicate strength of mouth and chin. In Joan's eyes, used to the obvious clear beauty of Pierre,

Starting point is 02:10:08 Gale was an ugly fellow. But even she, artistically untrained, caught at the moment the picturesqueness and grace of him, the mysterious lines of texture, of race, the race, the bold chiselings of thought and experience. The colors of the room became him, too, for he was dark, with curious, cat-like, greenish eyes. The whole duty of woman, Joan, he said, opening these eyes upon her, can be expressed in just one little word, charm.

Starting point is 02:10:46 And again at her look of mystification, he laughed aloud. there's there's babies suggested joan after a pause during which she evidently wrestled in vain with the true meaning of his speech dinner is served said prosper rising quickly and getting back of her he pushed her chair to the table hiding in his way a silent paroxysm of mirth at dinner prosper unlike hollowell made no attempt to her to draw Joan into talk, but sipped his wine and watched her, enjoying her composed silence and her slow, graceful movements. Afterwards he made a couch for her on the floor before the fire, two skins and a golden cushion, a rug of dull blue which he threw over her, hiding the ugly skirt and boots. He took a violin from the wall and tuned it, Joan watching him with all her eyes.

Starting point is 02:11:50 I don't like what you're playing now, she told him, impersonally and gently. I'm tuning up. Well, sir, I'd be getting tired of that if I was you. I am almost done, said Prosper, humbly. He stood up near her feet at the corner of the hearth, tucked the instrument under his chin, and played. It was the Abad Provensal, and he

Starting point is 02:12:19 played it credibly, with fair skill and with some of the wizardry that his nervous vitality gave to everything he did. At the first note, Joan started, her pupils enlarged, she lay still. At the end he saw that she was quivering and in tears. He knelt down beside her, drew the hands from her face. Why, Joan, what's the matter? Don't you like music? Joan drew a shaken breath. It's as if it shook me in here. Something trembles in my heart, she said. I never heard music before, just whistling.

Starting point is 02:13:01 And again she wept. Prosper stayed there on his knee beside her, his chin in his hand. What an extraordinary being this was. What a magnificent wilderness. The thought of exploration, of discovery of cultivation filled him with excitement and delight such opportunities are rarely given to a man even that other most beautiful adventure yes he could think this already might have been tame beside this one he looked long at joan long into the fire and she lay still with the brooding beauty of that first-heard melody upon her face it was the first music she had ever heard except whistling but there had been a great deal of whistling about the cabin up lone river whistling of robins and spring nothing sweeter the chord-like whistling of thrush and virio after sunset

Starting point is 02:14:05 that bubbling marguerite with which the blackbirds woo and the light diminuendo with which the bluebird caressed the air after an april flight perhaps jones's musical faculty was less untrained than any other after all that abad provencal was just the melodious story of the woods in spring every note linked itself to an emotional subconscious memory it filled jones's heart with the freshness of childhood and pained her only because it struck a spear of delight into her pain she was eighteen she had grown like a tree drinking in sunshine and storm but rooted to a solitude where very little else but sense experience could reach her mind she had seen tragedies of animal life lonely death struggles horrible flights and more horrible captures she had seen joyous wooings love pining partings and bereavements she had seen maternal fickleness and maternal constancy maternal savagery the end of mated bliss and its renewal she had seen the relentless catastrophes of storm there had been starving winters and renewing springs sad beautiful autumns the riotous waste and wantonness of summer these had all been objective experiences but jones untamed and undistracted heart had taken them in deeply and deeply pondered upon them there was no morality in their teachings unless it was the morality of complete suspension of any judgment whatsoever the marvellous literal judge not

Starting point is 02:16:04 she knew that the sun shone on the evil and on the good but she knew also that frost fell upon the good as well upon the evil nor was the evil to be readily distinguished her father preyed it of only one offense her mother's sin joe knew that it was a man's right to kill his woman for dealin's with another man this law was human it evidently did not hold good with the one animals. There was no bitterness, though some ferocity, in the traffic of their loves. While she pondered through the first sleepless nights in this strange shelter of hers, and while the blizzard prosper had counted on drove bayoneted battalions of snow across the plains and forced them, screaming like madmen, along the narrow canyon, Joan came slowly and fully to a realization of the motive of Pierre's deed. He had been jealous.

Starting point is 02:17:09 He had thought that she was having dealings with another man. She grew hot and shamed. It was her father's sin, that branding on her shoulder, or perhaps going back farther, her mother's sin. Carver had warned Pierre, of the hot and smothered heart, to beware of Joan's looking and looking at another man. Now, in piteous woman fashion, Joan went over and over her memories of Pierre's love,

Starting point is 02:17:42 altering them to fit her terrible experience. It was a different process from that simple seeing of pictures in the fire from which she had been startled by Pierre's return. A man's mind in her situation would have been intensely obvious, occupied with thoughts of the new companion but joan thorough as a woman always is had not yet caught up she was still held by all the strong mesh of her short married life she had simply not got as far as prosper gale she accepted his hospitality vaguely himself even more vaguely when she would be done with her passionate grief her laborious going over of the past, her active and tormenting anger with the lover whom Prosper had told her was dead, then it would be time to study this other man. As for her future, she had no plans

Starting point is 02:18:45 at all. Joan's life came to her as it comes to a child, unsullied by curiosity. At this time, Prosper was infinitely the more curious, the more excited of the two. End of Book 1, Chapter 11. Recording by Roger Maline. Book 1, Chapter 12 of the branding iron by Catherine Newellyn Burt. This Libra Box recording is in the public domain. Recording by Roger Maline. Chapter 12. A matter of taste.

Starting point is 02:19:29 What are you writing so hard for, Mr. Gale? Joan voiced the question wistfully at the height of the line. breath she drew it from a silence which seemed to her to have filled this strange gay house for an eternity for the first time full awareness of the present cut a rift in the troubled cloudiness of her introspection she had been sitting in her chair listless and wan now staring at the flames now following wenho's activities with absent eyes a storm was swirling outside near the window prosper a figure of keen absorption bent over his writing-table his long fine hand driving the pencil across sheet after sheet he looked like a machine so regular and rapid was his work a sudden sense of isolation came upon joan what part had she in the life of this companion this keeper of her own life she felt a great need of drawing nearer to him of finding the humanity in him him at first she fought the impulse reserve pride shyness locking her down till at last her nerves gave her such torment that her fingers knitted into each other and on the out-breathing of a desperate sigh she spoke what are you writing so hard for mr gale at once prosper's hand laid down its pencil and he turned about in his chair and gave her a gleaming look and smile

Starting point is 02:21:08 joan was fairly startled it was as if she had touched some mysterious spring and turned on a dazzling unexpected light as a matter of fact prosper's heart had leapt at her wistful and beseeching voice he had been biding his time he had absorbed himself in writing content to leave in suspense the training of his enchanted leopardess half absent glimpses of her desolate beauty as she moved about his winter by house contemplation of her unself-consciousness as she companioned his meals the pleasure he felt in her rapt listening to his music in the still frost-held evenings by the fire these he had made enough they quieted his restlessness soothed the ache of his heart filled him with a warm and patient desire different from any feeling he had yet experienced he was amused by her lack of interest in him he was not accustomed to such through-gazing from beautiful eyes such incurious absence of questioning she evidently accepted him as a superior being a providence he was not a man at all not of the same clay as pierre and herself prosper had waited understandingly enough for her first move when the personal question came it made a sort of crash in the expectant silence of his heart before answering except by that smile he lit himself a cigarette then strolling to the fire he sat on the rug below her drawing his knees up into his hands i'd like to tell you about my writing joan after all it's the great interest of my life and i've been fairly seething with it

Starting point is 02:23:01 only i didn't want to bother you worry your poor distracted head i never thought said jones slowly i never thought you'd be caring to tell me things i know so awful little it wasn't your modesty joan it was simply because you haven't given me a thought since i dragged you in here on my sled i've been nothing under the careless half-bitter manner he was weighing his words and their probable effect. Nothing for all these weeks but a provider. A provider? Joan groped for the meaning of the word. It came, and she flushed deeply. You mean I've just taken things?

Starting point is 02:23:48 Taken your kind-doin's toward me and not been given you a thought? Her eyes filled and shone mortification down upon him so that he put his hand quickly over hers, tightened together on her knee. Poor girl, I'm not reproaching you. But, Mr. Gale, I wanted to work for you. You wouldn't let me.

Starting point is 02:24:12 She brushed away her tears. What can I do? Where can I go? You can stay here and make me happy as you have been doing ever since you came. I was very unhappy before. And you can give me just as much, as little attention as you please. I don't ask you for a bit more. Suppose you stop grieving, Joan, and try to be just a little happier yourself. Take an interest in life. Why, you poor

Starting point is 02:24:45 young, ignorant child, I could open whole worlds of excitement, pleasure to you, if you'd let me. There's more in life than you've dreamed of experiencing. There's music, for one thing. and there are books and beauty of a thousand kinds and big wonderful thoughts and there's companionship and talk what larks we could have you and i if you would care i mean if you would wake up and let me show you how you do want to learn a woman's work don't you joan she shook her head slowly smiling wistfully the tears gone from her eyes which were puzzled but diverted from pain i didn't savvy what you meant when you talked about what a woman's work rightly was and i'm so awful ignorant you know so awful much it scares me plump scares me to think how much you know more than mr hollowell such books and books and books and writing too you see i'd be no help nor company for you i'd like to listen to you i'd listen all day long but i'd not be understanding no more than i understand about that their woman's work idea he laughed at her keeping reassuring eyes on hers i can explain anything i can make you understand anything i'll grant you my idea of a woman's work is difficult for you to get hold of that's a big question after all one of the biggest

Starting point is 02:26:28 but just to begin with and we'll drop it later for easier things i believe the world believes that a woman ought to be beautiful you can understand that joan shook her head it's awful hard sayin mr gale it's awful hard to say you had ought to be something a person can't manage for themselves i mean poor joan the inarticulate floundered but he left her rather cruelly to flounder out i mean that's an awful hard saying for a homely woman mr gale he laughed oh said he with a gesture there is no such thing as a homely woman woman? A homely woman simply does not count. He got up, looked for a book, found it, opened it, and brought it to her. Look at that picture, Joan. What do you think of it? It was of a woman, a long-drawn, emaciated creature, extraordinarily artificial in her grace and in the pose and expression of her ugly, charming form and features. She had been aided by hairdresser and cost and by her own wit aided into something that made her an arresting and compelling picture what do you think of her joan smiled prosper gale joan screwed up her eyes distastefully

Starting point is 02:27:58 ain't she queer mr gale poor thing she's homely he clapped to the book a matter of educated taste he said you don't know beauty when you see it if you walked into a drawing-room by the side of that marvelous being do you think you'd win a look my dear girl why your great brows and your great wild eyes and your face and form of an olympian and your free grace of a forest beast why they wouldn't be noticed because joan that queer poor thing knew woman's work from a to z she's beautiful joan beautiful as god most s beautiful as god most s certainly never intended her to be why it's a triumph it's something to blow a trumpet over it's art he returned the volume and came back to stand by the mantle half turned from her looking down into the fire for the moment he had created in himself a reaction against his present extraordinary experiment his wilderness adventure he was keenly conscious of a desire for civilized woman for her practiced tongue, her poise, her matchless companionship. Joan spoke. You mean I'm awfully homely, Mr. Gale?

Starting point is 02:29:24 The question set him to laughing outrageously. Joan's pride was stung. You've no right to laugh at me, she said. I'd not be caring what you think. And she left him, moving like an angry stag, head high, light-stepping. He went back to his work, not at all in regret at her peak, and still amused by the utter femininity of her simple question. Before dinner he wrapped at her door. Joan, will you do me a favor? A pause, then in her sweet, vibrant voice, she answered,

Starting point is 02:30:05 "'I'd be doing anything for you, Mr. Gale.' Then put on these things for dinner, instead of of your own clothes, will you?' She opened the door, and he piled into her arms a mass of shining silk, on top of it a pair of gorgeous Chinese slippers. "'Do it to please me, even if you think it makes you look queer, will you, Joan?' "'Of course,' she smiled, looking up from the gleaming sliding stuff into his face. "'I'd like to, anyway. Dressing up, that's fun.' and she shut the door she spread the silk out on the bed and founded a loose robe of dull blue embroidered in silver dragons and lined with brilliant rose

Starting point is 02:30:54 there was a skirt in this same rose-colored stuff in one weighted pocket she found a belt of silver coins and a little vest of creamy lace there were rose silk stockings stuffed into the shoes joan eagerly arrayed herself she had trouble with the vest it was so filmy so vaguely made it seemed to her and to wear it at all she had to divest herself altogether of the upper part of her coarse underwear then it seemed to her startingly inadequate even as an under garment however the robe did go over it and she drew that close and belted it in it was provided with long sleeves and fell to her ankles she thrilled at the delightful clinging softness of silk stockings and for the first time admired her long round ankles and shapely feet the chinese slippers amused her but they too were beautiful all embroidered with flowers and dragons she felt she must look very queer indeed and went to the mirror what she saw there surprised her because it was so strange so different pierre had not dealt in compliments his woman was his woman and he loved her body to praise this body surrendered in love to him would have been impossible to the reverence and reserve of his passion now joan brushed and coiled her hair arranging it instinctively but perhaps a little in imitation of that queer picture that had looked to her so hideous. Then, starting toward the door at Wen Ho's

Starting point is 02:32:44 announcement of, Dinner Lady, she was quite suddenly overwhelmed by shyness. From head to foot for the first time in all her life, she was acutely conscious of herself. End of Book 1, Chapter 12. Recording by Roger Maline. by Catherine Newellyn Burt. This Librovoc's recording is in the public domain. Recording by Roger Maline. Chapter 13 The Training of a Leopardyce

Starting point is 02:33:28 On that evening, Prosper began to talk. The unnatural self-repression he had practiced gave way before the flood of his sociability. It was Joan's amazing beauty as she stumbled wretchedly into the circle. of his firelight, her neck drawn up to its full length, her head crowned high with soft black masses, her lids dropped under the weight of shyness, vivid fright in her distended pupils, scarlet in her cheeks, Joan's beauty of long, strong, drawn lines draped to advantage

Starting point is 02:34:05 for the first time in soft and clinging fabrics that touched the spring of Prosper's delighted egotism. There it was again, the ideal audience, the necessary atmosphere, the beautiful, gracious, intelligent listener. He forgot her ignorance, her utter simplicity, the unplumbed emptiness of her experience, and he spread out his colorful thoughts before her in colorful words, the mental plumage of civilized courtship. after dinner now sipping from the small coffee cup in his hand now setting it down to move excitedly about the room he talked of his life his book his plans he told anecdotes strange adventures he drew his own inverted morals he sketched his fantastic opinions he was in truth fascinating a speaking face a lithe brilliant presence a voice of edged persuasion he turned witty phrases poor joan one sentence in ten she understood and answered with her slow smile and her slow smile and her quaint murmured,

Starting point is 02:35:21 Well! His eloquence did her at least the service of making her forget herself. She was rather crestfallen because he had not complimented her. His veiled look of appreciation, this coming too of his real self, was too subtle a flattery for her perception. Nevertheless, his talk pleased her. She did not want to disappoint him, so she drew herself up, in the big red lacquered chair, sipped her coffee, in dainty imitation of him, gave him the full

Starting point is 02:35:57 deep tribute of her gaze, asked for no explanations, and let the astounding statements he made, the amazing pictures he drew, cut their way indelibly into her most sensitive and preserving memory. Afterwards, at night, for the first time, she did not weep for Pierre, the old lost Pierre, who had so changed into a torturer, but, wakeful, her brain on fire, she pondered over and over the things she had just heard, feeling after their meaning, laying aside for future enlightenment what was utterly incomprehensible, arguing with herself as to the truth of half-comprehended speeches, an ignorant child wrestling with a modern philosophy, tricked out in motley by a ready wit, there were more personal memories that gave her a flush of pleasure for after midnight as she was leaving him he came near to her took her hand with a grateful joan you've done so much for me to-night you've made me happy

Starting point is 02:37:04 and the request you won't put your hair back to the old way will you you will wear pretty things if i give them to you won't you in a beseeching spoiled boy's voice very amusing and endearing to her he gave her the pretty things whole quantities of them fine linen to be made up into underwear soft white and colored silks and crapes which joan remembering the few lessons and dressmaking she had had from Maude Upper, and with some advice from Prosper, made up not too awkwardly, accepting the mystery of them as one of Prosper's magic makings. And in the meantime, her education went on. Prosper read aloud to her, gave her books to read to herself, questioned her, tutored her, scolded her so fiercely sometimes that Joan would mount scarlet cheeks, and open angry eyes. One day she fairly flung her book from her and ran out of the room,

Starting point is 02:38:11 stamping her feet and shedding tears. But back she came presently for more, thirsting for knowledge, eager to meet her trainer on more equal grounds, to be able to answer him to some purpose, to contradict him, to stagger ever so slightly the self-assurance of his superiority, and prosper enjoyed the training of his captive leperdess though he sometimes all but melted over the pathos of her and had much ado to keep his hands from her unconscious young beauty you're so changed joan he said one day abruptly you've grown as thin as a reed child i can see every bone and your eyes don't you ever shut them any more joan prone on the skin before the fire elbows on the fur hands to her temples face bent over a book looked up impatiently i'd not be talkin now if i was you mr gale you it oughta be writing and i'm reading i can't talk and read seems when i do a thing i just had to do it prosper laughed and returned chidden to his task but he couldn't help watching her, lying there in her blue frock across the floor

Starting point is 02:39:37 like a tall, thin magdalen, all her rich hair fallen wildly about her face. She was such a child, such a child. End of Book 1, Chapter 13. Recording by Roger Maline. Book 1, Chapter 14 of the branding iron by Catherine Newland Bert. This Libravox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Roger Maline. Chapter 14

Starting point is 02:40:15 Joan runs away. It was a January night when Joan, her rough head almost in the ashes, had read, Isabella and the Pot of Basel by the Light of Flames. It was in March, a gray still afternoon, when, looking through Prosper's bookcase, she came upon the tale again. Prosper was outdoors cutting a tunnel, freshly blocked with snow, and Joan, having finished the life of Salini,

Starting point is 02:40:47 a writer she loathed, but whose gorgeous fabrications her master had forced her to read, now hurried to the bookshelves in search of something more to her taste. She had the gay air of a holiday seeker, returned Salini with a smart push, and kneeling ran her finger along the volumes, pausing on a binding of bright blue and gold.

Starting point is 02:41:13 It was the color that had pleased her, and the fat, square shape, also the look of fair and well-spaced type. She took the book and squatted on the rug happy as a child with the new toy of his own choosing, and then she opened her volume in its middle, and her eye looked upon familiar lines. So the two brothers and their murdered man— Joan's heart fell like a leaden weight, and the color dropped from her face. In an instant she was back in Pierre's room, and the white night circled in her great silence, and she was going over the story of her love and Pierre's—their love, their beautiful, grave, simple love that had so filled her life.

Starting point is 02:42:03 And now where was she? in the house of the man who had killed her husband she had been waiting for hollowell but for a long while now she had forgotten that why was she still here a strange guilty terror came with the question she looked down at the soft yellow crape of the dress she had just made and she looked at her hands lying white and fine and useless and she felt for the high comb prosper had put into her hair then she stared around the gorgeous little room snug from the world so secret in its winter canyon she heard wen ho's incessant pattering in the kitchen the crunch and thud of prosper's shoveling outside it was suddenly a horrible nightmare or less a nightmare than a dream pleasant in the dreaming but hideous to an awakened mind she was awake isabella's story had thrown her mind so abruptly dislocated back to a time before the change back to her old normal condition of a young wife that little homestead of pierre's such a hunger opened in her soul that she bent her head and moaned she could think of nothing now but those two familiar bare clean rooms pierre's gun pierre's rod her own her own coat there by the door the snow-shoes there was no place in her mind for the later tragedy she had gone back of it she would rather be alone in her own home desolate though it was than anywhere else in all the homeless world

Starting point is 02:43:52 and what could prevent her from going she laughed aloud a short defiant laugh rippled to her feet and in her room took off prosperous pretty things and got into her own old clothes the coarse underwear the heavy stockings and boots the rough skirt the man's shirt how loosely they all hung how thin she was now into her coat her woollen cap down over her ears her gloves she was ready her heart laboring like an exhausted stags her knees trembling her wrists mysteriously absent she went into the hall found her snow-shoes bent to tie them on and straightening up met prosper who had come in out of the snow he was glowing from exercise but at sight of her and her pale excitement the glow left him and his face went bleak and grim he put out his hand and caught her by the arm and she backed from him against the wall this before either of them spoke where are you going joan i'm a goin home he let go of her arm you were going like this without a work to me. Mr. Gale, she panted,

Starting point is 02:45:22 I had a feeling like you wouldn't let me go. He turned, threw open the door, and stepped aside. She confronted his white anger. Mr. Gale, I left Pierre dead. I've been awaiting for Mr. Hollowell to come. I'm strong now. I must be a-going-home. Suddenly, she blazed out,

Starting point is 02:45:47 you killed my man what have i to do with you he bowed her breast labored and all the distress of her soul troubled by an instinctive inarticulate consciousness of evil wavered in her eyes her reason already accused her of ingratitude and treachery but every fiber of her had suddenly revolted she was all for liberty she must have it he was wise made no attempt to hold her let her go but as she fled under the firs her webs sinking deep into the heavy uncrusted snow he stood and watched her keenly he had not failed to notice the trembling of her body the quick lift and fall of her breast the rapid flushing and paling of her face he let her go and joan ran drawing recklessly drawing recklessly on the depleted store of what had always been her inexhaustible strength the snow was deep and soft heavy with moisture the march air was moist too not keen with frost and the green firs were softly dark against an even stone-colored sky of cloud to jones eyes so long imprisoned it was all astonishingly beautiful clean and grave part of the old life back to which she was running down the canyon trail she floundered her short skirt gathering a weight of snow her webs lifting a mass of it at every tugging step her speed perforce slackened but she plodded on out of breath and in a sweat she was surprised at the weakness put it down to excitement

Starting point is 02:47:42 i was afeard he'd make me stay she said and i've got to go i've got to go this went with her like a beating rhythm she came to the opening in the firs the foot of the steep trail and out there stretched the valley, blank snow, blank sky. Here and there, a wooded ridge, then a range of lower hills, blue, snow-modeled. Not a roof, not a threat of smoke, not a sound. I'm awful far away, Joan whispered to herself, and for the first time in her life, she doubted her strength. I don't rightly know where I am. She looked back. She looked back, back. There stood a high, familiar peak. But so were the outlines of these mountains, jumbled and changed, that she could not tell if Prosper's Canyon lay north or south of Pierre's homestead. The former was high up in the foothills, and Pierre's was well down above the river.

Starting point is 02:48:52 From where she stood, there was no riverbed in sight. She tried to remember the journey, but nothing came to her except a confused impression of following following following had they gone toward the river first and then turned north or had they traveled close to the base of the giant range the ranger's cabin where they had spent the night surely that ought to be visible if she went farther out say beyond the wooded spur which shut the mountain country from her sight perhaps she would find it. She braced her quivering muscles and went on. The end of the jutting foothills seemed to crawl forward with her. She plunged into drifts, struggled up. Sometimes the snowplanes seemed to stand up like a wall in front of her, the far hills lolling like a dragon along its top. She could not keep the breath in her lungs. Often she sank down and rested. When things grew steady, she got up and worked on.

Starting point is 02:50:02 Each time she rested, she crouched longer. Each time made slower progress. And always the goal she had set herself, the end of that jutting hill, thrust itself out, nosed forward, sliding down to the plane. It began to darken, but Joan thought that her sight was failing. The enormous effort she was made. took every atom of her will. At last her muscles refused obedience. Her laboring heart stopped. She stood a moment, swayed, fell, and this time she made no effort to rise. She had become a dark spot on the snow,

Starting point is 02:50:48 a lifeless part of the loneliness and silence. Above her, where the sharp peaks touched the clouds, there came a widening rift showing a cold turquoise clarity. The sun was just setting, and, as the cloud banks lifted, strong shadows, intensely blue, pointed across the plain of snow. A small, black, energetic figure came out from among the firs,

Starting point is 02:51:18 and ran forward where the longest shadow pointed. It looked absurdly tiny and anxious. in its pygmy haste across the exquisite stillness. Joan, lying so still, was acquiescent. This little striving thing rebelled. It came forward steadily, following Joan's uneven tracks, stamping them down firmly to make a solid path, and as the sun dropped, leaving an immense gleaming depth of sky,

Starting point is 02:51:51 he came down and bent over the black speck that was Joan, Prosper took her by the shoulder and turned her over a little in the snow. Joan opened her eyes and looked at him. It was the dumb look of a beaten dog. Get up, child, he said, and come home with me. She struggled to her feet, he helping her, and silently, just as a savage woman, no matter what her pain will follow her man,

Starting point is 02:52:26 so joan followed the track he had made by pressing the snow down triply over her former steps can you do it he asked once and she nodded she was pale her eyes heavy but she was glad to be found glad to be saved he saw that and he saw a dawning confusion in her eyes at the end he drew her arm into his and when they came into the house he knelt and took the snow-shoes from her feet she drooping against the wall he put a hand on each of her shoulders and looked reproach you wanted to leave me joan you wanted to leave me as much as that she shook her head from side to side then drawing away she stumbled past him into the room dropped to the bare skin rug and held out her hands to the flames it's awful good to be back she said and fell to sobbing i didn't think you'd be karen i was thinking only of old things i was homesick me that has no home her shaken voice was so wonderful a music that he stood listening with sudden tears in his eyes and i can't forget pierre nor the old life Mr. Gale, and when I think it was you that killed him, why, it breaks my heart. Oh, I know you had to do it. I saw, and I know I couldn't have stayed with him no more.

Starting point is 02:54:08 What he did, it made me hate him. But you can't be thinking how it was with Pierre and me before that night. We—we was happy. I used to live with my father, Mr. Gale, and he was an awful man, and there was no loving between us. But when I first seen Pierre looking up at me, I first knowed what lovin might be like. I just came away with him because he asked me. He put his hand on my arm and said, Will you be coming home with me, Joan Carver?

Starting point is 02:54:43 That was the way of it. Something inside of me said, Yes, for all I was too scared to do anything but look at him and shake my head. and the next morning he was there with his horses. Oh, Mr. Gale, I can't forget him, even for hating. That brand on my shoulder, it's all healed, but my heart's so hurted, it's so hurted. And when I come to thinking of how kind and comfort in you are

Starting point is 02:55:13 and what you've been a-doing for me, why then at the same time, I can't help but thinking that you killed my Pierre. you killed him forgive me please i would love you if i could but something makes me shake away from you because pierre's dead again she wept exhausted broken-hearted weeping it was and prosper's face was drawn by pity of her that story of her life and love it was a sort of saga something as moving as an old ballad most beautifully saw he half guessed then that she had genius at least he admitted that it was something more than just her beauty and her sorrow that so greatly stirred him to speak such sentences in such a voice that was a gift she had no more need of words than had a symphony the varied and vibrant cadences of her voice gave every delicate shading of feeling of thought she was utterly expressive all night after he had seen her eat and sent her to her bed the phrases of her music kept repeating themselves in his ears

Starting point is 02:56:34 and so i first knowed what lovin might be like and i would love you only something makes me shake away from you because pierre's dead this was a joan he had not yet realized and he knew that he knew that after all, his enchanted leopardess was a woman, and that his wooing of her had hardly yet begun. So did she baffle him by the utter directness of her heart. There was so little of a barrier against him, and yet there was so much. For the first time he doubted his wizardry, and, at that, his desire for the wild girl's love, stood up like a giant and gripped his soul. Joan slept deeply without dreams. She had confessed herself,

Starting point is 02:57:28 but Prosper was as restless and troubled as a youth. She had not made her escape. She had followed him home with humility, with confusion in her eyes. She had been glad to hold out her hands again to the fire of his hearth, and yet he was not. now her prisoner.

Starting point is 02:57:51 End of book one, chapter 14. Recording by Roger Maline. Book one, chapter 15 of the branding iron by Catherine Newland-Burt. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Roger Maline. Chapter 15. Nerves and Intuition. Mr. Gale, said Joan, standing before him at the breakfast table,

Starting point is 02:58:27 i'm a going to work she was pale gaunt and imperturbable he gave her a quick look one that turned to amusement for joan was nearly as appealing to his humor as a child she had such immense gravity such intensity over her one-syllable statements of fact she announced this decision and sat down woman's work he asked her smiling quizzically no sir with her own rare smile i ain't rightly fitted for that certainly not in those clothes he murmured crossly for she was dressed again in her own things i'm a-goin to do man's work i'm a gunn a-gov'n a-shovel snow and help fetch wood and carry in water you tell your chinese man please and you're not going to read or study any more Yes, sir, I like that. If you still want to teach me, Mr. Gale. But I'm a-going, I'm going to get some action. I'll just die if I don't. Why, I'm so poor I can't hardly lift a broom. I don't know why I'm so miserably poor, Mr. Gale. She twisted her brows anxiously.

Starting point is 02:59:52 You've had a nervous breakdown. A what? a nervous breakdown he lit his cigarette and watched her in his usual lazy smoke-veiled manner but she might have noticed the shaken fabric of his self-assurance say now said joan what's that the name for there's a book about it over there third volume on the top shelf look up your case with an air of profound alarm she went over and took it out there's books about everything ain't there isn't there mr gale why there's books about lovin and about sickness and about cattle and what not and about women and children she was shirking the knowledge of her case but at last she pressed her lips together and opened the book she fell to reading growing anxiety possessed her face she sat down on the nearest chair she told her turned page after page. Suddenly she gave him a look of anger.

Starting point is 03:01:03 "'I ain't none of this, Mr. Gale,' she said, smote the page, rose with dignity, and returned the book. He laughed so long and heartily that she was at last forced to join him. "'You were job in me, wasn't you?' she said, sighing relief. "'Did you know what that volume said? It said like this, I'll read you about it. She took the volume, found the place, and read in a low tone of horror, he helping her with the hard words,

Starting point is 03:01:39 One of the most frequent forms of phobia, common in cases of psychic neurasthenia, is agrophobia in which patients, the moment they come into an open space, are oppressed by an exaggerated feeling of anxiety. They may break into a profuse perspiration and assert that they feel as if chained to the ground. And here, listen to this. Batophobia, the fear that high things will fall. Atrophobia, fear of thunder and lightning. Pantophobia, the fear of everything and every one.

Starting point is 03:02:17 Well, now, ain't that too awful? And you mean folks really get that way? their talk was for some time of nervous diseases jones's horror increasing well sir said she lead me out and shoot me if i get any ways like that i believe it's caused by all that queer dressing and what not i feel like something real to-day in this shirt and all and when i get through some work i'll feel a whole lot better don't you say i'm one of those nervous breakdowns again though, will you? she pleaded. No, I won't, Joan, but don't make one of me, will you? How's that? By wearing those clothes all day and half the night.

Starting point is 03:03:08 If you expect me to teach you, you'll have to do something for me, to make up for running away. You might put on pretty things for dinner, don't you think? Your nervous system could stand that? my nervous system drawled joan and added startlingly for she did not often swear god it was an oath of scorn and again prosper laughed but he heard with a sort of terror the sound of her man's work to which she energetically applied herself it meant the return of her strength of her independence it meant the shortening of her captivating of her captivity before long spring would rush up the canyon in a wave of melting snow crested with dazzling green and the valley would lie open to joan she would go unless had he really failed so utterly to touch her heart was she without passion this woman with the deep savage eyes the lips so sensuous and pure the body so magnificently made for living she was not defended by any training she had no moral standards no prejudices none of the ideals she was completely open to approach a savage

Starting point is 03:04:33 if he failed it was a personal failure perhaps he had been too subtle too restrained she did not yet know perhaps what he desired of her but he was afraid of rousing her hatred which would be fully as simple and as savage as her love that evening after she had dressed to please him and sat in her chair tired but with the beautiful clean look of outdoor weariness on her face and tried battling with drowsiness to give her mind to his reading and his talk he was overmastered by his longing and came to her and knelt down drawing drawing down drawing down her hands to him pressing his forehead on them for a moment she was stiff and still then what is it mr gale she asked in a frightened half-voice he 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 be i be i'm not angry why should i be i'm not angry why should i be i I'm a Superman. I'm made, let's say, of alabaster. Women with great eyes and wonderful voices

Starting point is 03:05:55 and the beauty of broad-browed nymphs walking gravely down under forest arches, such women give me only a great, great longing to read aloud very slowly and carefully a child's history of the English race. He took the book, tossed it across the room, then stood, ashamed and defiant, laughing a little, a boy in disgrace.

Starting point is 03:06:21 Joan looked at him in profound bewilderment and dawning distress. "'Now,' she said, "'you are angry with me. You always are when you talk that queer way. Won't you please explain it to me, Mr. Gale?' "'No,' said he sharply. "'I won't.' And he added, after a moment,

Starting point is 03:06:44 "'you'd better go to bed. You're sleepy and as stupid as an owl. Oh! Yes, and you've destroyed what little superstitious belief I had left concerning something they tell little ignorant boys about a woman's intuition. You haven't got a bit. You're stupid, and I'm tired of you. No, Joan, I'm not.

Starting point is 03:07:09 Don't mind me. I'm only in fun. Please. Damn, I've hurt your feeling. her lips were quivering her eyes full i try so awfully hard she said it was a lovely broken trail of music he bent over her and patted her shoulder dear child joan i won't be so disagreeable again only don't you ever think of me yes yes all the while i'm thinking of you i wished i could do more for you why do i make you so angry i know i'm awful awfully stupid and ignorant i-i must drive you most crazy but truly here she turned quickly in his arm and put her hands about his neck and laid her cheek against his shoulder truly mr gale i'm awfully fond of you

Starting point is 03:08:13 then she drew quickly away quivered back into the other corner of her great chair put her face to her hands only i can't help seein pierre just her tone showed him that still and ghastly youth and again he saw the brown hand that moved he had stood between her and that sight the man ought to have died he did not deserve his life nor his love of hers even though he had failed to kill the man he would not fail to kill her love for him sooner or later thought prosper if only the hate if only the hateful spring would give him time. He must move her from her memory. She had put her hands about his neck. She had laid her head against his shoulder, and if it had been the action of a child,

Starting point is 03:09:13 then she would have not started from him with that sharp memory of Pierre. End of Book 1, Chapter 15. Recording by Roger Maline. Book 1, Chapter 16, of of the branding iron by Catherine Newland-Burt. This Libravox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Roger Maline.

Starting point is 03:09:44 Chapter 16 The Tall Child There were times even now when Prosper tried to argue himself back into sardonic self-possession. Pooh, said his brain, You were beside yourself over a loss, and then you were shut in for months of winter alone with this mountain girl. So, naturally, you are off your balance.

Starting point is 03:10:11 He would school himself while Joan shoveled outdoors. He would try to see her with critical, clear eyes when she strode in. But one look at her, and he was bemused again. For now she was at a great height of beauty, vivid with growing strength and purpose. Her lips calm and scarlet. her eyes bright and hopeful. In fact, Joan had made her plans.

Starting point is 03:10:41 She would wait till spring, partly to get back her full strength, partly to make further progress in her studies, but mostly in order not to hurt this hospitable prosper gale. The naivete of her gratitude, of her delicate consideration for his feelings, which continually triumphed over an instinctive fear, would have filled him with amusement, perhaps with compunction, had she been capable of understanding

Starting point is 03:11:10 them. She was truly sorry that she had hurt him by running away. She told herself she would not do that again. In the spring she would make him a 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, far down in her, there was a disturbance, a growing doubt, a something vague and troubling. Joan had not learnt to probe her own heart.

Starting point is 03:11:50 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 confronting of complexity it was necessary for an emotion to rush at joan and throw down as it were her heart before she recognized it even then she might not give it a name she would act however and with violence so now she planned and worked and grew beautiful with work and working with work and planning while prosper curbed his passion and worked too and his instruments were delicate and deadly and his plans made no account of hers every word he read to her every note he played for her had its calculated effect he worked on her subconsciousness undermining her path and at nights and in her sleep she grew aware of him but even now in his cool and passionate heart there were moments of reaction one at last that came near to wrecking his purpose your clothes are about done for joan prosper laughed one morning watching her belt in her tattered shirt you'll soon look like kaffatua's beggar-maid i'm not quite barefoot yet she held up a cracked boot joan he hesitated an instant then got up from his desk walked to a window and looked out at the bright morning

Starting point is 03:13:34 the lake was ruffled with wind the firs tossed there were patches of brown-needled earth under his window his eyes were startled by a strip of green where tiny flowers trod on the very edge of the melting drift. The window was open to soft, tingling air that smelt of snow and of sun, of pines, of growing grass, of sap, of little leaf buds. The birds were in loud chorus. For several minutes, Prosper stared and listened. "'What is it, Mr. Gale?' asked Joan patiently. He started.

Starting point is 03:14:18 oh he said without looking at her again i was going to tell you that there are a skirt and a sort of coat in-in a closet in the hall do you want to use them she went out to look in five minutes he had gone back to work at the desk he heard her laugh and still laughing she opened the door again oh mr gale were you really thinking that i could wear these look he turned and looked at her she had crowded her strong little frame into a brown tweed suit a whirl too narrow for her and she was laughing heartily at herself and had come in to show him the misfit these things mr gale she said they must have been made for a tall child prosper had too far tempted his pain and in her vivid phrase it came to life before him she had painted a startling picture and he had seen that suit so small and trim before joan saw his face grow white his eyes stared through her he drew a quick breath and winced away from her hiding his face in his hands a moment later he was weeping convulsively with violence his head down between his hands joan started toward him but he made a wicked and repellent gesture she fled into her room and sat bewildered on her bed all at once the question came to her for whom had the delicate fabrics been bought for whom had the suit been made it was his wife and she is dead thought joan

Starting point is 03:16:15 and very pitifully she took off the suit laid it and the other things away and sitting by her window rested her chin in her hands and stared out through the blue pines tears ran down her face because she was so sorry for prosper's pain. And again, thought Joan, she had caused it, she who owed him everything. 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. For all that day, Prosper fled the house and went across the country, now fording a flood of melted snow, now floundering through a drift now walking on springy sod unaware of the soft spring conscious only of a sort of fire in his breast he suffered and he resented his suffering and 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 the tall child for whom the gay canyon refuge had been built but who had had been built but who had never set her slim foot upon its threshold. Sunset found him miles away in the foothills of a low,

Starting point is 03:17:42 many-folded range across the plain. He was dog-tired, so that for every exhaustion his brain had stopped its tormenting work. He lit a fire and sat by it, huddled in his coat, smoking, dozing, not able really to sleep for cold and hunger. The bright stars, flung all about the sky, mildly regarded him. Coyotes mourned their loneliness and hunger near and far, and once, in the broken woods above him, a mountain lion gave its blood-curdling scream. Prosper hated the night and its beautiful desolation.

Starting point is 03:18:25 He hated the God that had made this land. He cursed the dawn when it came delicately, spreading a green arc of radiance across the east. And then, as he arose stiffly, stamped out his fire, and started slowly on his way back, he was conscious of a passionate homesickness, not for the old life he had lost,

Starting point is 03:18:50 but for his cabin, his bright hearth, his shut-in solitude, his Joan. Very dear and real and human, she was, and her laughter had been sweet he had shocked it to silence he had repulsed her comforting hands she had been so innocent of any desire to hurt him he could not imagine her ever hurting anyone this broad-browned joan she was so kind and now she must be anxious about him she would have sat up by the fire all night his eagerness for her slighted comfort gave his lagging steps a certain vigor the long walk back seemed very long indeed noon was hot but he found water and by sundown he came to the canyon trail he wanted joan as badly now as a hurt child wants its mother he came haggard and breathless to the door called joan came into the warm little room and found it empty wen ho to be sure pattered to meet him mr gale been gone a long time very long all night

Starting point is 03:20:13 when ho he fixed bed fixed breakfast oh the lady she gone out yesterday not come back she leave a letter for him there in the table prosper took it waved wenho out, and dropping into the big chair, opened the paper. There was Joan's big handwriting that he himself had taught her. Before she could only sign her name. Mr. Gale, dear friend, you have been too good to me, and it has been too hard for you to keep me when you were all the while amissing her, and it hurts me to think of how it must have been terrible hard for you all this winter to see me, where you had been used to seem her and me wearing her pretty things all the while. Now, dear friend, this must not be no more. I will not stay to trouble you. You have been awful free-hearted. When you come back from your wandering and trying to get over your being so unhappy,

Starting point is 03:21:20 you will find your house quiet and peaceful, and you will not be hurt by me no more. not able to say all I am feeling about your goodness, and I have not always been as kind to you in my thoughts and actions, but that has been my own fault, not yours. I want you to believe this, Mr. Gale. I am going back to Pierre's ranch to work on his land, and someday I will be hoping to see you come riding in, and I will keep on learning as well as I can, and maybe you will not be ashamed of me. i feel awful bad to go but i would feel more bad to stay when it must hurt you so respectably joan there were blistered spots above that pathetic mistaken signature the poor girl had meant to sign herself respectfully and somehow that half broke his heart he drank the strong coffee when ho brought for him two great cups of it and he drank the strong coffee when ho brought for him two great cups of it and he He ate a piece of broiled elk meat.

Starting point is 03:22:30 Then he went out again and walked rapidly down the trail. It was not yet dark. The world was in a soft glow of rose and violet, opalescent lights. The birds were singing in a hundred chantries, and there, through the furs, a sight to stop his heart, Joan came walking toward him, graceful, free, a swinging figure, bareheaded her rags girded beautifully around her and up and up to him she came soundlessly over the pine needles and through the wet snow-patches looking at him steadfastly and tenderly without a smile she came and stood before him still without dropping her sad grave look mr gale she said i have come back i got out yonder

Starting point is 03:23:27 and her breast heaved and a sort of terror came into her eyes. And the world was awful lonely. There ain't a creature out yonder to care for me, for me to care for. It seemed like as if it was all dead. I couldn't abare it. She put out her hand wistfully asking for pity, but he fell upon his knees and wrapped his hungry arms about her.

Starting point is 03:23:55 joan he sobbed joan don't leave me don't i couldn't bear it he looked up at her his worn face wet with tears don't leave me joan i want you don't you understand her deep gray eyes filled slowly with light she put a hand on either side of his face and bent her lips to his i never thought you'd be wantin me she said end of book one chapter sixteen recording by roger maline book one chapter seventeen of the branding iron by katherine newland bert this librovoc's recording is in the public domain recording by roger maline chapter seventeen concerning marriage and it was springtime time these prisoners of frost were beautifully sensitive they too with the lake and the aspens and the earth the seeds and the beasts had suffered the season of interment in such fashion nature makes possible the fresh undertakings of last summer's reckless prodigals she drives them into her mock tomb and freezes their hearts it is a little rest of death so that they wake like turbulent but can't drunk with sleep and with forgetfulness love spring says is an eternal fact welcome its new manifestations remating bluebirds built their nests near jones window they were not troubled by sad recollections of last year's nests nor the young birds that flew away it was another life a resurrection if they remembered at all they remembered only

Starting point is 03:26:02 only the impulses of pleasure they had somewhere before learned how to love how to build the past summers had given practice to their singing little throats and to their rapid wings no ghosts forbade happiness and no god man voiced saying because he knew the ugly human aftermaths hard sayings of be ye perfect what counsel was theirs for joan and what had been her human mentor taught her. He had taught her, in one form or another, the beauty of passion and its eternal sinlessness, for that was his sincere belief. By music he had taught her, by musical speech, by the preaching of heathen sage and the wit of modern arguers. He had given her all the moral schooling she had ever had, and its golden rule was, Be ye beautiful and generous. joan was both beautiful and made forgiving free-hearted as she might herself have said friday's child as the old rhyme has it and to cry out to her with love saying i want you joan was just sooner or later to see her turn and bend her head and hold out her arms prosper had the reward of patience his wild leperess was tamed to his hand

Starting point is 03:27:32 and her sweetness made him tender and very merciful. Their gray little house stood open all day while they explored the mountains and plunged into the lake, choosing the hot hour of noon. Joan made herself mistress of the house and did her woman's work at last of tidying and beautifying

Starting point is 03:27:54 and decking corners with gorgeous branches of blossoms while Prosper worked at his desk. He was happy. The reality of Joan's presence had laid his ghost, just as the reality of his had laid hers. His work went on magically, and added the glow of successful creation to the glow of satisfied desire,

Starting point is 03:28:20 and his sin of deceit troubled him very little, for he had worked out that problem and had decided that Pierre, dead or alive, was unworthy of this mate, but sometimes in her sleep joan would start and moan feeling the touch of the white-hot iron on her shoulder her hatred of pierre's cruelty her resolution to be done with him forever must have vividly renewed itself in those dreams for she would cling to prosper like a frightened child and wake trembling happy to find herself safe in his arms so they lived their spring when ho the silent and inscrutable went out of the valley for provisions and during his absence joan queened it in the kitchen she was learning to laugh to see the absurd delightful twists of daily living to mock prosper's oddities as he mocked hers she was learning to be a comrade and she was learning better speech and more exquisite ways

Starting point is 03:29:33 it was inevitable that she should learn prosper in these days spent his whole soul upon her fed her with music and delight and he trained her to sing her sagas so that every day her voice gained in power and flexible sweetness she would sing since he told her to her voice beating its wings against the walls of the house or ringing down the canyon in untrammeled flight prosper was lost in wonder of her in a passionate admiration for his own handiwork he was making here in this godforsaken solitude a thing of marvel what he was making surely justified the means jones laughable simplicity and directness were the same they were part of her essence no civilizing could confuse or disturb them but she changed her brain grew it absorbed material it attempted adventures nowadays joan sometimes argued and this filled prosper with delight so quaint and logical she was and so skilful they were reading out under the firs by the green lip of the lake when wen ho led his pack-horse up the trail he had been gone a month for prosper had sent him out of the valley to a distant town for his supplies he didn't want the little frontier place to prick up its ears wen ho had ridden by a secret trail back over the range he had not passed even the ranger station on his way he called out and in the midst of a sentence joan was reading prosper started up joan looked at him smiling you're as easily turned away from learning as a boy she began and faltered when she saw his face

Starting point is 03:31:38 it was turned eagerly toward the climbing horses toward the pack and it was sharp and keen with detached interest an excitement that had nothing nothing in the world to do with her. It was the great bundle of Prosper's mail that first brought home to Joan the awareness of an outside world. She knew that Prosper was a traveled and widely experienced man, but she had not fancied him held to this world by human attachments. Concerning the tall child, she had not put a question, and she still believed her to have been Prosper's wife. but when leaving her place under the tree she came into the house and found Prosper feverishly slitting open envelope after envelope with a pile of papers and magazines ankle high beside him on the floor she stood aghast what a lot of people must have been writing to you, Prosper. He did not hear her. He was greedy of eye and fingertips, searching, written sheet after sheet. He was flushed along the cheekbones and a little pale about the lips. Joan stood there, her hands hanging, her head bent, staring up and out at him from under her brows. She looked in this attitude rather dangerous.

Starting point is 03:33:09 Prosper sped through his mail, made an odd gesture of desperation, sat still a moment staring, his brilliant green-gray eyes gone dull and blank. Then he gave himself a shuddery shake, pulled a small parcel from under the papers, and held it out to Joan. He smiled. Something for you, Leopardus, he said. He had told her his first impression of her.

Starting point is 03:33:40 She took the box haughtily and walked with it over to her chair. But he came and kissed her. jealous of my male you foolish child what a girl thing you are it doesn't matter does it how we train you or leave you untrained you're all alike you women under your skins open your box and thank me prettily and leave matters you don't understand alone that's the way to talk isn't it she flushed and smiled rather doubtfully but at sight of his gift she forgot everything else for a moment it was a collar of topaz and emerald set in heavy silver she was awe-struck by its beauty and went after he had fastened it for her to stand a long while before the glass looking at it she wore her yellow dress cut into a v at the neck and the jubes jewels rested beautifully at the base of her long, round throat, faintly brown like her face up to the brow. The yellow and the green brought out all the value of her grave scarlet lips, the soft even tints of

Starting point is 03:34:59 her skin, the dark lights and shadows of her hair and eyes. "'It's beautiful,' she said. "'It's wonderful. I love it.' very grave and still she took it off put it on its box and laid it on the mantle then she went out of doors Prosper hurried to the window and saw her walk out to the garden they had made and begin her work he was puzzled by her manner but presently shrugged the problem of her mood away and went back to his mail that night he finished his novel and got it ready for the publisher

Starting point is 03:35:42 again when ho calm and uncomplaining was sent out over the hill and again the idol was renewed and joan wore the collar and was almost as happy as before only one night she startled prosper i asked pierre she said slowly after a silence in her low-pitched voice when he was taking me away home i asked where are you going and he said to me don't you savvy the answer to that question joan and prosper i didn't savvy so he told me and he looked at me sort of hard and stern we're a-goin to be married joan prosper and joan were sitting before the fire joan on the bearskin at his feet he lounging back long-legged smoke veiled in one of the lacquered chairs she had been fingering her collar and she kept on finger it as she spoke and staring straight into the flames but at the last quoting pierre's words and tone her voice and face quivered and she looked at him with eyes of mysterious pain, in them a sort of uncomprehended anguish. "'Why was that, Prosper?' she asked.

Starting point is 03:37:14 "'I mean, why did he say it that way? "'And what does it stand for, marrying or not?' "'Prosper jerked a little in his chair, "'then said he blasphemously, "' Marriage is the sin against the Holy Ghost.' don't be the conventional woman joan isn't this beautiful this life of ours yes but her eyes of uncomprehended pain were still upon him so he put his hand over them and drew her head against his knee yes but that other life was-was before pierre changed it was beautiful of course love is always beautiful not even marriage can always spoil it though it very often does well joan he went on flippantly though the tickle of her lashes against his palm somehow disturbed his flippancy

Starting point is 03:38:18 i'll go into the subject with you one of these days when the weather isn't so beautiful it's really a matter of law property rights and so forth a practice various conducted in various lands it's man's most studied insult to woman it's recommended as the lesser of two evils by a man who despised woman as only an oriental can despise her st paul by name It's a thing civilized women cry for till they get it, and then quite bitterly learn to understand it. It's a horrible invention which needn't touch your beautiful clean soul, dear. Come out and look at the moon. Listen, they stood side by side at the door. Some silly bird thinks that is the dawn. Look at me, Joan.

Starting point is 03:39:17 She lifted obedient eyes. There, that's better. Don't get that other look. I can't bear it. I love you. A moment later, they went out into the sweet silver silence down to the silver lake. Four months later, the name of Prosper Gale

Starting point is 03:39:40 began to be on everyone's lips, and before everyone's eyes. The world, his world, began to clamor for him. Even when Ho grumbled at this going out on tremendous journeys after the mail for which Prosper grew more and more greedy and impatient, his novel, The Canyon, had been accepted, was enormously advertised, had made an extraordinary success.

Starting point is 03:40:10 All this he explained to Joan, who tried to rejoice, because she saw that it was an exquisite delight. to prosper. He was by way of thinking now that his exile, his Wyoming adventure, was to thank for his success, but when a woman, even such a woman as Joan, begins to feel that she has been a useful emotional experience, there begins pain. For Joan, pain began, and daily it increased. It was suffering for her to watch Prosper reading his letters. to him from the western town, where his friends and his secretary believed him to be recovering from some nervous illness, to watch him smoking and thinking of himself, his fame, his talents,

Starting point is 03:41:02 his future, to watch him scribbling notes, planning another work, to hear his excited talk, now so impersonal, so unrelated to her, to see how his eagerness over her education slackened, faltered died to notice that he no longer watched the changeful humors of her beauty nor cared if she wore bronze or blue or yellow and worst of all to find him staring at her sometimes with a worried impatient look which scuttled out of sight like some ugly many-legged creature when it met her own eyes painful of course yet such an old story joan who had never heard of such experience did not foresee the inevitable end and in so much she was spared the extra pain of forfeiting her dignity and self-respect did not touch her for she made none of those most pitiful unavailing efforts to hold him to cling did not even pretend indifference she only drew gradually into herself shrinking from her pain and from him as the cause of it she only lost her glow of love happiness her face seemed dwindled seemed to contract and that secret look of wild animal returned to her gray eyes she quietly gave up the old regulations of their life

Starting point is 03:42:40 she did not remind him of the study hours the music hours the hours of wild outdoor play she read under the furs alone she studied faithfully alone she cloned faithfully alone she closed climbed and swam alone, or with his absent-minded, fitful company. She worked in the garden alone. At night, when he was asleep, she lay with her hand pressed against her heart, staring at the darkness, listening to the night, waiting. Curiously enough, his inevitable returns of passion and interest, the always decreasing floodmark, each time, a line lower did not deceive her did not distract her she never expressed her trouble even to herself she did not give it any words she took her pain without wincing without complaint and when he seemed to need her in any little way in any big way she gave because she could not help it because she had promised him largesse because it was her nature to give

Starting point is 03:43:56 Besides, although she was instinctively waiting, she did not foresee the end. It was in late October when somewhere in the pile of Prosper's mail, there lay a small gray envelope. Joan drew his attention to it, calling it a queer little letter, and he took it up slowly, as though his deft and nervous fingers had gone numb. Before he opened it, he looked at Joan, and, in one sense, it was the last time he ever did look at her, for at that moment his stark spirit looked straight into hers, acknowledged its guilt, and bade her a mute and remorseful farewell. He read and Joan watched.

Starting point is 03:44:47 His face grew pale and bright as though some electric current had been turned, into his veins his eyes looking up from the writing but not returning to her had the look given by some drug which is meant to stupefy but which taken in an overdose intoxicates he turned and made for the door holding the little gray folded paper in his hand on the threshold he half faced her without lifting his eyes i have had extraordinary news joan i shall have to go off alone and think things out i don't know when i shall get back he went out and shut the door gently joan stood listening she heard him go along the passage and through the second door she heard his feet on the mountain trail afterwards she went out and stood between the two sentinel furs that that had marked the entrance, to that snow tunnel long since disappeared. Now it was a late October day, bright as a bared sword. The flowers of the Indian paintbrush burned like red candle flames everywhere under the furs.

Starting point is 03:46:10 The fireweed blazed. The aspen leaves were laid like little golden tiles against the metallic blue of the sky. the high peak pointed up dizzily and down down dizzily into the clear emptiness of the lake this great peak stood there in the glittering stillness of the day a grouse boomed but joan was not startled by the sudden rush of its wings she felt the sharp weight of that silent mountain in her heart she might have been buried under it so she felt it all day while she worked a desperate bright day hideous in her memory and at night she lay waiting after hours longer than any other hours the door of her bedroom opened and an oblong of moonlight as white as paper fell across the matted floor prosper stepped in noiselessly and walked over to her bed he stood a moment and she heard him swallow you're awake joan her eyes were staring up at him but she lay still listen joan he spoke in short sentences waiting between each for some comment of hers which did not come

Starting point is 03:47:38 i shall have to go away to-morrow i shall have to go away for some time i don't want you to be unhappy i want you to stay here for a while if you will for as long as you want to stay i am leaving you plenty of money i will write and explain it all very clearly to you i know that you will understand listen here he knelt and took her hand which he found lying cold and stiff under the cover pressed against her heart i have made you happy here in this little house haven't i joan she would not answer even this except by the merest flicker of her eyelids you have trusted me now trust me a little longer my life is very complicated this beautiful year with you the year you have given to me is just a temporary respite from-from all sorts of things i've taught you a great deal joan i've healed the wound that brute made on your shoulder and in your heart i've taught you to be beautiful i've filled your own you to be beautiful i've filled your wound that brute made on your shoulder and in your heart i've taught you to be beautiful i've filled your your mind with beauty. You are a wonderful woman. You'll live to be grateful to me. Someday you'll tell me so. Her quiet, curved lips moved. Are you telling me goodbye, Prosper? It was impossible to lie to her. He bent his head. Yes, Joan. Then tell it quick,

Starting point is 03:49:24 and go out and leave me here tonight. It was impossible to touch her. She might have been wrapped in white fire. He found that though she had not stirred a finger, his hand had shrunk away from hers. He got to his feet, all the cleverness which all day long he had been weaving like a silk net to catch,

Starting point is 03:49:48 to bewilder, to draw away her brain from the anguish of full comprehension, was shriveled. he stood and stared helplessly at her dumb as a youth and obedient he went out and shut the door taking the white patch of moonlight with him so joan having waited behind an obstinately locked door for his departure came out at noon and found herself in the small gay house alone she sat in one of the lacquered chairs and saw after a long while that the long while that the little little little little while that the little that the Chinaman was looking at her. Wen Ho, it seemed, had been given instructions. He was to stay and take care of the house and the lady

Starting point is 03:50:37 for as long as she wanted it, or him. Afterwards he was to lock up the house and go. He handed her a large and bulky envelope which Joan took and let lie in her lap. You can go tomorrow, Wen Ho, she said. you no wait for mr gale come back he say he come back no i'm not going to wait i guess here joan twisted her mouth into a smile i'm not one of the waiting kind i'm a-going back to my own ranch now it won't seem so awful lonesome perhaps as i was thinking last spring that it would she touched the envelope without looking at it is this money wenho i tink so lady she held it unopened out to him

Starting point is 03:51:37 i will give it to you then i have no need of it she stood up i am going out now to climb up this mountain back of the house so i can seize just where i am i'll come down to-night for dinner and to-morrow tomorrow, after breakfast, I'll be going away. You understand? Lady, you mean give me all this money? babbled the Chinaman. Yes, said Joan gravely. I have no need of it. She went past him with her swinging step. She was coming down the mountainside that evening, very tired,

Starting point is 03:52:19 but with the curious, peaceful stillness of heart, that comes with an entire acceptance of fate, when she heard the sound of horses' hooves in the hollow of the canyon. Her heart began to beat to suffocation. She ran to where, standing near a big fir tree, she could look straight down on the trail leading up to Prosper's cabin. Presently, the horseman came in sight. The one that rode first was tall and broad and fair.

Starting point is 03:52:53 she could see under his hat brim his straight nose and firmly modelled chin the sin buster said joan then looking at the other who rode behind him she caught at the tree with crooked hands and began to sink slowly to her knees he was tall and slight he rode with inimitable grace as she stared he took off his sombrero rested his hand on the saddle-horn and looked haggardly eagerly up the trail toward the house his face was whiter thinner worn by protracted mental pain but it was the beautiful living face of pierre jones shrank back into the shadows of the pines crouched for a few minutes like a mortally wounded beast then ran up the mountain-side as though the fire that had once touched her shoulder had eaten its way at last into her heart End of Book 1, Chapter 17. End of Book 1 Recording by Roger Maline. Book 2, Chapter 1 of the branding iron by Catherine Newellyn Burt.

Starting point is 03:54:20 This Librevox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Roger Maline. Book 2, The Estray. Chapter 1. A Wild Cat. A lazy Y ranch house, a one-storied building of logs, was built about three sides of a paved court. In the middle of this court stood a well with a high rustic top, and about this well on a certain brilliant July night, a tall man was strolling with his hands behind his back.

Starting point is 03:54:56 It was a night of full moon, sailing high, which poured whiteness into the court, making its cobbles embedded in the earth look like milky bubbles and drawing clear-cut shadows of the well-top and the gables and chimneys of the house the man slowly circled the court beginning close to the walls and narrowing till he made a loop about the well and then reversing worked in widening orbits as far as the walls again his wife looking out at him through one of the windows thought that in the moonlight followed by his own squat active shadow he looked like a huge spider weaving a web this effect was heightened by the fact that he never looked up he was deep in some plan to which it was impossible for her not to believe that the curious pattern of his walk bore some relation from the northern wing of the ranch house strongly lighted came a tumult of sound music thumping feet a man's voice chanting couplets oh you walk right through and you turn around and swing the girl that finds you and you come right back by the same old track and turn the girl behind you some one was directing a quadrille in native fashion there was much laughter confusion and applause none of this noise disturbed the man he did not look at the lighted windows he might really have been a gigantic insect entirely unrelated to the human creatures so noisily near at hand a man came round the corner of the house crossed the square and lurching a little made for the door of the lighted wing shortly after his entrance the sound of music and dancing abruptly stopped this stillness gave the spider pause but he was about to renew his weaving when in the silence a woman spoke you mabel don't you go home she said

Starting point is 03:57:07 she had not spoken loudly but her voice beat against the walls of the court as though it could have filled the whole moonlight night with dangerous beauty the listener outside lifted his head with a low startled exclamation suddenly the world was alive with adventure and alarm mind your own business you wild cat answered a man's raucous voice she's my wife which is something that your sort knows nothing about come on you mabel you think that outlaw can keep me from taking home my wife you're betting wrong another silence then the voice again a little louder as though the speaker had stepped out into the center of the room mabel is not a-going home with you it said and the listener outside threw back his head with the gesture of a man sensitive to music who listens to some ecstatic melody she happens to be stopping here with us to-night you say that she's your wife but that don't mean that she belongs to you body and soul, Bill Greer, not to you who don't possess your own body or soul. Why, you can't keep your feet steady. You can't pull your hand away from mine. You can't hold your tipsy eyes on mine. Do you call that owning your own body? And as for your soul,

Starting point is 03:58:38 it's a hell of rage and dirty feelings that I'd hate to burn my eyes by looking closely at. A deep, short, alarming chorus of laughter interrupted the speech. The speaker evidently had her audience. "'So you don't own anything tonight,' went on the extraordinary deliberate voice. "'Surely you don't own Mabel. You can't get a claim on her, not that away. She's her own. She belongs to her own self.

Starting point is 03:59:11 When you're fit to take her, why, then come and tell us about it. And if we judge you're a-telling us the truth, maybe we'll let her go. Till then! A pause which was filled with a rapid shuffling of feet. The door flew open, and in its lighted oblong, the observer saw a huddled figure behind which rose a woman's black and shapely head. "'Till then,' repeated the deep-toned ringing voice, get out and the huddled man came on a staggering run which ended in a backward fall on the cobbles of the court the man who watched trod lightly passed him and came to the open door inside firelight beat on the golden log walls and salmon-colored timber ceiling a lamp hanging from a beam threw down a strong conflicting arc of white light a dozen brown

Starting point is 04:00:12 Unfaced booted young men stood about three musicians were ready to take up their interrupted music the little fat man who had called out the figures of the quadrille stood on a barrel his arms folded across his punch A fair-haired girl her face marred by recent tears drooped near him two of the young men were murmuring reassurances to her others surrounded a stout red-faced girl who was lured laughing and talking loudly. The Jews' eyes wandered till they came to the fireplace. There, another woman leaned against the wall. The music struck up, the dancing began again, the two other girls, quickly provided with partners, began to waltz. The superfluous men stood up together and went at it with gravity and grace. No one asked this woman, who stood at ease, watching the dancers, her hands resting on her hips, her head tilted back against the logs. As he looked at her, the intruder had a queer little thrill of fright.

Starting point is 04:01:24 He remembered something he had once seen, a tame panther which was to be used in some moving picture play. Its confident owner had let it in on a chain and held it negligently in a corner of the room, waiting for his cue. The panther had stood there drowsily, its eyes shifting a little, then, watching people, its inky head had begun to move from side to side. He remembered the way the loose chain jerked. The animal's eyes half closed, it lowered its head. Its upper lip began to draw away from its teeth. All at once it had dropped on its belly. Someone cried out, hold your beast this young woman by the fireplace had just that panther air of perilous quietness she was very haggard very thin she wore her massive black hair drawn away hideously from brow and temple and out of this lean unshaded face a pair of deep eyes looked drowsily dangerously her mouth was straightened into an expression of proud bitterness

Starting point is 04:02:39 her round chin thrust forward there was a deep scowling line that rose from the bridge of her straight short nose almost to the roots of her hair it cut across a splendidly modelled brow she was very graceful if such a bundle of bones might be said to have any grace her pose was arresting there was a tragic force and attraction about her the man by the door appraised her carefully between his narrowed lids he kept in mind the remembered melody of her voice and after a few moments he strolled across the floor and came up to her will you dance he said he had a very charming and subtle smile a very charming and sympathetic look the woman was startled color rose into her face she stared she stared at a very charming and subtle smile a very charming and sympathetic look the woman was startled color rose into her face she stared she stared at him i'm not dancing mr marina she answered you know my name smiled marina and i don't know yours i've been on mr yarnel's ranch for a month why haven't i seen you for not lookin i suppose she had given him that one startled glance and now she had turned her eyes back to the dancers and wore a grim contemptuous air her speeches though they were cut into short crisp words were full of music of a sharp metallic quality different from the tone of her other speech but quite as beautifully expressive may i smoke asked marina he was still smiling his charming smile and watching her out of the corners of his eyes i'm not hinderin you any said she

Starting point is 04:04:37 marina smiled deeper he took some time making and lighting his cigarette you don't smoke yourself he asked no nor dance no nor behave prettily to polite young men again the woman looked at him you ain't so awful young are you he laughed aloud i amuse you don't i well i'm not always so all-fired funny drawled the creature lowering her head a little no i've heard that you're not you rather run things here i gather got the bull boys, plumb scared? Did Mr. Yarnall tell you that? Yes, I've just in the last few minutes remembered who you are. You're Jane. You cook for the outfit, and Yarnel was telling us the other night how he sent one of the boys out for a cook,

Starting point is 04:05:44 the last one, a man, having been beaten up, and how the boy had brought you back behind him on his saddle. He said you'd kept order for him ever since. We're better than a foreman. Who was the man you threw out tonight? Perhaps, drawled Jane, he was just a feller who asked too many questions? Again, Maurena's smile deepened into his cheeks. He gave way, in the Jewish fashion, so deceptively suggestive of meekness and timidity,

Starting point is 04:06:19 when it is at its worst merely pliable insolence at its best pliable determination you must pardon me miss jane he said in his murmuring cultivated voice you see i've had a great misfortune i've never been in your west i've lived in new york where good manners haven't time or space to flourish i hadn't the least intention of being impertinent do you want me to go he moved as if to leave her and she did not lift a finger to detain him i'm not carin do as you please she said with entire indifference oh said marina looking back at her i don't stay where people are not karen she gave him an extraordinarily intelligent look i should say that the only place you'd be wanting to stay in at all where you're not exactly urged to come she said morina flushed and his lids flickered he was for an instant absurdly inclined to anger and made two or three steps away, but he came back. He bowed and spoke as he would have spoken to a great lady, suavely, deferentially. Good night! I wish I could think that you have enjoyed our talk as greatly as I have, Miss Jane. I should very much like to be allowed to repeat it. May I be

Starting point is 04:07:57 stupidly personal and tell you that you are very beautiful? He bowed, gave her an upward look and went out, finding his way cleverly among the dancers. Outside, in the moonlit court, he stood, threw back his head and laughed, not loudly, but consumedly. He was remembering her white face of mute astonishment. She looked almost as if his compliments had given her sharp pain. Morina went laughing to his room in the opposite wing. He wanted to describe the interview to his wife. End of Book 2, Chapter 1. Recording by Roger Maline.

Starting point is 04:08:49 Book 2, Chapter 2 of the branding iron by Catherine Newellyn Burt. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Roger Maline. Chapter 2. Marina's wife. Betty Marina was sitting in a rustic chair before an open fire, smoking a cigarette. She was a short woman, so slenderly, even narrowly built as to appear overgrown, and she was a mature woman so immaturely shaped and featured as to appear

Starting point is 04:09:26 hardly more than a child. Her curly, russet hair was parted at the side. Her wide, long-lashed eyes were set far apart. Her nose was really a finely modeled snub. more a boy's nose even to a light sprinkling of freckles, and her mouth was provokingly the soft red mouth of a sorrowful child. She lounged far down in her chair, her slight legs clad in riding-breeches of perfect cut, stretched out straight, her limber arms along the arms of the chair,

Starting point is 04:10:03 her chin sunk on her flat chest, and her big clear eyes staring into the fire. it was an odd figure of a wife for jasper marina a jew of thirty-eight producer and manager of plays when betty kane had run away with him there had been lamentation and rage in the houses of kane and of marina to the pride of an old hebrew family the marriage even of this wandering son with a gentile was fully as degrading as to the pride of the old tory family was the marriage with a jew her perverse gaelic blood on fire with the insults heaped upon her lover betty seventeen years old romantic clever would have walked over flint to give her hand to him that was ten years ago now when jasper came into her room she drew her quick brows together puffed at her cigarette and blinked as though she was looking at something distasteful and at the same time rather alarming have they stopped dancing jasper she asked in a voice that was at once brusque and soft jasper rubbed his hands delightedly he was still merry and came to stand near the first fire, looking down at her with eyes entirely kind and admiring.

Starting point is 04:11:30 Have you ever noticed Jane, who cooks for the outfit, Betty? Yes, she's horrible. She's extraordinary, and I mean to get hold of her for Lux's play. Did you read it? Yes. The play is absolutely dependent on the leading part, and I have found it simply impossible to fill. now here's a woman of extraordinary grace and beauty betty lifted skeptical eyebrows twisted her limber mouth but forbore to contradict and with a magical voice a woman who not only looks the part but is it you remember luxe heroine betty flicked off the ash of her cigarette and looked away a savage isn't she the man has her tamed takes her back to London, and there gives her cause for jealousy, and she springs on him.

Starting point is 04:12:31 Yes, I remember. This woman, Jane, is absolutely without education, and hasn't a notion of acting, I suppose. Jasper rubbed his hands with increased delight. Not a notion, and she murders the King's English. But she is luck savage, and, in spite of your eyebrows, Betty, she is beautiful. I can school her. It will take money, no end of patience, but I can do it. It's one of the things I can do. But, of course, there's the initial difficulty of persuading her to try it. That oughtn't to be any difficulty at all. Of course she'll jump at the chance. I'm not so sure. She was ready to throw me out of the kitchen tonight. She is really a virago. Do you know what one of the men said about her? Jasper laughed and imitated the gentle western draw. Jane's plumb moving to me. She's about halfway between you go to hell and you take me in your arms to rest.

Starting point is 04:13:42 Betty smiled. Her smile was vastly more mature than her appearance. It was clever and cynical and cold. The Oriental, looking down, down at her, lost his merriment. "'Do you feel better, dear?' he asked timidly. "'Do you think you'll be able to go back next week?' She stood up as he came nearer and walked over to the little table that played the part of dressing-table under a wavy mirror.

Starting point is 04:14:13 "'Oh, yes, I am quite well. I don't think the doctors have much sense. I'm sure I hadn't anything like a nervous breakdown. I was just tired out. jasper drew back the hand whose touch she had eluded and nervously his long supple fingers a little unsteady lighted a cigarette at that moment he did not look like a spider but like a lover who had been hurt betty could see in the mirror a distorted image of his dejected gracefulness but entirely unmoved she put up her thin brown hands and began to take the pins out of her hair i like your jane experiment she said let me know how you get on with it and whether i can help i shall have to turn in now i'm dead beat yarnel took me half way up the mountain and back good night jasper looked at her then pressed his lips into a straight line and went to the door which led from her bedroom to his he said good-night in a low tone glanced at her over his shoulder and went out betty waited an instant then slowly unlaced her heavy knee-high boots took them off and began to walk to and fro on stocking feet hands clasped behind her back with her curly hair all about her face and shoulders she looked like a wild extravagantly naughty school girl a girl in a wicked temper a rebel against authority

Starting point is 04:15:53 in fact she was rejoicing that this horrible and forced visit to the west was all but over one week more she was almost at an end of her endurance how she hated the beautiful white night outside those mountain peaks, the sound of that rapid river, the stillness of sagebrush, the voice of the big pines, and she hated the log room, its simplicity now all littered with incongruous luxuries, ivory toilet articles on the board table, lacy, berry-bond underwear thrown over the rustic chair, silver-framed photographs, an exquisite gold-mounted crystal vase full of wild flowers on the pine shelf, satin bedroom slippers on the clay hearth, a gorgeous fur-trimmed dressing-gown over the foot of her narrow iron cot, all the ridiculous necessities that Betty's maid had put into her trunk. Yes, Betty hated it all because it was what she had always thirsted for.

Starting point is 04:17:04 What a malevolent trick of fate that Jasper should have brought her to Wyoming, that the doctor had insisted upon at least a month of just this life. Take her west, he had said, and Betty, lying limp and white in her bed, her small head sunk into the pillow, had jerked from head to foot. Take her west. I know a ranch in Wyoming,

Starting point is 04:17:30 Yarnels! She'll get outdoor exercise. eyes, tonic air, sound sleep, release from all these pestiferous details, like a cloud of flies that sting women's nerves to death. Don't pay any attention to whether she likes it or not. Let her behave like a naughty child. Let her kick and scream and cry. Pick her up, Marina, and carry her off. Do you hear? Don't let her make you change your plans. The doctor had seen his patient's convulsive jerk. Pack her up. Make your reservations and go straight to Buck Yarnel's ranch, lazy Y, that's his brand, I believe, Middle Fork, Wyoming. I'll send him a wire. He

Starting point is 04:18:21 knows me. She needs all outdoors to run about in. She needs jogging around all day through the sagebrush on a cow pony in that son. son. She needs the smell of a campfire. Gad, wish I could get back to it myself. Betty, having heard this out, began to laugh. She laughed till they gave her something to keep her quiet. But, except for that laughter, she had made no protest whatever. She did not kick and scream and cry. In fact, though she looked like a child, she was not at all inclined to, and to such exhibitions. This doctor had not seen her through her recent ordeal. Two years before her breakdown, Jasper had been terribly hurt in an automobile accident, and Betty had come to him at the

Starting point is 04:19:15 hospital, had waited, as white as a snow image, for the result of the examination. They had told her emphatically that there was no hope. Jasper Marina could not live for more than a few days. she must not allow herself to hope. He might or might not regain consciousness. If he did, it would be for a few minutes before the end. Betty had listened with her white, rigid child face, and thanked them, had gone home. There, in her exquisite little sitting-room above Central Park, she had sat at her desk and written a few lines on a square gray note-paper.

Starting point is 04:19:58 Jasper is dying, she had written. By the time you get this, he will be dead. If you can forgive me for having failed and courage last year, come back. What I have been to you before, I will be again, only this time we can love openly. Come back. Then she had dropped her head on the desk and cried. Afterwards she had addressed her letter to a letter to a little bit of her. a certain prosper gale. The letter went to Wyoming. When it reached its destination, it was taken over a

Starting point is 04:20:37 mountain range by a patient Chinaman. Three days later, Jasper regained consciousness and began slowly to return to health. He had the tenacious vitality of his race, and in his own spirit an iron will to live. He kept Betty beside his bed for hours and held her cold hand in his long, sensitive one, and he stared at her under his lashes till she thought she must go mad. But she did not. She nursed him through an interminable convalescence. She received Prosper, very early in this convalescence, by her husband's bed, and Jasper had murmured gratitude for the emotion that threatened to overwhelm his friend. It was not till some time, an extraordinarily long time,

Starting point is 04:21:32 after Marina's complete recovery, that she had snapped like a broken icicle. And then, forsooth, they had sent her to Wyoming to get back her health. Having paced away some of her restlessness, Betty stopped by the cabin window and pushed aside one of the short calico curtains. She looked out on the court. A tall woman had just pulled up a bucket of water from the well

Starting point is 04:22:00 and had emptied it into a pitcher. She finished, let the bucket drop with a whir and a clash, and raised her head. For a second, she and Jasper Marina's wife looked at each other. Betty nodded, smiled, and drew the curtain close. End of Book 2, Chapter 2. recording by Roger Maline. Book 2. Chapter 3 of the branding iron by Catherine Newellyn Burt.

Starting point is 04:22:39 This Librevox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Roger Maline. Chapter 3. Jane After that night, there began a sort of persecution, skillfully conducted by Jasper and Betty, against the ferocity of Jane. It was a persecution impossible. to imagine in any other setting, even the social simplicity of lazy why found itself a trifle amused.

Starting point is 04:23:10 For Jasper, the stately Jewish figure, would carry pails of water for Jane from the well to the kitchen, would help her in the vegetable garden, and to straighten out her recalcitrant stovepipe. Betty would put on an apron a mile too large to wash dishes and shell peas. She would sit in the kitchen table swinging her long, childlike legs and chatter amiably. Jasper talked too to the Varago, talked delightfully about horses and dogs. He had a charming gift of humorous observation, talked about hunting and big game shooting, about trapping, about travel, and, at last, about plays.

Starting point is 04:23:57 Undoubtedly, Jane listened. Sometimes she laughed. Once in a while she ejaculated musically, Well! Occasionally, she swore. One afternoon he met her riding home from an errand to a neighboring ranch, and, turning his horse, rode with her. In worn corduroy skirt, flannel shirt, and gray sombrero, she looked like a handsome, haggard boy, and that afternoon there was a certain unusual wistfulness in her eyes, and her mouth had relaxed a little from its bitterness.

Starting point is 04:24:35 Perhaps it was the beauty of a clear, keen summer day. Without doubt also, she was touched by the courteous pleasure of his greeting and by his giving up his ride in order to accompany her. She even unbent from her silence, and, for the first time, really talked to him. and she spoke too in a new manner using her beautiful voice with beautiful carefulness it was like a master musician who after a long illness takes up his beloved instrument and tentatively tests his shaken powers jasper had much ado to keep his surprise to himself for the rough ranch girl could speak pure enough english if she would you and your wife are leaving soon she asked him and when he nodded she gave a sigh i'll be missing you she said throwing away her brusquery like a rag with which she was done you've been company for me you've made use of lots of patience and courage but i have really liked it i've not got the ways of being sociable and i don't know what i want ever to get them

Starting point is 04:25:50 i am not seeking for friends there isn't another person on the ranch that would dare talk to me as you and mrs marina have talked they don't know anything about me here and i don't mean that they should know she paused then gave way to an impulse of confidence one of the boys asked me to marry him he came and shouted it through the window and i caught him with a pan of water she sighed i don't know rightly if he meant it for a joke or not but the laugh wasn't on me jasper controlled his laughter then saw the dry humor of her eyes and lips and let out his mirth why sir said jane you'd be surprised at the foolishness of men sometimes it seems that just for pure contrariness they want to marry her that least wants them about the day i came tramping into this valley i stopped for food at the ranch of an old bachelor down yonder at the ford and he invited me to be his wife while i was drinking her glass of water from his well he told me how much money he had and said he'd start my stove for me winter mornings there's a good husband and he was sure kind to me even when i told him no twas that same evening that the boy from lazy y rode in and claimed me for a cook mr yarnel is a trusting man he took me and didn't ask any questions i told him i was jane and that i wasn't plan to let him know more. He hasn't asked me another question since. He's a gentleman, I figure it,

Starting point is 04:27:41 and he's kind of quiet himself about what he was before he came to this country. He's a man of fifty, and he has lots back of him, only he's taken a fresh start. She sighed. Folks like you and Betty seem awfully open-hearted. It's living in cities, I suppose, where everyone knows everyone else so well this astonishing picture of the candid simplicity of new york's social life absorbed jasper's attention for some time wouldn't you like to live in a city jane she laughed her short boyish who it isn't what i would like mr marina she said why i'd like to see the world i would like to be that fellow who was condemned to wander all over the earth and never to die he was a jew too wasn't he jasper flushed people were not in the habit of making direct reference to his nationality and being an israelite who had early cut himself off with dislike from his own people and cultivated the society of gentiles a man without a country he was acutely sensitive the wandering jew yes where did you ever hear of him i read his story she answered absently an awful long one but interesting about lots of people by eugen

Starting point is 04:29:17 jasper's lips fell apart and he stared she had spoken unwittingly and he could see that she was not thinking of him that she was far away staring beyond her horse's head head into the broad, sunset-brightened west. Where were you schooled? he asked her. He had brought her back and her face stiffened. She gave him a startled, almost angry look, dug her heels into her horse and broke into a gallop. Nor could he win from her another word. A few days before he left, he took Yarnel into his confidence.

Starting point is 04:29:58 At first, the rancher was a little bit of his. would do nothing but laugh jane on the boards that's a notion followed by explosion after explosion of mirth the jew waited patient pliant smiling and then enumerated his reasons he talked to yarnel for an hour at the end of which time yarnel his eyes still twinkling sent for jane the two men sat in a long walled room known as the office yarnel's big desk crowded a stove there was no other furniture except shelves and a box seat beneath a window jasper sat on the end of the desk swinging his slim well-booted leg yarnel stocky gray shabby weather-beaten leaned back in his wicker chair the door which jasper faced was directly behind Yarnel. When Jane opened it, he turned. The girl looked grim and a little pale. She was evidently frightened. This summons from Yarnel suggested dismissal or reproof. She came around to face him and stood there, looking fierce and graceful, her head lowered,

Starting point is 04:31:20 staring gloomily at him from under her brows. To Jaspers, she gave not so much of her, as a glance. Well, Jane, I fancy I shall have to let you go, said Yarnel. He was not above tormenting the wildcat. Female ferocity always excites the teasing boy in a man. You're getting too ambitious for us. You see, once these rich New Yorkers take you up, you're no more use to a plain ranchman like me.

Starting point is 04:31:55 What are you driving at? asked Jane. Do let me explain it to her, Yarnel. Jasper snapped his elastic fingers. Color had risen to his face, and he looked annoyed. Miss Jane, won't you sit down? Jane turned her deep, indignant eyes upon him. Are you and your wife, the rich New Yorkers, he says, are taking me up?

Starting point is 04:32:23 No, no, he's joking. This is a serious, business. It's of vital importance to me, and it ought to be a vital importance to you. Please, do sit down. Jane took a long step back and sat down on the settle under the long horizontal window. She folded her hands on her knee and looked up at Marina. She had transferred her attention completely to him. Yarnel watched them. He was an Englishman of much experience, and this picture of the skilful cultivated handsome jew angling deftly for the gaunt young savage diverted him hugely he screwed up his eyes to get a picture of it i am a producer and manager of plays said jasper which means that i take a play written by a more gifted man and arrange it for the stage have you ever seen a play no sir

Starting point is 04:33:26 but you have some idea what they are yes i have read them shakespeare wrote quite a lot of that kind of talking pieces didn't he jasper was less surprised than yarnel at present i have a play on my hands which is a very brilliant and promising piece of work but which i have been unable to produce for lack of a heroine there isn't an actress on my list that can take the part and do it justice. Now, Miss Jane, I believe that with some training you could take it to perfection. My wife and I would like to take you to New York, paying all your expenses, of course, and put you into training at once. It would take a year's hard work to get you fitted for the part. The next fall we could bring out the play, and I think I can promise you success and fame and wealth. in no small measure i don't know you very well i don't know whether or not you are ambitious but i do know that every woman must love beauty and ease and knowledge and experience for what else he smiled did eve eat the apple all these you can have if you will let us take you east of course if i find you cannot take this part i will hold myself account

Starting point is 04:34:56 for you. I will not let you be a loser in any way by the experiment. With your beauty— Yarnel fell back in his chair and gaped from the excited speaker to the silent listener. And your extraordinary voice, and your magnetism, you must be especially fitted for a career of some kind. I promise to find you your career. Every drop of blood had fallen from Jane's face, and the rough hands on her knee were locked together. "'What part?' she asked in a quick, low voice. "'Is this that you think I can learn to do?' Jasper changed his position. He came nearer and spoke more rapidly.

Starting point is 04:35:45 "'It is the story of a girl, a savage girl, whom a man takes up and trains up. he trains her as a professional might train a lioness it is a passion with him to break spirits and shape them to his will he trains her with coaxing and lashing not actual lashing though i believe in one place he does come near to beating her and he gets her broken so that she lies at his feet and eats out of his hand all this you understand while he's an exile from his own world then in the second act that is the second part of the play he takes his tamed lioness back to civilization they go to london and there the woman does his training infinite credit she is extraordinarily beautiful she is civilized successful corded her eccentricities only add to her charm so it goes on very prettily for a while then He makes a mistake. He blunders very badly. He gives his lioness cause for jealousy, and, to come to the point, she flies at his throat. You see, he hadn't really tamed her. She was, under the skin, a lioness, a beast at heart.

Starting point is 04:37:13 Jasper had been absorbed in the plot and had not noticed Jane, but Yarnel, for several minutes, had been leaning forward, his hands tightened on the arms of his chair. The instant Jasper stopped, he held up his hand. Quiet, Jane, he said softly as a man might speak to a plunging horse. Steady! Jane got to her feet. She was very white. She put up her hand and pressed the back of it against her forehead,

Starting point is 04:37:46 and from under this hand she looked at the two men. with eyes of such astonished pain and beauty as they could never forget yes she said presently that's something i could do at once jasper hastened to retrieve his error oh i'm so sorry i've been horribly clumsy do forgive me do let me explain i didn't mean that you were a wild she let the hand fall and held it up to stop his speech. "'I'm not taking offense, Mr. Marina,' she said. "'You say you arrange plays, and that you have been seeking for someone to play that girl, that lioness girl who wasn't rightly tamed,

Starting point is 04:38:36 though the man had done his worst to break her?' Jasper nodded with a puzzled anxious air. For all his skill and subtlety he could not interpret her tone. And you think I'm beautiful? My dear child, I know you are, said he. You try to disguise it, and I know that in many other ways you disguise yourself. I think you make a great mistake.

Starting point is 04:39:07 Your work is hard and rough. She smiled. I'm not complaining of my work, she said. It's rough, and so am I. oh yes i'm real true rough i was born to roughness and raised to it i'm not anything i don't seem mr marina i've had rough travel all my days only only she sat down again twisting her hands painfully in her apron and bending her face down from the sight of the two men the line of her long bent neck was a beautiful thing to see she spoke low and rapidly holding down her emotion though she could not control all the exquisite modulations of her voice there's only one part of my travel that i want to forget and that's the one smooth bit and it's hateful to me and you've been reminding me of it i must tell you now that i'd rather be burnt by a white-hot

Starting point is 04:40:16 iron. Here she gave him a wide and horrified look like a child who speaks of some dreadful remembered punishment. Then do that thing you've asked of me? I hate everything you've been telling me about. I don't want to be beautiful. I don't want anyone to be telling me such things. I don't want to be any different from what I am now. This is my real self. It is. I I hate beauty. I hate it. I'm not good enough to love it. Beauty and learning and, and music! Her head had been bending lower and lower, her voice rocking under its weight of restrained anguish. On the word music, she dropped her head to her knees and was silent. I can't talk no more, she said after a moment, and she stood up and ran,

Starting point is 04:41:16 out of the room. I'll be damned, swore Yarnel. But Jasper stood, his face pale, smiting one hand into the other. I feel that I at least deserve to be, he said. End of Book 2, Chapter 3. Recording by Roger Maline. Book 2, Chapter 4 of the branding iron by Catherine Newellyn Burt. This Libravox recording is in the public domain.

Starting point is 04:41:56 Recording by Roger Maline. Chapter 4. Flight There was a girl named Joan who followed Pierre Landis because he laid his hand upon her wrist, and there was another Joan who fled up the mountainside at sight of him, as though the fire that had once touched her shoulder had burnt its way into her heart. Then there was a third Joan. a joan astray it was this joan that had come to lazy w ranch and had cooked for and bullied the outfit a joan of set face and bitter tongue

Starting point is 04:42:35 whose two years lonely battle with life had twisted her youth out of its first comely straightness in joan's brief code of moral law there was one sin the dealings of a married woman with another man when pierre's living and seeking face looked up toward her where she stood in the mountain side above prosper's cabin she felt for the first time that she had sinned and so for the first time she was a sinner and the inevitable agony of soul began she fled and hid till dark then prowled about till she knew that wen ho was alone in the house she came like a spirit from hell and questioned him what did the men ask what did you tell them the men had asked for a lady he had told them as prosper had once instructed him that no lady was living there that the man had just gone they had been satisfied and had left but joan was still in terror pierre must never find her now she had accepted she had accepted she had accepted her-and had left but joan was still in terror pierre must never find her now she had accepted the lie of a stranger had left her husband for dead had made no effort to ascertain the truth and had dealings with another man joan sat in judgment and condemned herself to loneliness she turned herself out from all her old life as though she had been cain and following wenho's trail over the mountains had gone into strange lands to work for her bread she called herself jane and her ferocity was the armor for her beauty always she worked in fear of pierre's arrival and as soon as she had saved money enough for further traveling she moved on

Starting point is 04:44:32 she worked by preference on lonely ranches as cook or harvester and it was after two years of such life that she had drifted into yarnel's kitchen she was then greatly changed as a woman who works on the full stretch of her strength, who suffers privation and hardship, who gives no thought to her own youth and beauty, and who, moreover, suffers under a scourge of self-scorn and fear is bound to change. Of all the people that had seen her after months of such living, Jasper Marina was the only one to find her beautiful. But with his sensitive observation he had seen through the shell to the sweetness underneath. For surely Joan was sweet, a Friday's child. It was good that Jasper had torn the skin from her wound,

Starting point is 04:45:27 good that he had broken up the hardness of her heart. She left him and Yarnel that afternoon and went away to her cabin in the trees and lay face down on the bare boards of the floor and was young again. Waves of longing, for love. love and beauty and adventure flooded her. For a while she had been very beautiful and had been very passionately loved. For a while she had been surrounded by beauty and taught its meanings.

Starting point is 04:45:57 She had fled from it all. She hated it, yes, but she longed for it with every fiber of her being. The last two years were scalded away. She was Joan, who had loved Pierre. Joan, whom Prosper Gale had loved. Toward morning, dawn feeling with white fingers through the pine boughs into her uncurtained window, Joan stopped her weeping and stood up. She was very tired and felt as though all her hardness and strength had been beaten from her heart. She opened her door and looked at pale stars and a still, slowly brightening world. In a hollow below the pines, a stream ran and a stream ran and, and poured its hoarse hurrying voice into the silence joan bent under the branches undressed and bathed the icy water shocked life back into her spirit she began to tingle and to glow in spite of herself she felt happier she had been stony for so long neither sorrowful nor glad now after the night of sharp pain she was aware of the gladness of mourning

Starting point is 04:47:12 she came up from her plunge glowing and beautiful with loose wet hair in the corral the men were watering their teams above them on the edge of a mesa against the rosy sky the other ponies out all night on the range were trooping driven by a cowboy who darted here and there on his nimble pony giving shrill cries in the clear air every syllable was sharp to the ear every tint and line sharp to the eye it was beautiful very beautiful and it was near and dear to her native to her this loveliness of quick action of inarticulate calling to dumb beasts of work of simple often repeated beginnings she was glad that she was working with her hands she twisted up her hair and went over to the ranch house where she began soberly and thankfully to light her hands she was glad that she was working with her hands she twisted up her hair and went over to the ranch house where she began soberly and thankfully to light her kitchen fire. It was after breakfast, two or three mornings later, when a stranger on a chestnut pony rode into Yarnel's ranch, tied his pony to a tree, and, striding across the cobbled square, came to knock at the office door. At the moment, Yarnel, on the other side of the house, was saying farewell to his guests and helping the men pile the baggage into the two-seated

Starting point is 04:48:41 wagon, so this other visitor, getting no answer to his knock, turned and looked about the court. He did not, it was evident, mind waiting. It was to be surmised from the look of him that he was used to it, patient and not to be discouraged by delay. He was a very brown, young man of quite astounding beauty, and his face had been schooled to keenness and restraint. He was well-dressed, clean, an outdoor man, a rider, but a man who had, in some sense, arrived. He had the inimitable stamp of achievement. He had been hard-driven. The look of that, too, was there. He had been driven to more than ordinary effort. One of the men, seeing him, walked over and spoke respectfully. "'You want to see Mr. Yarnel?'

Starting point is 04:49:38 "'Yes, sir.' the man's eyes were searching the ranch house wistfully again i would like to see him if i can i have some questions to ask him he's round the house gettin rid of a bunch of dudes some job both hands tied up will you go round or wait the stranger dropped to his heels squatted and rolled a cigarette i'll wait he murmured you can let him know when the dude make their getaway he'll get round to me my name it won't mean anything to him pierre landis he did not go round the house and yarnel being very busy and perturbed for some time after the departure of his guests did not get round to him till nearly noon by that time he was sitting on the step his back against the wall still smoking and still wistfully observant of his surrounding He stood up when Yarnel came. "'Sorry,' said the latter. "'That fool boy didn't tell me you were here till ten minutes ago.

Starting point is 04:50:50 Come in. You'll stop for dinner, if we get any today.' "'Thank you,' said Pierre. He came in and talked and stayed for dinner. Yarnel was used to the western fashion of doing business. He knew that it would be a long time before the young man would come to his point. But the Englishman was in no hurry, for he liked his visitor and found his talk diverting enough. Landis had been in Alaska, a lumber camp. He had risen to be foreman, and now he was off for a vacation, but had to go back soon. He had been everywhere. It seemed

Starting point is 04:51:31 to yarnel that the stranger had visited every ranch in the Rocky Mountain Belt. After dinner, strolling beside his host toward his horse, Pierre spoke, and before Yarnel had heard a word, he knew that the long delay had been caused by suppressed emotion. Pierre, when he did ask his question, was white to the lips. "'I've taken a lot of your time,' he said slowly. "'I came to ask you about someone. I heard that you had a woman on your ranch, a woman who came in and didn't give you any history. I want to see her if I may. He was actually fighting an unevenness of breath,

Starting point is 04:52:15 and Yarnel, unemotional as he was, was gripped with sympathetic suspense. I want, stammered the young man, to know her name. Yarnel swore. Her name, as she gave it, said he, is Jane. But my boy, you can't see her. She's left this morning." Pierre raised a white tense face. "'Left?' He turned as if he would run after her. "'Yes, sir. These people I've had here took her away with them. That is, they've been urging her to go, but she'd refused. Then, suddenly, this morning, just as they were

Starting point is 04:53:00 putting the trunks in, up came Jane, white as chalk, asking them to take her with them, said she must go well sir they rigged her up with some traveling clothes and drove away with her that was six hours ago by now they're in the train bound for new york yarnel's guest looked at him without speaking and yarnall nervously went on she's been with us about six months landis and i don't know anything about her she was tall gray eyes black hair slow speaking and with the kind of voice you'd be apt to notice yes i see she's the girl you've been looking for i can give you the new york people's address but first for jane sake. I'm a pretty good friend of hers. I think a lot of Jane. I'll have to know what you want with her, what she is to you." Pierre's pupils widened till they all but swallowed the smoke-colored iris. "'She is my wife,' he said. Again Yarnel swore, but he lit a cigarette and took his time about answering.

Starting point is 04:54:18 Well, sir, he said, you must excuse me, but it was because she saw you, I take it, that Jane cut off this morning. That's clear. Now, I don't know what would make a girl run off from her husband. She might have any number of reasons,

Starting point is 04:54:35 bad and good, but it seems to me that it would be a pretty strong one that would make a girl run off, with a look such as she wore, from a man like you. did you treat her well landis it had the effect of a lash taken by a penitent the man shrank a little whitened endured i can't tell you how i treated her he said in a dangerous voice it don't bear tellin but i want her back i was-i was that was three years ago i am more like a man now you'll give me the people's name, their address? Pierre laid his hand on the older man's wrist and gave it a queer,

Starting point is 04:55:23 urgent, and beseeching shake. After a moment of searching scrutiny, Yarnel bent his head. Very well, said he shortly. Come in. End of Book 2, Chapter 4. Recording by Roger Maline. OF THE BRANDING Iron by Catherine Newellyn Burt. This Libravox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Roger Moline. Chapter 5. Lux Play A young man who had just landed in New York from one of the big adventurous transatlantic

Starting point is 04:56:12 liners hailed a taxi cab and was quickly drawn away into the glitter and gaiety of a bright winter morning. He sat forward eagerly. looking at everything with the air of a lad on a holiday. He was a young man, but he was not in his first youth, and under a heavy sunburn he was pale and a trifle worn. But there was about him a look of being hard and very much alive. Under a broad brow there were hawk eyes of greenish-gray, a delicate beak, a mouth and chin of cleverness.

Starting point is 04:56:51 It was an interesting friend. face and looked as though it had seen interesting things. In fact, Prosper Gale had just returned from his three months of ambulance service in France, and it was the extraordinary success of his play, The Leopardus, that had chiefly brought him back. Dear luck, his manager had written, using the college title which Prosper's name and unvarying good fortune suggested, you'd better come back and gather up some of these laurels that are smothering us all. The time is very favorable for the disappearance of your anonymity. I, for one, find it more and more difficult to keep the secret.

Starting point is 04:57:36 So far, not even your star knows it. She calls you Mr. Luck. To that extent I have been indiscreet. Prosper had another letter in his pocket, a letter that he had re-were. read many times, always with an uneasy conflict of emotions. He was in a sort of hot-cold humor over it, in a fever fit that had a way of turning into lassitude. He postponed analysis indefinitely. Meanwhile, his eyes searched the bright, cold city, its crowds, its traffics, its windows, most of all its placards and not far to seek there were the posters of the leperdess he leaned out to study one of them a tall wild-eyed woman crouched to spring upon a man who stared at her in fear

Starting point is 04:58:31 prosper dropped back with a gleaming smile of amused excitement they've made it look like cheap melodrama he said to himself and yet it's a good thing the best thing I've ever done. Yet they will vulgarize the whole idea with their infernal notions of what the public wants. Morina is as bad as the rest of them. He expressed disgust, but underneath he was aglow with pride and interest. There's a performance tonight.

Starting point is 04:59:06 I'll dine with Jasper. I'll have to see Betty first. His thoughts trailed off, and he fell into that hot-cold confusion, that uncomfortable scorching fog of mood. The cab turned into Fifth Avenue and became a scale in the creeping serpent of vehicles that glided, paused,

Starting point is 04:59:28 and glided again past the thronged pavements. Prosper contrasted everything with the grim courage and high-pitched tragedy of France. He could not but wonder at the detached frivolity of these money-spans, spenders these spinners in the sun how soon would the shadow fall upon them too and with what change of countenance would they look up to him the joyousness seemed almost childish and yet he bathed his fagged spirit in it how high the white cloud sailed how blue was the midwinter sky how the buildings towered how quickly the people stepped here were the pretty painted faces the absurd silk stockings the tripping exquisitely booted feet the swinging walk the tall upspringing bodies of the women he remembered

Starting point is 05:00:28 he regarded them with impersonal delight untinged by any of his usual cynicism it was late afternoon when prosper obedient to a telephone call from betty presented himself at the door of marina's house just east of the park off fifth avenue a very beautiful house where the wealthy jew had indulged his passion for exquisite things prosper entered its rich dimness with a feeling of oppression, that unanalyzed mood of hot and cold feeling intensified to an almost unbearable degree. In the large carved and curtained drawing-room he waited for Betty. The tea-things were prepared. There would be no further need of service until Betty should ring. Everything was arranged for an uninterrupted tete-a-tete. Prosper stood near an ebony table, his shoulder brushed by tall red roses and felt his nerves

Starting point is 05:01:32 tighten and his pulses hasten in their beat. The tall child! The tall child! He had called her by that name so often, and never without a swift and stabbing memory of Joan, and of Joan's laughter, which he had silenced.

Starting point is 05:01:52 He took out the letter he had lately received from Betty and re-read it, and, as he had, As he read, a deep line cut between his eyes. You say you will not come back unless I can give you more than I have ever given you in the past. You say you intend to cut yourself free, that I have failed you too often, that you are starved on hope. I'm not going to ask much more patience of you. I failed you that first time because I lost courage.

Starting point is 05:02:27 The second time, fate failed us. How could I think that Jasper would get well when the doctors told me that I mustn't allow myself even a shadow of hope? Now I think that Jasper himself is preparing my release. This all sounds like something in a book. That's because you've hurt me. I feel frozen up.

Starting point is 05:02:52 I couldn't bear it if now, just when the door is opening, you failed me. Prosper, you are my lover for always, aren't you? I have to believe that to go on living. You are the one thing in my wretched life that hasn't lost its values. Now, read this carefully.

Starting point is 05:03:14 I am going to be brutal. Jasper has been unfaithful to me. I know it. I have sufficient evidence to prove it in a law court, and I shall not hesitate to get it. a divorce. Tear this up, please. Now, of all times, we must be extraordinarily careful. There has never been a whisper against us, and there mustn't be. Jasper must not suspect. A counter-suit would ruin my life. I must talk it over with you. I'll see you once, alone, just once,

Starting point is 05:03:52 before I leave Jasper and begin the suit. We must have patience for just this last bit. It will seem very long." Prosper folded the letter. He was conscious of a faint feeling of sickness, of fear. Then he heard Betty's step across the marble pavement of the hall. She parted the heavy curtains, drew them together behind her, and stood, pale with july.

Starting point is 05:04:22 joy, opening and shutting her big eyes. Then she came to meet him, held him back, listening for any sound that might predict interruption, and gave herself to his arms. She was no longer pale when he let her go. She went a few steps away and stood with her hands before her face. Then she went to sit by the tea table. They were both flushed. betty's eyes were shining under their fluttered lids prosper rejoiced in his own emotion the mental fog had lifted and the feeling of faintness was gone

Starting point is 05:05:03 you've decided not to break away altogether then she asked giving him a quick glance he shook his head not if what you have written me is true i've had such letters from you before and i've grown very suspicious are you sure this time he laid stress upon his bitterness it was his one weapon against her and he had been sharpening it with a vague purpose oh said betty speaking low and furtively jasper is fairly caught i have a reliable witness in the girl's maid there is no doubt of his guilt prosper none every one is talking of it he has been perfectly open in his attentions every minute betty looked younger and prettier more provoking her child mouth with its clever smile was bright as though his kiss had painted it. "'Who is the girl?' asked Prosper. He was deeply flushed. Being capable of simultaneous points of view,

Starting point is 05:06:16 he had been stung by that cool phrase of Betty's concerning Jasper's guilt. "'I'll tell you in a moment. Did you destroy my letter?' He shook his head. "'Oh, Prosper, please!' He took it out. tore it up and walking over to the open fire burned the papers he came back to his tea well betty the girl said betty is the star in your play the leperess the girl that jasper picked up two september's ago out west he is written to you about her she was a cook if you please a hideous creature but jasper saw as

Starting point is 05:07:03 at once what there was in her she has made the play you'll have to acknowledge that yourself when you see her she is wonderful and partly owing to the trouble i've taken with her the girl is beautiful one wouldn't have thought it possible she is not charming to me she's not in the least subtle it's odd that she should have such an effect upon jasper of all men prosper sipped his tea and listened he looked at her and was bitterly conscious that the excitement which had pleased and surprised him was dying out that faintness again assailed his spirit he was feeling stifled ashamed bored yes that was it bored that life of service and battle danger in france had changed him more than he had realized till he had realized till he had changed him more than he had realized till now. He was more simple, more serious, more moral, in a certain sense. He was like a man who, having denied the existence of Apollion, has come upon him face to face and has been burnt by his breath. Such a man is inevitably moral. All this long, intricate intrigue with the wife of a man who called him friend seemed to him horribly unworthy. if betty had been a great lover if she had not lost courage at the eleventh hour and left him to face that terrible winter in wyoming then their passion might have justified itself

Starting point is 05:08:45 but now there was a staleness in their relationship he hated the thought of the long-divorce proceedings of the decent interval of the wedding of the married life he had never really wanted that and now in the ebb of his passion how could he force himself to take her when he had learned to live more keenly more completely without her he would have to take her to spend his days and nights with her to travel with her she would want to visit that gray little forsaken house in a wyoming canyon with vividness he saw a girl lying prone on a black rug before a dancing fire her hair all fallen about her face her secret eyes lifted impatiently from the book you had ought to be rightin mr gale what are you smiling for prosper betty asked sharply he looked up startled and confused sorry i've gotten into beastly absent-minded habits is that morina jasper opened the curtains and came in greeting prosper in his stately charming fashion to-night he said we'll show you a leopardist worth looking at, won't we, Betty? But first you must tell us about your own experience. You look wonderfully fit, doesn't he, Betty, and changed. They say the life out there stamps a man, and they're right. It's taken some of that winged demon look out of your face, Prosper. Put some

Starting point is 05:10:29 soul into it. He talked, and Betty laughed, showing not the slightest evidence of everything. though the soul jasper had seen in prosper's face felt shrivelled for her treachery prosper wondered if she should be right in her surmise about jasper the jew was infinitely capable of dissimulation but there was a clarity of look and smile that filled prosper with doubts and the eyes he turned upon his wife were quite as apparently as ever the eyes of a disappointed man so absorbed was he in such observations that he found it intolerably difficult to fix his attention on the talk jasper's fluency seemed to ripple senselessly about his brain you must consent to one thing luck you must allow me to choose my own time for announcing the authorship this found its way partially to his intelligence and he gave careless assent oh whatever you like as soon as i've had my fun of course marina was thoughtful for an instant how would it do for me to leave it with melton the business manager eh suppose i phone him and talk it over a little he'll want to wait till toward the end of the run he's keen has just the commercial sense of the born advertiser let him choose the moment Then we can feel sure of getting the right one.

Starting point is 05:12:09 Will you luck? If you advise it, you ought to know. You see, I'm so confoundedly busy, so many irons in the fire, I might just miss the psychic moment. I think Melton's the man. I'll call him up tonight before we leave. Then I won't forget it, and I'll be sure to catch him, too. again prosper vaguely agreed and promptly forgot that he had given his permission later there came an agonizing moment when he would have given the world to recall his absent careless words

Starting point is 05:12:49 with an effort prosper kept his poise with an effort always increasing he talked to jasper while betty dressed and kept up his end at dinner the muscles round his mouth felt tight and drawn his throat was dry he was glad when they got into the limousine and started theatrewards it had been a long time since he had been put through this particular ordeal and he was out of practice they reached the house just as the lights went out prosper was amused at his own intense excitement i didn't know i was such a kid he said flashing a smile the first spontaneous one he had given her upon betty who sat beside him in the proscenium box the success of his novel had had no such effect upon him as this it was entrancing to think that in a few moments the words he had written would come to him clothed in various voices the people his brain had pictured would move before him in flesh and blood doing what he had ordained that they should do when the curtain rose he had forgotten his personal problem had forgotten betty he leaned forward his elbows on his knees his chin in his hand the scene was of a tropical island palms a strip of turquoise sea a girl pushed aside the great fronds of ferns and stepped down to the beach at her appearance the audience broke into applause

Starting point is 05:14:35 she was a tall girl her stained legs and arms bare below her ragged dress her black hair hung wild and free about her face and neck as the daughter of a native mother and an english father her beauty had been made to seem both saxon and savage stained and painted darkened below the great gray eyes joan with her brows and her classic chin and throat Joan, with her secret, dangerous eyes and lithe long body, made an arresting picture enough against the setting of vivid green and blue. She moved slowly, deliberately, naturally, and stood, hands-on hips, to watch a ship sail into the turquoise harbor. It was not like acting. She seemed really to look.

Starting point is 05:15:32 She threw back her head and gave a call. it was the name of her stage brother but it came from her deep chest and through her long column of a throat-like music prosper brought down his hands on the railing before him half pushed himself up turned a blind look upon betty who laid a restraining hand upon his arm he whispered a name which betty could not make out then he sat down moistened his lips with his hands with his arm he whispered a name which betty could not make out then he sat down moistened his lips with his tongue and sat through the entire first act and neither moved nor spoke. As the curtain went down, he stood up. I must go out, he said, and hesitated in the back of the box till Jasper came over to him with an anxious question. Then he began to stammer nervously. Don't tell her, Jasper, don't tell her. Tell her what, man? Tell whom.

Starting point is 05:16:36 Jasper gave him a shake. Don't you like Jane? Isn't she wonderful? Yes, yes, extraordinary. Made for the part? No. Prosper's face twisted into a smile. No, the part came second. She was there first. marina promise me you won't tell her who wrote the play look here prosper suppose you tell me what's wrong have you seen a ghost

Starting point is 05:17:11 prosper laughed then seeing betty her face a rigid question he struggled to lay hands upon his self-control something very astonishing has happened marina one of those things not dreamt of in a man's philosophy i can't tell you have you arranged for me to meet jane west after the show yes at supper but not as the author no i was waiting for you to tell her that she mustn't know and-and i can't meet her that way at supper again he made visible efforts at self-control don't tell betty what a fool i am i'll go out in a minute i'll be all right betty was coming toward them he gave a painful soul smile and fled. End of book two, chapter five. Recording by Roger Maline. Book two, chapter six of the branding iron by Catherine Newellyn Burt.

Starting point is 05:18:31 This Libravox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Roger Maline. Chapter 6. Joan and Prosper The situation was no doubt an extraordinary, an unimaginable one, but it had to be met. When he returned to the box, Prosper had himself in hand, and, sitting a little farther back than before,

Starting point is 05:18:58 he watched the second act with a sufficiency of outward calm. This part was the most severe test of his composure, for he had fashioned it almost in detail upon that idol in a canyon. There were even speeches of Jones that he had used. to sit here and watch joan herself go through it while he looked on was an exciting form of torment the setting was different tropical instead of northern and the half-native heroine was more passionate more emotional more animal than joan nevertheless the drama was a repetition as prosper had laid his trap for joan silently subtly undermining her whole mental structure using her loneliness playing upon the artist's soul of her so did this englishman lay his trap for zona he was more cruel than prosper rougher necessarily more dramatic but there was all the essence of the original drama the ensnarement of a simple, direct mind by a complex and skillful one.

Starting point is 05:20:11 Joan's surrender, Prosper's victory, were there. He wondered how Joan could act it, play the part in cold blood. Now he was condemned to live in his own imagination through Joan's tragedy. There was that first pitifulness of a teemed and broken spirit, then, later in London, the agony of loneliness, of separation, of gradual awakening to the change in her master's heart. Prosper had written the words, but it was Joan who, with her voice, the music of memory-shaken heartstrings, made the words alive and meaningful.

Starting point is 05:20:54 Others in the audience might wonder over the girl's ability to interpret this unusual experience, to make it natural, human, inevitable. But Prosper did not wonder. He knew that simply she forced herself to relive this most painful part of her own life, and to relive it articulately. What in God's name had induced her to do it? Necessity? Poverty?

Starting point is 05:21:22 Morina? All at once, he remembered Betty's belief that Joan was the manager's mistress. His wild, beautiful Joan, Joan, the creation of his own wizardry. This thought gave him such pain that he whitened. "'Prosper,' murmured Betty, "'you must tell me what is wrong. Evidently your nerves are in bad shape.

Starting point is 05:21:49 Is the excitement too much for you?' "'I believe it is,' he said, avoiding her eyes and moving stiff white lips. "'I've never seen such acting. I... I... Marina says he'll let me see her in the dressing-room afterwards. You see, Betty, I'm badly shaken up. Yes, drawled Betty, and looked at him through narrowed lids,

Starting point is 05:22:18 and she sat with this look on her face and with her fingers locked, when Prosper, not giving her further notice, followed Marina out. Jasper! prosper held his friend back in the middle of a passage that led to the dressing-rooms i want very particularly to see miss west alone i am very much moved by her performance and i want to tell her so also i want her to express herself naturally with no idea of my being the author of the play and without the presence of her manager will you just ask if she will see a friend of yours alone jasper smiled his subtle smile of course prosper it's all as clear as daylight prosper did not notice the jew's intelligent expression he was too much absorbed in his own excitement in a moment he would be with joan joan his love of winter nights morina tapped upon a door a maid half opened it ask miss west please if she will see a friend of mr marinas tell her i particularly wish her to give him a private interview he scribbled a line on a card and the maid took it in

Starting point is 05:23:42 in five minutes during which the two men waited silently she came back miss west will see your friend sir ah then i'll take myself off prosper will you join Betty and me at supper? No, thanks. I'll have my brief interview with Miss West and then go home, if you'll forgive me. I'm about all in. New York's too much for a man just home from the front. Jasper laid his hand for a moment on Prosper's shoulder,

Starting point is 05:24:19 smiled, shrugged, and turned away. Prosper waited till his friend was out of sight and hearing, then knocked. and was admitted to the dressing-room of Miss Jane West. She had not changed from the evening dress she had worn in the last scene, nor had she yet got rid of her makeup. She was sitting in a narrow-backed chair that had been turned away from the dressing-table.

Starting point is 05:24:46 The maid was putting away some costumes. Prosper walked half across the room and stopped. "'Miss West,' he said quietly. she stood up the natural color left her face ghastly with patches of paint and daubs of black she threw back her head and said prosper just above her breath go out henrietta this was spoken to the maid in the voice of jane de varago and henrietta fled at sight of joan prosper had won back instantly his old poise his old feeling of ascendancy. Joan, Joan, he said gently. Was ever anything so strange?

Starting point is 05:25:38 Why didn't you let me know? Why didn't you answer my letters? Why didn't you take my money? I have suffered greatly on your account. Joan laughed. Four years ago, she would not have been capable of this laugh, and Prosper started. i wrote again and again he said passionately when ho told me that you had gone that he didn't know anything about your plans i went out to wyoming to our house i scoured the country for you did you know that

Starting point is 05:26:17 no said jones slowly i didn't know that but it makes no difference to me they were still standing a few paces apart, too intent upon their inner tumult to heed any outward situation. She lowered her head in that dangerous way of hers, looking up at him from under her brows. Her color had returned, and the makeup had a more natural look. Maybe you did, right, maybe you did send money, maybe you did come back. I don't care anything for all that. She made a gesture as if to sweep something away. The day after you left me in that house, Pierre, my husband, came up the trail. He was taking after me. He meant to fetch me home. You told me—' She began to tremble so violently that the jewels on her neck clicked softly. You told me he

Starting point is 05:27:20 was dead. Prosper came closer, she moving back, till striking the church. chair, she sat down on it and looked up at him with her changed and embittered eyes. Would you have gone back to him, Joan Landis, after he had tied you up and branded your shoulder with his cattle brand? What has that got to do with it? she asked, her voice lifting on a wave of anger. That was between my man and me. That was not for you to judge. He loved me. It was through loving me too much, too ignorantly, that he hurt me so." She choked.

Starting point is 05:28:04 But you— Joan, said Prosper, and he laid his hand on her cold and rigid fingers. I loved you, too! She was still and stiff. After a long silence, she seemed to select one question from a tide of them. Why did you leave me? i wrote you a full explanation the letter came back to me unread again joan gave the laugh and the gesture of disdain that doesn't matter you're loving or not loving you made use of me for your own ends and when you saw fit you left me but that's not my complaint i don't say i didn't deserve that i was easy to use

Starting point is 05:28:56 but it was all based on what wasn't true i was married my man was living and i had dealings with you that was sin that was horrible that was what my mother did she was a joan used the coarse and ugly word her father had taught her and prosper laid a hand over her mouth joan no never say it never think it you are clean. Joan twisted herself free, stood up, and walked away. I am that, she said grimly, and it was you that made me. You took lots of trouble to make me see things in a way where nothing a person wants is either right or wrong. You made me thirsty with your talk and your books and your music, and when I was tormented with thirst, you came and offered me a drink of water. That was it. I don't care about your not marrying me. I still don't see that that has much to do with it, except, perhaps, that a man would be

Starting point is 05:30:09 caring to give any woman he rightly loves whatever help or cherishing or gifts the world has decided to give her. But, you see, Prosper, we didn't start fair. You knew that Pierre was alive. But Joan, you say yourself that marrying—' She stopped him with so fierce a gesture that he flinched. Yes, Pierre did rightly love me. He gave me his best as he knew it. Oh, he was ignorant, a savage, I guess, like I was. But he did rightly love me. He was not trying to break my spirit, nor to tame me, nor to amuse himself with me, nor to give me a longing for beauty and easiness, and then leave me to fight through my own rough life without any of those things? Did you really think, Prospergale, that I would stay in your house and live on your money

Starting point is 05:31:11 till you should be caring to come back to me, if ever you would care? Did you honestly think that you would be coming back as my lover? No. Whatever it was that took you away, it was likely to keep you from me for always, wasn't it? Yes, said Prosper in a muffled voice. It was likely to. But Joan, fate was on your side. Since I have been yours, I haven't belonged to anyone but you. You've put your brand on me. I don't want to hear about you, Joan broke in. I am done with you. Have you seen this play?

Starting point is 05:31:58 Yes, he found that in telling her so he could not meet her eyes. Well, the man who wrote that knew what you are, and if he didn't, everyone that has seen me act in it knows what you are. She paused, breathing fast and trembling. Goodbye. she said he went vaguely toward the door then threw up his head defiantly no he said it's not going to be good-bye i've found you you must let me tell you the truth about myself come joan you're as just as heaven you never read my explanations you've never heard my side of it you'll let me come to see you and you'll hear me out Don't do me an injustice.

Starting point is 05:32:51 I'll leave the whole thing in your hands after that. But you must give me that one chance. Chance, repeated Joan. Chance for what? Oh, Prosper flung up his lithe long hands. Oh, for nothing but a cleansing in your sight. I want what forgiveness I can ring from you. I want what understanding I can force from you.

Starting point is 05:33:20 That's all. She thought, standing there, still and tall, her arms hanging, her eyes wide and secret, as he had remembered them in her thin, changed, so much more expressive face. Very well, she said, you may come, I'll hear you out. She gave him the address and named an after. afternoon hour. Good night. It was a graceful and dignified dismissal. Prosper bit his lip, bowed, and left her. As the door closed upon her, he knew that it had

Starting point is 05:34:02 closed upon the only real and vivid presence in his life. War had burnt away his glittering, clever frivolity. Betty was the adventure. Betty was the tinsel. joan was the grave predestined woman of his man for the first time in his life he found himself face to face with the cleanness of despair end of book two chapter six recording by roger maline book two chapter seven of the branding iron by katherine newland burt this librovoc's recording is in the public domain recording by roger maline chapter seven after math joan waited for prosper on the appointed afternoon there was a fire on her hearth and a marked snow-squall tapped against the window panes the crackle of the logs inside and that eerie light sound outside were so associated with prosper that even before he came joan sitting on one side of the hearth closed her eyes and felt that he must be opposite to her in his red lacquered chair his long legs stuck out in front his amused and greedy eyes veiled by a cloud of cigarette smoke since she had seen him at the theatre she had been suffering since she had seen him at the theatre she had been suffering from sleeplessness at night she would go over and over the details of their intercourse seeing them feeling them living them in the light of later knowledge till the torment was hardly to be borne

Starting point is 05:35:53 three days and nights of this inner activity had brought back that sharp line between her brows and the bitter tightening of her lips this afternoon she was white with suspense her dread of the impending interview was like a physical illness she sat in a high-backed chair hands along the arms head resting back eyes half closed in that perfect stillness of which the animal and the savage are alone entirely capable there were many gifts that joan had brought from the seventeen years on lone river this grave immobility was one she was very carefully dressed in a gown that accentuated her height and dignity and she wore a few jewels she wanted pitifully enough to mark every difference between this joan and the joan whom prosper had drawn on his sled up the canyon trail if he expected to force her back into the position of enchanted leopardess to see her lie at his feet and eat out of the town of his hand, as Marina had once described the plight of Zona, he would see at a glance that she was no longer so easily mastered. In fact, sitting there, she looked as proud and perilous as a young Medea, black-haired with long throat and cold malevolent lips. It was only in the eyes,

Starting point is 05:37:22 those gray, unhappy, haunted eyes, that Joan gave away her eternal simplicity of heart. they were unalterably tender and lonely and hurt it was the look in them that had prompted shorty's description she's plumb moving to me looks about half-way between you go to hell and you take me in your arms to rest prosper was announced and joan keeping her stillness merely turned her head toward him as he came into the room she saw his rapid observation of the room of her even before she noticed the very apparent change in him for he too was haggard and utterly serious as she did not remember him he stood before her fire and asked her jerkily if she would let him smoke she said yes and those were the only words spoken for five unbearable minutes the seconds of which her heart beat out like a shaky hammer in some worn machine prosper smoked and stood there looking now at her now at the fire at last with difficulty he smiled you are not going to make it easy for me are you joan for her she was not looking at him she kept her eyes on the fire and this averted look distressed and irritated his nerves i am not trying to make it hard she said i want you to say what you came to say and go did you ever love me joan he had said it to force a look from her but it had the effect only of making her more still if possible i don't know she said slowly answering with her old directness

Starting point is 05:39:16 i thought you needed me i was alone i was scared of the emptiness when i went out and looked down the valley i thought pierre had gone out of the world and there was no living thing that wanted me i came back and you met me and you put your arms around me and you said she closed her eyes and repeated his speech as though she had just heard it don't leave me joan her voice was more than ever before moving and expressive prosper felt that half-forgotten thrill the muscles of his throat contracted joan i did want you i spoke the truth he pleaded she went on with no impatience but very coldly you came to tell me your side will you tell me please for the first time she looked into his eyes and he drew in his breath at the misery of hers i built that cabin joan he said for another woman your wife asked joan no for the one i said must have been like a tall child she wasn't your wife she was dead prosper shook his head no did you think that she was a woman i loved at that time very dearly and she was already married to another man you built that house for her i don't understand she had promised to leave her husband and to come away with me i had everything ready those rooms those clothes those materials and when i went out to get her i had a message saying that her courage

Starting point is 05:41:10 had failed her, that she wouldn't come. She was a better woman than me, said Joan, bitterly. Prosper laughed. By God, she was not. She sent me down to hell. I couldn't go back to the east again. I had laid very careful and elaborate plans. I was trapped out there in that horrible winter country.

Starting point is 05:41:36 It was not horrible, said Joan violently. it was the most wonderful beautiful country in all the world and tears ran suddenly down her face but she would not let him come near to comfort her go on she said presently before you came joan prosper went on it was horrible it was like being starved everything in the house reminded me of her i had planned it all very carefully and we were to have been happy you can fancy what it was to be there alone joan nodded she was just and she was honestly trying to put herself in his place yes she said if i had gone back and pierre had been dead his homestead would have been like that to me it was because i was so miserable that i went out to hunt i'd scour the country all day and half the night to tire myself out that i could get some sleep i was pretty far from home that moonlight night when i heard you scream for help jones's face grew whiter don't tell me about that she pleaded he paused choosing another opening after i had bandaged you and told you that pierre was dead and i honestly thought he was i didn't know what to do with you you couldn't be left and there was no neighbor nearer than my own house besides i had shot a man and perhaps i don't know maybe i was influenced by your beauty by my own crazy loneliness

Starting point is 05:43:24 you were very beautiful and very desolate i was in a fury over the brute's treatment of you hush said joan you are not to talk about pierre prosper shrugged i decided to take you home with me i wanted you desperately just i believe to take care of just to be kind to truly joan i was lonely to the point of madness someone to care for someone to talk to was absolutely necessary to save my reason so when i was leading you out i-i saw pierre's hand move jones stood up after a moment she controlled herself with an effort and sat down again go on i can stand it she said and i thought to myself the devil is alive and he deserves to be dead this woman can never live with him again god wouldn't sanction such an act as giving her back to his hands and i was half mad myself i'd been alone so long i stood so you couldn't see him joan and i threw an elk hide over him and led you out i followed you i didn't look at pierre I left him lying there, gasped Joan. Prosper went on monotonously.

Starting point is 05:44:57 When I came back a week later, I thought he would be dead. It was dusk, the wind was blowing, the snow was driving in a scud. I came down to the cabin and dropped below the drift by that northern window, and the second I looked in, I dropped out of sight. There was a light, and there was a light, and, you were a light. and a fire your husband was lying before the fire on a cot there was another man there your mr hollowell they were talking hollowell was dressing pierre's wound i went away like a ghost and while i was going back i thought it all out and i decided to keep you for myself i suppose said prosper dully that that was a horrible sin I didn't see it that way then.

Starting point is 05:45:51 I'm not sure I see it that way now. Pierre had tied you up and pressed a white-hot iron into your bare shoulder. If you went back to him, if he took you back, how was I to know that he might not repeat his drunken devilry, or do worse, if anything could be worse? It was the act of a fiend. It put him out of court with me. Whatever I gave you,

Starting point is 05:46:19 education and beauty and ease must be better and happier for you than life with such a brute as pierre stop said joan between her teeth you know nothing of pierre and me you only know that one dreadful night you don't know the rest i don't want to know the rest he said sharply that is enough to justify my action i thought so then and i think so then and i think so now you won't be able to make me change that opinion i shall not try said joan he accepted this and went on when i found you in your bed waiting for news of pierre i thought you the most beautiful pitiful thing i had ever seen i loved you then joan then tell me did i ever in those days hurt you or give you a moment's anxiety or fear "'No,' Joan admitted. "'You did not. "'In those days you were wonderful, kind, and patient with me. "'I thought you were more like God than a human, then.'

Starting point is 05:47:33 "'Prosper laughed with bitterness. "'You thought very wrong, but, according to my own lights, "'I was very careful of you. "'I meant to give you all I could, "'and I meant to win you with patience and forbearance. i had respect for you and for your grief and for the horrible thing you had suffered joan by now you know better what the world is can you reproach me so very bitterly for our happiness even if it was short you lied to me said joan it wasn't just we didn't start even and-and you knew what you wanted of me i never guessed you didn't you never guessed no sometimes toward the last i was afraid i felt that i ought to go away

Starting point is 05:48:30 that day i ran off you remember i was afraid of you i felt you were bad and that i was bad too then it seemed to me that i'd been dreadfully ungrateful and unkind that was what began to make me give way to my feelings i was sorrowful because i had hurt you and you so kind the day i came in with that suit and spoke of her as a tall child and you cried why i felt so sorrowful that i'd made you suffer i wanted to comfort you to put my hands on you in comfort like a mother i felt and you went out like you were angry and stayed away all night as though you couldn't bear to be seeing me again in your house that you had built for her so i wrote you my letter and went away and then it was all so awful cold and empty i didn't know pierre was out there i came back they were both silent for a long time and in the silence the idol was relived spring came again with its crest of green along the canyon and the lake lay like a turquoise drawing the glittering peak down into its heart. My book, its success, Prosper began at last, made me restless.

Starting point is 05:49:59 You'll understand that now that you are an artist yourself, and one day there came a letter from that woman I had loved. It was a little gray square envelope, said Joan, breathlessly. I can see it now. You never rightly looked at me again. ah said prosper he turned and hid his face tell me the rest said joan he went on without turning back to her his head bent the woman wrote that her husband was dying that i must come back to her at once the snow tapped and the fire crackled and when you went back her husband did not die said prosper blankly he is still alive and you still love her very much that's the worst of it joan groaned prosper his groan changed into a desperate laugh

Starting point is 05:51:06 i love you now truly i do love you if i could marry you if i could have you for my wife he waited breathing fast, then came and stood close before her. I have never wanted a woman to be my wife till now. I want you. I want you to be the mother of my children. Then Joan did look at him with all her eyes. I am Pierre's wife, she said. The liquid beauty had left her voice. It was hoarse and dry.

Starting point is 05:51:44 I am Pierre's wife. and I have already been the mother of your child." There was a long, rigid silence. "'Jone, when? Where?' Prosper's throat clicked. "'I knew it before you left. I couldn't tell you because you were so changed.

Starting point is 05:52:08 I worked all winter. It was born on an awful cold March night. I think the woman let it, made it die. She wanted me to work for her during the summer, and she thought I would be glad if the child didn't live. She used to say I was in trouble, and she'd be glad if she could help me out. It was what I was planning to live for, that child. During the heavy stillness, following Joan's dreadful brief account of birth and death, Prosper went through a strange experience. It seemed to him that in his soul something was born and died.

Starting point is 05:52:51 Always afterwards there was a ghost in him, the father that might have been. I can't talk any more, said Joan faintly. Won't you please go? End of Book 2, Chapter 7. Recording by Roger Maline. Catherine Newellyn Burt. This Libravox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Roger Maline.

Starting point is 05:53:29 Chapter 8 Against the Bars Jasper Marina had stood for an hour in a drafty passage of that dirty labyrinth, known vaguely to the public as behind the scenes, listening to the wearisome complaints of a long-nosed young actor. It was the sixth of such conversations that he had, had held that day. To begin with, there had been a difficulty between a director and the leading man. Morina's tact was still complete. He was very gentle to the long-nosed youth, but the latter,

Starting point is 05:54:05 had he been capable of seeing anything but himself, must have noticed that his listener's face was pale and faintly lined. "'Yes, my boy, of course. That's reasonable enough. I'll do what I can.' I don't make extravagant demands, you see. The young man spread down and out his hands, quivering with exaggerated feeling. I ask only for decent treatment, what my own self-respect absolutely demands. Maurena put a hand on his shoulder and walked beside him. Did you ever stop to think, he said with his charming smile, that the other fellow was thinking and saying just the same thing?

Starting point is 05:54:50 now this chap has as you put it got your goat why he came to me himself this morning and word for word he said of you just precisely what you have just said of him to me odd isn't it again the young actor stopped for one of his gestures hands up this time but my god sir is there such a thing as honesty he couldn't accuse me of well he thought he could however i do get your point of view and i think we can fix it up for you so that you'll get off with your self-respect entirely intact i'll talk to george to-morrow you're worth the bother good afternoon the young man bowed his air of tragic injury softened to one of tragic self-appreciation worth the bother indeed morina left him at the top of the dingy stairs down which the manager fled to an alley at one side of the theater where his car was waiting for him he stood for a while with his foot on the step and his hand on the door looking rather blankly at the gray cold wall and the scurrying whirlwinds of dust and paper drop yourself at the garage ned he said and i'll take the car beside the wheel. He was very tired, but he had remembered that Jane West, when he had last seen

Starting point is 05:56:25 her, had worn a look of profound discouragement. She never complained, but when he saw that particular expression, he was frightened, and the responsibility for her came heavily upon him. This wild thing he had brought to New York must not be allowed to beat its head dumbly against the bars. When he had got rid of it, he had got rid of it. his driver he turned the car northward and a few minutes later Matilda the French maid chosen by Betty opened Jane's door to him. While he took off his coat he looked along the hall and saw its owner sitting, her chin propped on a latticework of fingers. She was gazing out of the window. It was a beautiful, desperate silhouette. Something fateful in the long, still

Starting point is 05:57:16 pose and the fixed look. She was still dressed in street clothes as when she had left the theater, a blouse and skirt of dark gray, very plain. Her figure, now that it was trained to slight corsetting, was less vigorous and more fine drawn. She was very thin, but she had lost her worn and haggard look. The premature hard lines had almost disappeared. A softer, climate, proper care, rest, food, luxury had given back her young, clear skin and the brightness of eyes and lips. Her hair, arranged very simply to frame her face in a broken setting of black, was glossy, and here and there deeply waved.

Starting point is 05:58:07 It was the arrangement chosen for her by Betty and copied from a Dumarier drawing of the Duchess of Towers. It was hard to believe that this graceful woman was a virago, Jane, harder for anyone that had seen a heavy, handsome girl stride into Mrs. Upper's hotel and asked for work, to believe that she was here. Maureena clapped his hands in the eastern fashion of summons, and Jane looked toward him. Oh, she said, I'm glad you came! He strolled in and stood beside her, shaking his head. i didn't like the look of you this afternoon my dear well sir said jean i don't like the look of you either she smiled her slow unself-conscious smile you sit down and i'll make tea for you he knew that thought for some one else was the best tonic for her mood so he dropped with his usual limp grace into the nearest chair put back his head and half closed his eyes

Starting point is 05:59:15 i mused up he said i haven't a word not one to throw at a dog please don't throw one at me then i surely wouldn't take it as a compliment she made the tea gravely as absorbed in the work as a little girl who makes tea for her dolls she brought him his cup and went back to her place and again her face settled into that look she had evidently forgotten him and her eyes held a vision as of distances he put a hand up to break her fixed gaze what is it jane what do you see to his astonishment she hid her face in her hands it's awful to live like this she moaned and it frightened him to see her move her head from side to side like an imprisoned beast shifting before bars he looked about the pretty room and repeated like this half reproachfully i hate it she spoke through her teeth i hate it and oh the sounds the noises grinding into your ears here the hands came to her ears and framed a white desperate face in which the lids had fallen over sick eyes jasper sat listening to the hum and roar and clatter of the street to him it was a pleasant sound and here it was subdued and remote enough her face was like that of some one maddened by noise you don't smell anything fresh her chest lifted You don't get air. I can't breathe. Everything presses in. She opened her eyes, bright and desperate.

Starting point is 06:01:10 What am I doing here, Mr. Marina? He had put down his cup quietly, for he was really half afraid of her. Why did you come, Jane? Because I was afraid of someone. I was running away, Mr. Marina. "'There's someone that mustn't ever find me now, and to run away from him, that was the business of my life. And it kept my heart full of him and the dread of his coming. You see, that was my happiness. I hoped he was taking after me so as I could run away.' She laughed apologetically.

Starting point is 06:01:49 "'Does that sound crazy to you?' "'No, I think I understand. And here?' he'll never come here he'll never find me it's been four years and i'm so changed this she gave herself a downward look this isn't the gal he wants probably by now he's given me up maybe he's found another everything that's bad and hateful can find me out here bad things can find you out and try to clutch after you anywhere's but when something wild and clean comes hunting for you something out of the big lonely places why it would be scared to follow into this city you're lonely jane i've told you a hundred times that you ought to make friends for yourself oh i don't care for that i don't want friends not many friends these acting people they're not real folks i don't savvy that i don't want friends not real folks i don't savvy that i don't want friends not many friends these acting people they're not real folks i don't savvy their ways, and they don't savvy mine. They always end by disliking me because I'm queer and

Starting point is 06:03:04 different from them. You have been my friend and your wife, that is, she used to be. Suddenly, Jane became more her usual self and spoke with childlike wistfulness. She doesn't come to see me anymore, Mr. Marina. And I could love her. She's so like a little girl with those round eyes. jane held up two circles made by four fingers and thumbs to represent betty's round eyes oh dear she said isn't she awfully winning seems as if you must be taking care of her she's so small and fine jasper laughed with some bitterness she doesn't like me now sighed jane but the feelings betty had hurt were connected with a later development so that they turned her mood and brought her to a more normal dejection she was no longer a caged beast she had temporarily forgotten her bars i think you're wrong said jasper doubtfully betty does like you she's merely busy and preoccupied i've been neglected myself jane gave him a far too expressive look it was as though she had said you don't fancy that she cares for you jasper flushed and blinked his long oriental eyes it's a pity you haven't a lover jane she had walked over to the window and his speech purposely a trifle cruel and insulting did not make her turn

Starting point is 06:04:49 you're angry she said you'd better go home i'm not in good humor myself at which he laughed his murmuring musical laugh and prepared to leave her. "'I have a great deal of courage,' he said, getting into his coat, "'to bring a wild cat here, chain her up and tease her, eh?' "'You think you have me chained?' Her tone was enraged and scornful. "'I can snap your flimsy little tether and go.'

Starting point is 06:05:24 She wheeled upon him. She looked tall and fierce and free. no no he cried with deprecating voice and gesture you are making mr luck's fortune and mine not to mention your own you mustn't break your chains get used to them we all have to you know it's much the best method i shall never get used to this life never it just somehow isn't mine perhaps when you meet mr luck he'll be able to reconcile you her expressive face darkened when shall i meet mr luck soon i hope mr melton knows just when to announce the authorship i hate mr luck more than any one in the world she said in a low quiet voice jasper stared hate him why in the name of savagery should you hate him oh i can't explain but you'd better keep us apart how came he to write the leperdess i shall leave him to tell you that good night end of book two chapter eight recording by roger maline book two chapter nine of the branding iron by katherine

Starting point is 06:07:01 Newland Bert. This Libravox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Roger Maline. Chapter 9. Grey Envelopes It was with more than the usual sinking of heart that Jasper led himself that evening into the beautiful house, which Betty and he called their home. Jones' too expressive look had stung the old soreness of his disillusionment. He knew that the house was empty of welcome. he took off his hat and coat dejectedly there were footsteps of his man who came from the far end of the hall while he stood waiting jasper noticed the absence of a familiar fragrance for the first time in years betty had forgotten to order flowers the red roses which jasper always caressed with a long appreciative finger as he went by the table in the hall were missing

Starting point is 06:08:02 their absence gave him a faint sensation of alarm mr cain mrs marina's brother has called to see you sir he is waiting jasper's eyebrows rose to see me is he with mrs marina now no sir mrs marina went out this morning and has not yet returned mr cain has been here since five o'clock sir very well it was a mechanical speech of dismissal the footman went off jasper stood tapping his chin with his finger woodward kane came to see him during betty's absence woodward had not spoken more than three or four icy words of necessity to him since the marriage after a stiff ungracious fashion this brother had befriended betty but to his jewish brother-in-law he had shown only a slightly disliked disguised distaste the jew was well used to such a manner he treated it with light bitterness but he did not love to receive the users of it in his own house it was with heightened color and bent brows that he pushed apart the long crimson hangings and came into the immense drawing-room it was softly lighted and pleasantly warmed a fire burned the tall fair visitor rose from a seat near the blaze and turned all in one rigid peace toward his advancing host jasper was perfectly conscious that his own gesture and speech of greeting were too eager too ingratiating that they had a touch of servility he hated them himself but they were inherited with his blood as instinctive as the wagging of a dog's tail

Starting point is 06:09:57 they were met by a precise bow no smile no taking of his outstretched hand jasper drew himself up at once put the slighted hand on the back of a tall crimson damask chair and looked his stateliest and most handsome self betty hasn't come in yet he said you've been waiting for her woodward kane pulled at his short yellow moustache and stared at jasper with his large blank blue eyes. As a matter of fact, I didn't call to see my sister, but to see you. I have just come from Elizabeth. She is at my house. She came to me this morning. Jasper's fingers tightened on the chair.

Starting point is 06:10:46 She is sick? No. There was a pause during which the blank blue eyes staring at him slowly gathered a look of cold pleasure. jasper was aware that this man who hated him was enjoying his present mission shall we sit down i shall have to take a good deal of your time i am afraid there is rather a good deal to be gone over jasper sat down in the chair the back of which he had been holding will you smoke he asked and smiled his charming smile there was now not a trace of embarrassment and a trace of embarrassment and he had been holding anger or anxiety about him. His eyes were quiet, his voice flexible. Woodward declined to smoke, crossed his beautifully clothed legs, and drew a small gray envelope from his pocket. Jasper's eyes fastened upon it at once. It was Betty's paper and her angular,

Starting point is 06:11:50 boyish writing marched across it. Evidently, the note was addressed to him. He weighed while Woodward turned it about in his long, stiff, white fingers. About two months ago, Betty came to me one evening in great distress of mind. She asked for my advice, and to the best of my ability, I gave it to her. I wish that she had asked for it ten years ago. She might have saved herself a great deal. This time, she has not only asked for it, but she has been following it, and in following it she has now left your house and come to mine this of course will not surprise you it does however surprise me greatly

Starting point is 06:12:38 it was still the gentle murmur but jasper's cigarette smoke veiled his face i cannot understand that however it's not my business betty has asked me to interview you to-day so that she may be spared the humiliation after this you must address your communications to her lawyers in a short time rogers and darling will serve you with notice of divorce jasper sat perfectly still leaning slightly forward his cigarette between his fingers so he said after a long silence then he held out his hand i may have betty's letter woodward kane withheld it and again that look of pleasure was visible in his eyes just a moment please i should like to have my own say out first i shall have to be brutal i am afraid in these matters there is nothing for it but frankness your infidelity has been common talk for some time the story of it first came to betty's ears on the evening when she came home to me two months ago since then there has been but one possible course jasper kept another silence more difficult however than his last his pallor was noticeable you say my infidelity is common talk there has been a name used your protege from wyoming jane west jasper was on his feet and woodward too rose jerkily holding up a hand no excitement please he begged let us conduct this unfortunate interview like gentlemen if possible jasper laughed as you say if possible why man it was betty who helped me bring miss west to new york

Starting point is 06:14:44 it was betty who helped me to install her here it was betty who chose the furnishings for her apartment who helped her buy her clothes who engaged her maize her who gave her most of her training this is the most preposterous the most filthy perversion of the truth betty must know it better than anyone else come now woodward there's something more in it than this jasper had himself in hand but it was easy now to see the effort it cost him the veins of his forehead were swollen i shall not discuss the matter with you betty has excellent evidence unimpeachable witnesses there is no doubt in my mind nor in the minds of her lawyers that she will win her suit and get her divorce her release of course you will not contest jasper stopped in his pacing which had begun to take the curious circling weaving form characteristic of him and standing now with his head thrown back he spoke sonorously do you imagine for one instant kane does betty imagine for one instant that i shall not contest this changed the look of cold pleasure in woodward's eyes which grew blank again do you mean me to understand naturally i took it for granted that you would act as most gentlemen act under the circumstances then you have taken too much for granted you and betty ten years ago your sister gave herself to me she is mine i will not for a whim for a passion for a temporary alienation let her go

Starting point is 06:16:38 neither will i have my good name and the name of a good woman besmirched for the sake of this impertinent desire for a release i love my wife his voice was especially hebraic and especially abhorrent to the other and as a husband i mean to keep her from the ruin this divorce would mean to her far from being her ruin marina it would be the saving of her her ruin was as nearly as possible brought about ten years ago when against the advice against the wishes of every one who loved her she made her insane marriage with an underbred commercial and licentious jew she was seventeen and you seized your opportunity jasper had stepped close he was a head taller and several inches broader of shoulder than his brother-in-law as long as you are in my house don't insult me i am as you say a jew and i am as you say of a commercial family but i am not i have never been licentious is it necessary to use such language you suggested that this interview be conducted by us like gentlemen the man who refuses to give her liberty to a wife that loathes him scarcely comes under the definition my ideas on the man who refuses to give her liberty to a wife that loathes him scarcely comes under the definition my ideas on the matter are different we need not discuss them if you will let me read my wife's letter i think that we can come to an end of this

Starting point is 06:18:23 woodward unwillingly surrendered the small gray envelope to a quivering outstretched hand jasper turned away and stood near the lamp but his excitement prevented him from reading the angular riding jumped before his eyes at last the word straightened themselves i am glad that you have given me this opportunity to escape from a life that for a long time has been dreadful to me ten years ago i made a disaster of my life and yours forgive me if you can and let me escape i will not see you again whatever you may have to say please say it to woodward from now on he is my protector in other matters there are my lawyers it is absolutely not to be thought of that i should speak to you i hope never to see you alone i want you to hate me and this note ought to make it easy for you betty jasper stared at the name he was utterly bewildered utterly staggered by the amazing dissimulation practice by this small soft-lipped round-eyed girl who had lived with him for so long sufficiently pliable sufficiently agreeable what was back of it all another man of course in imagination he was examining the faces of his acquaintances narrowing his lids as though the real men passed in review before him perhaps you understand the situation better now asked woodward cruelly jasper's intense pain and humiliation gave him a sort of calm he seemed entirely cool when he moved back toward his brother-in-law

Starting point is 06:20:21 his eyes were clear the heat had gone from his temples he was even smiling a little though there was a white even frame to his lips i shall not write to betty nor attempt to see her he said quietly but i shall ask you to take a message to her woodward assented tell her she shall have her release but to get it she will have to walk through the mire and there will be no one waiting for her on the other side can you remember that not even you will be there he was entirely self-assured so that woodward felt a chill of dismay i shall contest the suit went on jasper and i believe that i shall win it you may tell betty so if you like or she can wait to hear it from my lawyer he put the envelope into his pocket crossed the room and held back one of the crimson curtains of the door if you have nothing more to say he smiled neither have i good-bye he bowed slightly and woodward found himself passing before him in silence and some confusion he stood for a moment in the hall and having stammered his way to a cold good afternoon he put on his hat and went out jasper returned to the empty drawing-room and began his weaving march before he could begin his spinning which he hoped would entangle betty and leave her powerless for him to hold or to release at will he must go to jane west and tell her what trick life with his help had played upon her the prospect was bitterly distasteful jasper accused himself of selfishness

Starting point is 06:22:18 because she cared nothing for the world was a creature apart he had let the world think what it would he knew that an askance look would not hurt her for himself secure in innocence he did not care for betty he had thought her cruelly certain of him he went to jane the day after his interview with woodward kane it was sunday afternoon she was out but came in very soon and he stood up to meet her with an air of confusion and guilt what's the matter with you she asked pulling her gloves from her long hands her quickly observant eyes swept him she walked to him and stood near the frosty air was still about her and her face was still about her face was lightly stung to color with exercise her wild eyes were startling under the brim of her smart tailored hat jasper put a hand on either of her shoulders and bent his head before her my poor child if i'd only left you in your kitchen joan tightened her lips then smiled uncertainly you've got me scared she said stepped back and sat down her hands in her muff what is it she asked and in that moment of waiting she was sickly reminded of other moments in her life of the nearing sound of pierre's webs on a crystal winter night of the sound of prosperous footsteps going away from her up the

Starting point is 06:23:57 mountain trail on a sword-like autumn morning jasper began his pacing feeling carefully for delicate phrases, he told her Betty's accusation of her purpose. Joan took off her hat, pushed back the hair from her forehead. Then, as he came to the end, she looked up at him. Her pupils were larger than usual, and the light, frosty tint of rose had left her cheeks. "'Would you mind telling me that again?' she asked. He did so, more explicitly. she thinks betty thinks that i have been that we have been she thinks that of me no wonder she hasn't been coming to see me

Starting point is 06:24:46 she stopped staring blindly at him then you must tell her it isn't true she said pitifully and the quiver of her lips hurt him ah but she doesn't want to believe that my dear she wants to believe the worst it is a-ixt it is a little bit of her lips hurt him ah but she doesn't want to believe that my dear she wants to believe the worst it is a her opportunity to escape me. Haven't you loved her? Have you hurt her? asked Joan. God knows I have loved her. I have never hurt her, consciously. Even she cannot think that I have. Why must she blame me? Why do I have to be brought into this, Mr. Marina? Can't she go away from you? Why do the lawyers have to take it up? You are, unlawful. unhappy, and I am so sorry, but you wouldn't want her to stay if—if she doesn't love you?' "'I want her. I mean to keep her, or break her.' He turned his back to say this, and went toward the window.

Starting point is 06:25:51 Joan, fascinated, watched his fingers working into one another, tightening, crushing. "'It's another man she wants,' he said hoarsely, and if I can prevent it, she shall not have him. I will force her to keep her vows to me. Force her! If it kills her, I'll break this passion, this fancy. I'll have her back. He wheeled around, showing a twitching face.

Starting point is 06:26:21 I'll prove her infidelity whether she's been unfaithful or not, and then I'll take her back, after the world has given her one of its names. you don't love her said joan very white you want to brand her by god swore the jew and i will brand her i'll brand her he fumbled in his pocket and brought out the small envelope woodward cane had handed to him the day before he stood turning the letter about in his hands as though some such meaningless occupation was a necessity to him jones's eyes falling upon the letter widened and fixed she has written to me said jasper she wants her liberty she wants it in such a way that she will fly clear and i yes and you too will be left in the mud there's a man somewhere of course she thinks she has evidence witnesses against me i don't know what rubbish she has got together but i'm going to fight her i'm going to win i'll save you if i can jane if not of course i am at your service for any amends he stopped in his halting speech for joan had stood up and was moving across the room her eyes fastened on the letter in his hands she had the air of a sleep-walker she opened a drawer of her desk took out an old tin box once used for tobacco and drew forth a small gray envelope torn in two

Starting point is 06:28:06 then she came back to him and said let me see that letter and he obeyed as though she had the right to ask she took his letter and hers and compared the two the small gray squares lying unopened opened on her knee, and she spoke incomprehensibly. Betty is the tall child, she said, and laughed with a catch in her breath. Jasper looked at the envelopes. They were identical. Betty's gray notepaper crossed by Betty's angular upright hand, very bold, very black. The torn envelope was addressed to Prosper Gale. Jasper took it, opened to each half, laid the parts together, and read, "'Jasper is dying. By the time you get this, he will be dead.

Starting point is 06:29:01 If you can forgive me for having failed you in courage last year, come back. What I have been to you before, I will be again, only this time we can love openly. Come back.' "'Jane,' Maureena spoke brokenly. What does it mean? He built that cabin in Wyoming for her, said Joan, speaking as though Jasper had seen the canyon hiding place and known its history.

Starting point is 06:29:32 And she didn't come. He brought me there in his sled. I was hurt. I was terribly hurt. He took care of me. Prosper! Jasper thrust in. His face was drawn with excitement.

Starting point is 06:29:49 yes prosper gale i was there with him for months at first i wasn't strong enough to go away and then after a while i tried but i was too lonely and sorrowful in the spring i loved him i thought i loved him he wanted me i was all alone in the world i didn't know that he loved another woman i thought she was dead like pierre prosper had clothes for her there i suppose i've thought it out since that she was to leave as if for a short journey and then secretly go on that long one and she couldn't take many things with her so he had beautiful stuffs for her and a little suit to wear in the snow that's how i came to call her the tall child seeing that little suit long and narrow this letter came one morning one awfully bright morning he read it and went out and the next day he went away afterwards i found the letter torn in two beside his desk on the floor i took it and i've always kept it the tall child he looked so terrible when i called her that and she was your betty all the time yes said marina slowly she was my betty all the time he gave her a twisted smile and put the two papers carefully into an inside pocket i am going to keep this letter jane truly the ways of the lord are past finding out joan looked at him in growing uneasiness her mind never quick to take in all the bearings and the consequences of her act

Starting point is 06:31:45 was beginning to work. What are you going to do with it, Mr. Marina? I don't want you to do Betty a hurt. She must have loved, Prosper Gale. Perhaps she still loves him. This odd appeal drew another difficult smile from Betty's husband. Quite obviously, she still loves him, Jane. She is divorcing me so that she can marry him.

Starting point is 06:32:13 But Mr. Marina, i don't believe he will marry her now he is tired of her he is that kind of lover he gets tired now he would like to marry me he told me so perhaps if betty knew that she might come back to you without your branding her jasper was startled out of his vengeful stillness prosper gale wants to marry you he has told you so yes she was sad and humbled now he wants to marry me and once he told me things about marrying he said-jone quoted slowly her eyes half closed in prosper's manner her voice a musical echo of his thin vibrant tone it's man's most studied insult to woman yes that's prosper murmured jasper i wouldn't marry him mr marina even if i could not if i were to be burnt for refusing him jasper looked probingly at her a new speculation in his eyes she had begun to fit definitely into his plans it seemed there might be a way to frustrate betty and to keep a hold upon his valuable protege are you sure of that jane ah she answered you doubt it because i once thought i loved him but you don't know all about me he stood silent busy with him he stood silent busy with his weaving. At last he looked at her rather blankly, impersonally. Joan was conscious of a frightened,

Starting point is 06:34:02 lonely chill. She put out her hand uncertainly, a wrinkle appearing sharp and deep between her eyes. "'Mr. Marina, please, I haven't anyone but you. I don't understand very well what this divorcing rightly means, nor what they will do to me. Will you be thinking of me, little i wouldn't ask it for i know you are unhappy and bothered enough but you see he did not notice the hand it will come out right jane don't worry he said with absent gentleness keep your mind on your work i'll look out for your best interests be sure of that he came near to her his hat in his hand ready to go try to forget all about it will you oh i can't do that i feel sort of burnt betty thinking that but i'll do my work just the same of course she sighed heavily and sat the unnoticed hand clasped in its fellow when he had gone she called nervously for her maid she had a hitherto unknown dread of being alone but when matilda chosen by betty came with her furtive step and treacherous eyes joan invented some duty for her it occurred to her that matilda might be one of betty's witnesses

Starting point is 06:35:35 for some time the girl's watchfulness and intrusions had become irritatingly noticeable and marina was jones only frequent and informal visitor matilda thinks i am that joan said to herself and afterwards with a burst of weeping and of course that is what i am her past sin pressed upon her and she trembled remembering pierre's wistful seeking face if he should find her now he would find her branded indeed now he could never believe that she had indeed been innocent of guilt in the matter of hollowell her father had first put a mark upon her since then the world had only deepened his revenge There followed a sleepless, dry, and aching night. End of Book 2, Chapter 9. Recording by Roger Maline. Book 2, Chapter 10 of the branding iron by Catherine Newellyn Burt.

Starting point is 06:36:51 This Librevox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Roger Malene. Chapter 10. The Spider Hello, is this Mrs. Marina? betty held the receiver languidly her face had grown very thin and her eyes were patient they were staring now absently through the front window of woodward cane's sitting-room at a day of driving april rain yes this is mrs marina the next speech changed her into a flushed and palpitating girl mr gale wishes to know madam the manservant recited his lesson automatically if you have seen the exhibition of foster's watercolors fifty-eighth street and fifth avenue he wants to know if you will be there this afternoon at five o'clock number eighty-eight in the inner room is the picture he would especially like you to notice madam

Starting point is 06:37:51 betty's hand and voice were trembling no i haven't seen it she hesitated looking at the downpour tell him please that i will be there her voice trailed off doubtfully the man at the other end clipped out a very well madam and hung up betty was puzzled why had prosper sent her this message made this appointment by his servant perhaps because he was afraid that in her exaggerated caution she might refuse to meet him if she could explain to him the reason for her refusal or gauge the importance of his request with a servant she could do neither and the very uncertainty would force her to accept it was a dreadful day nobody would be out certainly not at the tea hour to look at foster's pictures an insignificant exhibition betty felt triumphant at last this far too acquiescent lover had rebelled against her decree of silence and separation at five o'clock she stepped out of her taxi-catchezant lover had rebelled against her decree of silence and separation at five o'clock she stepped out of her taxi-cab made a run for shelter and found herself in the empty exhibition rooms she checked her wraps and her umbrella took a catalogue from the little table chatted for a moment with a man in charge then moved about looking carelessly at the pictures number eighty eight in the inner room her heart was beating violently the hand in her muff was cold she went slowly toward the inner room and saw at once that under a small canvas at its far end prosper stood waiting for her

Starting point is 06:39:41 he waited even after he had seen her smile and quickening step and when he did come forward it was with obvious reluctance betty's smile faded his face was haggard and grim unlike itself his eyes lackluster as she had never seen them this was not the face of an impatient lover it was she would not name it but she was conscious of a feeling of angry sickness he took her hand and forced a smile betty i thought you disapproved of this kind of thing i think myself it's rather imprudent to arrange a meeting through your maid betty jerked away her hand drew a sharp breath what do you mean i didn't arrange this meeting it was you your man they became simultaneously aware of a trap it had sprung upon them with the look of trapped things they stared at each other and betty instinctively looked back over her shoulder there stood jasper in the doorway of the room he looked like the most casual of visitors to an art gallery he carried a catalogue in his hand when he saw that he was seen he smiled easily and came over to them you will have to forgive me he murmured pleasantly you see it was necessary to see you both together and betty is not willing to allow me an interview i am sorry to have chosen a public place and to have used a trick to get you here but i could not think of any other plan this is really private enough i have arranged this exhibition for foster and it is closed to the public to-day

Starting point is 06:41:37 we got in by special permit a fact you probably missed and after all civilized people ought to be able to talk about anything without excitement betty's eyes glared at him i will not stay this is insufferable but he put out his hand and something in his gesture compelled her she sat down in the round plush seat in the middle of the room and looked up at the two men held her helplessly. Joan had once leaned in a doorway, silent and unconsulted, while two men, her father and Pierre, settled their property rights in her. Betty was, after all, in no better case. She listened, wider and whiter, till at the last, she slowly raised her muff and pressed it against her twisted mouth. morina stood with his hand resting on the high back of the circular seat almost directly above betty's head it seemed to hold her there like a bar but it was at prosper he looked to prosper he spoke my friend he began and the accentuation of the herbraic quality of his voice had an instantaneous effect upon his two listeners both prosper and betty knew he was maddened and the accentuation of the herbraic quality of his voice had an instantaneous effect upon his two listeners both prosper and betty knew he was maddened of some intense agitation they were conscious of an increasing rapidity of their pulses my friend i thought that i knew you fairly well as one man knows another but i find that there have been certain limits to my knowledge how extraordinary it is this inner world of our own lives which we keep closely to ourselves i have a friend yes a very good friend a very dear friend a very dear friend The ironic insistence upon this word gave prosper the shock of a repeated blow.

Starting point is 06:43:39 And I fancy, in the ignorance of my conceit, that this friend's life is sufficiently open to my understanding. I see him leave college, I see him go out on various adventures. I share with him, by letters and confidences, the excitement of these adventures. I know with regret that he suffers for him. from ill health and goes west, and there, with a great deal of sympathy, I imagine him living, drearily enough, in some small, health-giving western town, writing his book and later his play, which he has so generously allowed me to produce. "'What the devil are you after, Jasper?'

Starting point is 06:44:24 "'But I do my friend an injustice,' went on the manager, undiverted. His career is infinitely more romantic. He has built himself a little log house amongst the mountains, and he has decorated it and laid in a supply of dainty and exquisite stuffs. I believe that there is even an outing suit, small and narrow. My God, said Prosper, very low. There was a silence. Jasper moved slightly, and Prosper started.

Starting point is 06:45:00 but the jew stayed in his former place only that he bent his head a little half closed his eyes and marked time with the hand that was not buried in the plush above betty's head he recited in a heavy voice and it was here that betty raised her muff jasper is dying by the time you get this letter he will be dead if you can forgive me for having failed in courage last year come back what i have been to you before i will be to you again only this time we can love openly come back i am going mad said prosper harshly and indeed his face had a pinched half-crazy look the jew waved his hand oh no no no it is only that you are making a discovery letters should be burnt my friend not torn and thrown away but burnt he stood up to his statelyest height and he made a curious and rather terrible gesture of breaking something between his two hands i have this letter and i hold you and betty so he said softly so. Betty spoke. I might have told you that I loved him,

Starting point is 06:46:25 that I have loved him for years, Jasper. If you use this evidence, if you bring this countersuit, it will bring about the same, the very same result. Prosper and I... She broke off, choking. Of course.

Starting point is 06:46:43 Betty and I will be married at once as soon as she gets her divorce, or you get yours. But Prosper's voice was hollow and strained. You will be married, Betty, went on Jasper as calmly as before. You, branded in the eyes of the world as an unfaithful wife, will be married to a man who has ceased to love you. That is not true, said Betty.

Starting point is 06:47:12 Look at his face, my dear. Look at it carefully. Now watch it closely. Prosper Gale, if I should tell that with a little patience, a little skill, a little unselfishness, you could win a certain woman who once loved you, eh, a certain Jane West, could you bring yourself to marry this discarded wife of mine? Betty sprang up and caught Prosper's arm in her small hand. He is tired of you, Betty. he loves jane west jasper laughed shortly looking at the tableau they made prosper white caught in the teeth of honor his face set to hide its secret betty reading his eyes his soul

Starting point is 06:48:02 i am entirely yours in your hands said prosper gale betty shook his arm and let it go you are lying you love the woman do you think i can't see it will be a very strange divorce suit went on jasper your lawyers betty will perhaps prove your case my lawyers will certainly prove mine and when we find ourselves free our our lovers will then unite in holy matrimony rather an original outcome will you go prosper asked betty it was a command He saw that at that moment his presence was intolerable to her. "'Of course, if you wish it. "'Jasper, you know where to find me, and Betty,' he turned to her with a weary tenderness, "'forgive me and make use of me, if you will, as you will.' He went out quickly, feeling himself a coward to leave her,

Starting point is 06:49:12 knowing that he would be a coward to stay to watch the anguish of her. broken heart and pride. For an instant he did hesitate and look back. They were standing together calmly, man and wife. What could he do to help them? He that had broken their lives. Betty turned to Jasper, still with the muff before her mouth, looking at him above it with her wide, childlike desperate eyes. What do you get out of this, Jasper? I will go to Woodward, I will never come back to you. Is it revenge? If so, said Jasper, it isn't yet complete. Betty, you have been rash to pit yourself against me. You must have known that I would break you utterly. I will break you, my dear, and I will have you back,

Starting point is 06:50:07 and I will be your master instead of your servant, and I will love you. You must be mad. I'm a friend. I'm afraid. of you please let me go in a moment when you have learned what home you have to go to this morning i had an interview with your brother in his office and he wrote this letter that i have in my pocket and asked me to give it to you betty laid down her muff showing at last the pale and twisted mouth jasper watched her read her brother's letter and his eyes were as patient and observant as a the eyes of a skillful doctor who has given a dangerous but necessary draft. Betty read the small, sharp, careful writing, very familiar to her. I have instructed your maid to pack your things and to return at once to your husband's house. He is a much too merciful, man. You have treated him shamelessly. I can find no excuse for you.

Starting point is 06:51:13 my house is definitely closed to you. I will send you no money, allow you no support, countenance you in no way. This is final. You have only one course to return humbly and with penitence to your husband, submit yourself to him, and learn to love and honor and obey him as he deserves.

Starting point is 06:51:38 The evidence of your guilt is incontrovertible. I utterly disbelieve your story against him. It is part of your sin, and it is easily to be explained in the light of my present knowledge of your real character. Whether you return to Marina or not, I emphatically reassert that I will not see you or speak to you again. You are, to my mind, a woman of shameless life, such a woman as I should feel justified in turning out of any decent household. told woodward cane the room turned giddily about betty she saw the whole roaring city turn about her and she knew that there was no home in it for her she could go to prosper gale but at what horrible sacrifice of pride and if jasper now refused to bring suit could she ask this man who no longer loved her to keep her as his mistress what could she do where could she turn how could she keep herself alive for the first time life stripped of everything but its hard and ugly bones faced her

Starting point is 06:52:56 she had always been sheltered been dependent been loved once before she had lost courage and had failed to venture beyond the familiar shelter of custom and convention now she was again most horribly afraid anything was better than this feeling of being lost alone she looked at jasper at that moment he was nothing but a protector a means of life and he knew it will you come home with me now he asked her bitterly betty forced the twisted mouth to speech what else is there for me to do she said. End of book two, chapter 10. Recording by Roger Maline. Book two, chapter 11 of the branding iron by Catherine Newland-Burt. This Libravox recording is in the public domain.

Starting point is 06:54:01 Recording by Roger Maline. Chapter 11. The Clean Wild Thing The Reverend Francis Hollowell. Marina turned the card over and over. in his hand. Halliwell. Holliwell. Frank Hollowell. Yes, one of the fellows that had dropped out. Big, athletic, youngster. Left college in his junior year and studied for the ministry. Fine chap, popular. Especially decent to him when he had begun to play that difficult role of a man without a country.

Starting point is 06:54:42 Now here was the card of the Reverend F. francis hollowell and the man himself no doubt waiting below jasper tried to remember he'd heard something about frank oh yes the young clergyman had given up a fashionable parish in the east small norman church wealthy parishioners splendid stipend beautiful stone norman rectory thrown it all up to go west on some unheard-of mission in the sage-board brush. He was back now, probably for money, donations wanted for a building, church, or hospital, or library. Jasper, in imagination, wrote out a generous check. Before going down, he glanced at the card again and noticed some lines across the back. This is to introduce one of my best friends, Pierre Landis of Wyoming. Please be of service to him. His mission has. and deserves to have my full sympathy so after all it wasn't hollowell below and the check-book would not be needed pierre landis of wyoming jasper went down the stairs and on the way he remembered a letter received from yarnel a long time before he remembered it with an accession of alarm i've probably let hell loose for your protege jane given your address and incidentally hers to a fellow who wants her pretty badly his name's pierre landis you're a pretty good judge of white men size him up and do what's best for jane

Starting point is 06:56:29 for some time after receiving this letter jasper had expected the appearance of this pierre landis then had forgotten him the fellow who wanted jane so badly had been a long while on his way to her remembering and wondering the manager opened the crimson curtains and stepped into the presence of pierre even if he had had no foreknowledge jasper felt that at sight of his visitor his fancy would have jumped to joan it was the eyes he had seen no others but hers like them for clarity far-seeing grave eyes that held a curious depth of light here was one of jones's kindred one of the clean wild things then came the gentle western drawl i'm right sorry to trouble you mr marina jasper took a brown hand that had the feel of iron the man's face on a level with jasper's was very brown and lean it had a worn look a trifle desperate perhaps in the lines of lip and the expression of the smoke-colored eyes jasper sensitive to undercurrents became aware that he stood in some fashion for a forlorn hope in the life of this pierre at the same time the manager remembered a confidence of jane's she had been afraid of some one she had been running away there was one that mustn't find her and to run away from him that was the business of her life pierre landis was this one the something wild and clean that had at last come searching even into this city it was necessary that jane's present protector should be

Starting point is 06:58:24 very careful. There must be no running away this time, and Pierre must be warned off. Jasper had plans of his own for his star player. For one thing, she must draw Prosper Gale completely out of Betty's life. Jasper made his guest comfortable, sat opposite to him, and lighted a cigarette. Although Pierre had accepted one, he did not smoke. He was far too disturbed. frank hollowell gave me a note to you mr marina i got your address some years ago from yarnel of lazy y ranch middle fork wyoming i've been gettin my affairs into shape ever since so that i could come east i don't rightly know whether yarnel would have wrote to you concerning me or no yes he did write just a line two years ago pierre studied his long brown hands, turning the soft hat between them. When he lifted his eyes, they were intensely blue. It was as though blue fire had consumed the smoke. I've been taken after a girl. She was

Starting point is 06:59:40 called Jane on Yarnel's ranch, and she was cook there for the outfit. Nobody knows her story, nor her name. She left the morning I came in, and I didn't set eyes on her. You've been, were taking her east to teach her to play act for you. I don't know whether you'd done so or not, but I've come here to learn where she is so that I can find out if she's the woman I'm looking for. Morina smiled kindly. You've come a long way, Mr. Landis, on an uncertainty. Yes, sir, Pierre did not smile. He was holding himself steady. But I'm used to uncertainty. there ain't no uncertainty that can keep me from seeking after the person i want he paused the eyes still fixed upon morina who uncomfortable under them veiled himself thinly in cigarette smoke i want to see this jane pierre ended gently nothing easier landis i'll give you a ticket to the leperdice she is acting the title part she is my leading lady and a very

Starting point is 07:00:54 extraordinary young actress. Of course, it's none of my business, but in a way I am Miss West's guardian. Miss West? Yes, that is Jane's name, Jane West. You think it is an assumed one? Pierre stood up. I'm not thinking on this trip, he said. I'm hoping. I am sorry, but I'm afraid you're on the wrong track. there may be a resemblance there may even be a marked resemblance between miss west and the person you want to find but again please forgive me i am in the place of guardian to her at present and i should like to know something of your business enough of it that is to be sure that your sudden appearance if you happen to be right in your surmise won't frighten my leading lady out of her wits and send her off to calamazoo on the next train pierre evidently resented the fashion of this speech i'm sorry he said with dignity not to be able to tell you anything i'll be careful not to frighten miss west i can see her first from a distance and then certainly certainly jasper rang and directed his man to get an envelope from an upstairs table when it came he handed it to pierre that is a ticket for to-morrow night's performance it's the best seat i can give you though it's not very near the stage however you will certainly be able to recognize your jane if she is your jane

Starting point is 07:02:39 pierre pocketed the ticket thank you he murmured his face was expressionless jasper was making rapid plans oh by the way he said hurriedly if you should stand near the stage exit to-night say at about twelve o'clock you could see miss west come out and get into her motor that would give you a fairly close view but even if you find you are mistaken landis be sure to see the leopardess it's well worth your while you're going won't you dine with me to-night no thank you i wouldn't be carent to to-night i-i reckon i reckon i'm I've got this matter too much in my mind. Thank you very much, Mr. Marina. Before you go, tell me about Hollowell. He was a good friend of mine. He was a good friend to most everyone he knowed.

Starting point is 07:03:39 He was more than that to me. Then he's been a success out there? Pierre meditated over the words. Success? Why, yes, I reckon he's been all of that. a difficult mission isn't it trying to bring you fellows to god pierre smiled i reckon we get closer to god out there than you do here we sure get the fear of him even if we don't get nothin else when you fight winter and all outdoors and come near to death with husses and what's not why i guess you're gettin close to somethin not not quite to be explained hollowell he's a first-classed sin buster best i ever knowed marina laughed he was beginning to enjoy his visitor sin buster

Starting point is 07:04:35 that's one name for a parson well sir i guess hollowell is plumb close to be in a prize devil twister tell me how you first met him it ought to be a good story but the young man's face grew bleak at this it ain't a good story sir he said grimly it ain't anything like that i must wish you good-bye and thank you kindly but you'll let me see you again where are you stopping hulliwell's friends are mine pierre gave him the address of a small downtown hotel thanked him again and standing in the hall added if i'm wrong in the notion that brought me to new york i'll be goin back again to my ranch mr marina i'm goin back to ranchin on the old homestead i've got it fixed up he seemed to look through jasper into an enormous distance marina was almost uncannily aware of the long long journey by which this man's spirit had trodden of the desert he faced ahead of him if the search must fail was it wrong to warn jane ought this man to be given his chance surely here stood before him jane's mate jasper wished that he knew more of the history back of pierre and the girl a man could do little but look out for his own interests when he worked in the dark which would be the better man for jane this jane so trained so educated so far removed superficially from the dark which would be the better man for jane this jane so far removed superficially from the dark the ungrammatical bronzed clumsily dressed graceful visitor in every worldly respect doubtless prosper gale only there were pierre's eyes and the soul looking out of them jasper said good-bye half absently

Starting point is 07:06:37 an hour later he went to call on jane he found her done up in an apron and a dust-cap cleaning house with astonishing spirit she and the bridget who had recently been substituted for matilda were merry bridget was sitting on the sill her upper half shut out her round brick-coloured face laughing through the pane she was polishing jane was up a ladder dusting books she came down to greet marina and he saw regretfully the sad change in her face and bearing which his arrival caused bridget was sent to the kitchen jane made apologies and sitting on the latter step she looked up at him with the look of some one who expects a blow what is it now mr marina have the lawyers begun to he had purposely kept her in the dark purposely neglected her left her to loneliness in the hope of furthering the purposes of prosper gale i haven't come to dismal that jane soon i hope to have good news for you but today i've come to give you a hint a warning in fact to prepare you for what i am sure will be a shock yes she was flushed and breathing fast her fingers were busy with the feather duster on her knee and her eyes were still waiting i had a visitor this morning pierre landis of wyoming she rose came to him and clutched his arm pierre pierre pierre she looked around her wild as a captured bird

Starting point is 07:08:28 oh i must go i must go jane my child he put his arm about her held her two hands in his you must do nothing of the kind if you don't want this pierre to find you if you don't want him to come into your life there's an easy a very simple way to put an end to his pursuit don't you know that she stared up at him quivering in his arm no what is it how can i oh he mustn't see me never never never i made that promise to myself jane you say yourself that you are changed that you are not the girl he wants to find she shook her head desolately enough oh no i'm not he isn't sure that jane west is the woman he's looking for he's following the faintest the most doubtful of trails he heard of you from yarnel the description of you and your sudden flight made him fairly sure that it must be you. Jasper laughed. I'm taking quite a random, in a sense, because I haven't a notion, my dear, who you are, nor what this pier has been in your life. If you could tell me, she shook her head.

Starting point is 07:09:56 No, she said, no. Very well, then I'll have to go on talking at random. Jane at the Lazy W ranch was a woman who had deliberately disguised. herself jane west in new york is a different woman altogether but unless i'm very wrong she is even more completely disguised from pierre landis if you can convince pierre that you are jane west not any other woman certainly not the woman he once knew aren't you pretty safely rid of him for always she stood still now he felt that her fingers were cold. Yes, for always. I suppose so. But how can I do that, Mr. Marina? Nothing easier. You're an actress, aren't you? I advised Pierre Landis to stand near the stage exit tonight and watch you get into your motor. Again, she clutched at him.

Starting point is 07:11:03 Oh, no, don't let him do that. Now, if you will make an effort, effort look him in the eyes refuse to show a single quiver of recognition speak to someone in the most artificial tone you can manage pass him by and drive away why wouldn't that convince him that you aren't his quarry eh she thought then slowly drew herself away and stood her head bent her brows drawn sharply together yes i suppose so I think I can do it. That is the best plan. She looked at him wildly again. Then it will be over for always, won't it? He'll go away?

Starting point is 07:11:52 Yes, my poor child. He will go away. He told me so. Then will you try to forget him, to live your life for its own beautiful sake? I'd like to see you happy, Jane. Would you? She smiled.

Starting point is 07:12:09 like a pitying mother why i've given up even dreaming of that that isn't what keeps me going what is it then jane oh a queer notion she laughed sadly a kind of kid's notion i guess that if you live long some way some time you'll be able to make up things you've done and that perhaps there'll be another meeting place a kind of a ground up, where you'll be fit to forgive those you love and to be forgiven by them." Jasper walked about. He was touched and troubled. Some minutes later, he said doubtfully, "'Then you'll carry through your purpose of not letting Pierre know you?' "'Yes, I've made up my mind to that. That's what I've got to do. He mustn't find me. We can't meet here in this life.

Starting point is 07:13:09 That's certain. There are things that come between, things like bars. She made a strange gesture, as of a prisoner running his fingers across the barred window of a cell. Thank you for warning me. Thank you for telling me what to do. She smiled faintly. I think he will know me anyway, she said. But I won't know him.

Starting point is 07:13:34 Never, never! That night the theater was late in. emptying itself, Jane West had acted with special brilliance, and she was called out again and again. When she came to her dressing-room, she was flushed and breathless. She did not change her costume, but drew her fur coat on over the green evening dress she had worn in the last scene. Then she stood before her mirror, looking herself over carefully, critically. Now that the paint was washed off, and the flush of excitement faded, she looked haggard and white. Her face was very thin. Its beautiful bones, long sweep of jaw, wide brow, straight, short nose, sharply accentuated. The round throat rising against the fur collar looked unnaturally white and long. She sat down before her dressing table and deliberately painted her cheeks and lips. she even altered the outlines of her mouth giving it a pursed and dull-like expression so that her eyes appeared enormous and her nose a little pinched

Starting point is 07:14:51 then she drew a lock of waved hair down across the middle of her forehead pressed another at each side close to the corners of her eyes this took from the unusual breadth of brow and gave her a much more ordinary look a coat of powder heavily applied more nearly produced the effect of a pink and white glassy-eyed doll baby for which she was trying afterwards she turned and smiled doubtfully at the astonished dresser good gracious miss west you don't look like yourself at all good she said good night and went rapidly down the draughty passages and the concrete stairs jasper was standing inside the outer door and applauded her well done if it weren't for your pose and walk my dear i should hardly have known you myself jones stood beside him holding her furs close breathing fast enough the parted painted lips is he here do you know yes he's been waiting i told him you might be late now keep your head. Everything depends upon that. Can you do it? Oh, yes. Is the car there? I won't have to stop? Not an instant, but give him a good looking over so that he'll be sure, and don't change the expression of your eyes. Feel, make yourself feel inside that he's a stranger. You know what I mean.

Starting point is 07:16:34 Good night, my dear. Good luck. I'll call you up as soon as you get home, that is, after I've seen your pursuer safely back to his rooms. But this last sentence was addressed to himself. Joan opened the door and stepped out into the chill dampness of the April night. The white arc of electric light beat down upon her as she came forward, and it fell as glaringly upon the figure of Pierre. He had pushed forward from the little crowd of night. nondescripts always waiting at a stage exit and stood bareheaded just at the door of her motor drawn up by the curb she saw him instantly and from the first their eyes met

Starting point is 07:17:22 it was a horrible moment for joan what it was for him she could tell by the tense pallor of his keen bronzed face the eyes she had not seen for such an agony of years the strange deep iris-colored eyes there they were now searching her she stopped her heart in its beating she stopped her breath stopped her brain she became for those few seconds just one thought i have never seen you i have never seen you she passed so close to him that her fur touched his hand and she looked into his face with a cool half-dustainful glitter of a smile step aside please she said i must get in her voice was unnaturally high and quite unnaturally precise pierre said one word a hopeless word joan it was a prayer it should have been be joan then he stepped back and she stumbled into shelter. At the same instant, another man, a man in evening dress, hastily prevented her man from closing the door. "'Miss West, may I see you home?' Before she could speak, could do more than look, Prosper Gale had jumped in, the door slammed, the car began its whir, and they were gliding through the crowded, brilliant streets. Joan had bent forward, and

Starting point is 07:19:07 was rocking to and fro. "'He called me Joan!' she gasped over and over. "'He called me Joan!' "'Was that Pierre?' Prosper had been forewarned by Jasper and had planned his part. She kept on rocking, holding her hands on either side of her face. "'I must go away! If I see him again, I shall die. i could never do that another time oh god his hand touched me he called me joan i must go

Starting point is 07:19:47 prosper did not touch her but his voice very friendly very calm had an instantaneous effect i will take you away she laughed shakily again she asked and shamed him into silence but after a while he began very reasonably very patiently i can take you away so that you need not be put through this unnecessary pain i can arrange it with maurina if pierre sees you often enough he will be sure to recognize you joan i did not deserve that again and you know it i am a changed man if you don't know that now i have the heart of-of devotion of service toward you you are indeed a blind and stupid woman but you do know it you must she sat silent beside him the long and slender hand between her face and him i can take you away he went on presently and keep you from pierre until he has given up his search and has gone west again and i can take you at once in a day or two your understudy can fill the part this engagement is almost at an end i can make it up to marina after all if we go we shall be doing betty and him a service joan flung out her hands recklessly oh she cried what does it matter of course i'll go i'd run into the sea to escape pierre she leaned back against the cushioned seat rolled her head a little from side to side like a person in pain take me away she repeated i believe that if i stay i shall go mad i'll go anywhere with any one only take me away end of book two chapter eleven

Starting point is 07:21:57 recording by roger maline book two chapter twelve of the branding iron by katherine newland bert this librivox recording is in the public domain recording by roger maline chapter twelve the leperdess pierre stood before the cheap bureau of his ugly hotel bedroom turning a red slip of cardboard about in his fingers the gas jet sputtering above his head threw heavy shadows down in his face it was the face of hopeless heart-sick youth the muscles sagging the eyes dull the lips tight and pale. Since last night when the contemptuous glitter of Joan's smile had fallen upon him, he had neither slept nor eaten. Jasper had joined him at the theater exit, had walked home with him, and while he was with the manager, Pierre's pride and reserve had held him up. Afterwards, he had ranged the city like a prairie wolf, ranged it as though it had been an unpeopled desert, free to his stride he had fixed his eyes above and beyond and walked alone in pain dawn found him again in his room

Starting point is 07:23:27 what hope had sustained him what memory of joan what purpose of tenderness toward her these hopes and memories and purposes now choked and twisted him he might have found her his gal his joan with her dumb loving gaze he might have found her his gal his joan with her dumb loving gaze he might have found her he might have told her the story of his sorrow in such a way that she who forgave so easily would have forgiven even him and he might have comforted her holding her so-and-so showing her utterly the true unchanged greatly changed love of his chastened heart this girl this love of his love of his whom in his drunken jealous madness he had branded and driven away he would have brought her back and tended her, and made it up to her in a thousand, in ten thousand ways. Pierre knelt by his bed, his black head buried in the cover, his arms bent above it, his hands clenched. Out there he had never lost hope of finding her, but here, in this people loneliness, with a memory of that woman's heartless smile, he did at last despair. In a strange, torturing way, she had had been.

Starting point is 07:24:45 had been like joan his heart had jumped to his mouth at first sight of her and just there to his shoulder where her head reached had joan's dear black head reached too pierre groaned aloud the picture of her was so vivid not in months had the reality of his gal come so close to his imagination he could feel her feel her oh god that was a little the sort of night he had spent, and the next day he passed in a lethargy. He had no heart to face the future, now that the great purpose of his life had failed. Hollywell's God of comfort and forgiveness forsook him. What did he want with a God when that one comrade of his lonely young human life was out there lost by his own cruelty? Perhaps she was dead.

Starting point is 07:25:43 Perhaps the wound had killed her. for all these years she might have been lying dead somewhere in the snow under the sky sharp periods of pain followed dull periods of stupor now it was night again and a recollection of jasper's theatre ticket had dragged him to a vague purpose he wanted to see again that woman who had so vivified his memory of joan it would be hateful to see her again but he wanted to see her again but he wanted to see again-and-a-one he wanted to see again he wanted to see again he wanted to see again that woman who had so vivified his memory of joan he wanted to see her again-he she had it would be hateful to see her again but he wanted the pain he dressed and groomed himself carefully then feeling a little faint he went out into the clattering glaring night pierre's experience of theatre going was exceedingly small he had never been in so large a playhouse as this one of marinas he had never seen so large and well-dressed an audience never heard of a playhouse as this one of marinas he had never seen so large and well-dressed an audience never heard of never heard a full and well-trained orchestra in spite of himself he began to be distracted excited stirred when the curtain rose on the beautiful tropical scene the lush island the turquoise sea the realistic strip of golden sand pierre gave an audible oath of admiration and surprise the people about him began to be amused by the excitement of this handsome haggard young man so graceful and intense so different with his hardness and leanness the brilliance of his eyes the brownness of his skin

Starting point is 07:27:21 his clothes were good enough but they fitted him with an odd air of disguise an experienced eye would inevitably have seen the appropriateness of flannel shirt gay silkneck handkerchief boots spurs and choppereras pierres pierre was entirely unaware of being interesting or different at that moment caught up in the action of the play he was as outside of himself as a child the palms of stage-land stirred the fern swayed between then tall vivid greenness came joan with her tread and grace and watchful eyes of a leopardess her loose wild hair decked with flowers these and her make-up and her thinness disguised her completely from pierre but again his heart came to his throat and when she put her hands up to her mouth and called his pulses gave a leap he shut his eyes he remembered a voice calling him in to supper pierre pierre he could sniff the smoke of his cabin fire he opened his eyes he opened his eyes Of course she wasn't Joan, this strange, gaunt creature. Besides, his wife could never have done what this woman was doing. Why, Joan couldn't talk like this.

Starting point is 07:28:52 She couldn't act to save her soul. She was as simple as a child, and shy, with the unself-conscious shyness of wild things. To be sure, this actress lady was making believe she was a wild thing, and she was doing it all mighty well but joan had been the reality and grave and still part of his own big grave mountain country not a fierce man-devouring animal of the tropics pierre lived in the play with all but one fragment of his brain and that remembered joan it hurt like a hot coal but he deliberately ignored the pain of it he followed the action breathlessly applauded with contagious fervor surreptitiously rid himself of tears and when in the last scene the angry jealous woman sprang upon her tamer he muttered serve you right you coyote with an oath of the cow camp that made one of his neighbors jump and throttle a startled laugh the curtain fell and while the applause rose and died down and rose again

Starting point is 07:30:09 and the people called for jane west jane west the stage director a plump little jew came out behind the footlights and held up his hand there was a gradual silence i want to make an interesting announcement he said the author of the leperdess has hitherto maintained his anonymity but to-night i have permission to give you his name he is in the theatre to-night the name is already familiar to you as that of the author of a popular novel the canyon prosper gale there was a stir of interest a general searching of the house clapping cries of author author and in a few moments prosper gale left his box and appeared beside the director in answer to the calls he was entirely self-possessed looked even a little bored but he was very white he stood there bowing a graceful and attractive figure and he was about to begin a speech when he was interrupted by a renewed calling for jane west the audience wanted to see the star and the author side by side pierre joined in the clamor after a little pause jane west came out from the opposite wing walking slowly dressed in her green gown jewels on her neck and in her hair she did not look toward the audience at all nor bow nor smile and for some reason the applause began to falter as though the sensitive mind of the crowd was already aware that here something must be wrong

Starting point is 07:32:02 she came very slowly her arms hanging her head bent her eyes looking up from under her brows and she stood beside prosper gale whose forced smile had stiffened on his lips he looked at her in obvious fear as a man might look at a dangerous madwoman there must have been madness in her eyes she stood there for a strange terrible moment moving her head slightly from side to side. Then she said something in a very low tone. Because of the extraordinary carrying quality of her voice, the question was heard by everyone there present. You wrote the play? You wrote the play? She said it twice. She seemed to quiver, to gather herself together, her hands bent, her arms lifted. She flew at prosper with all the sudden strength of her insanity there was an outcry a confusion people rushed to gale's assistance men caught hold of joan now struggling frantically it was a dreadful sight mercifully a brief one she collapsed utterly fell forward the strap of her gown breaking in the grasp of one of the men who held her

Starting point is 07:33:29 for an instant every one in the audience saw a strange double scar that ran across her shoulder to the edge of the shoulder blade it was like two bars pierre got to his feet dropped back and hid his face then he was up and struggling past excited people down the row out into the aisle along it hurrying blindly down unknown passages till somehow he got himself into that confused labyrinth behind the scenes. Here, a pale, distracted scene-shifter informed him that Miss West had already been taken home. Pierre got the address, found his way out to the street, hailed a taxi-cab, and threw himself into it. He sat forward, every muscle tight.

Starting point is 07:34:26 He felt that he could take the taxi-cab up and hurl it forward, so terrible was his impatience an apartment-house was a greater novelty to him even than a theater but after a dazed moment of discovering that he did not have to ring or knock but just push open the great iron-scrolled door and step into the brightly lighted steam-heated marble hall he decided that the woman at the desk was a person in authority and to her he addressed himself soft hat gripped in his hand, his face set to hide excitement. The girl was pale and red-eyed. They had brought Miss Weston a few minutes ago, she told him, and carried her up. She was still unconscious, poor thing.

Starting point is 07:35:18 I don't think you could see her, sir. Mr. Marina is up there and Mr. Gale and a doctor. A trained nurse has been sent for. Everything in the world will be done. She's such an elegant actress, ain't she? I've often seen her myself, and so kind and pleasant always. Yes, sir, I'll ask if you like,

Starting point is 07:35:43 but I'm sure they won't allow you up. She put the receiver to her ear, pushed in the black plug, and Pierre listened to her questions. Can Miss West see anyone? Can an old friend? for so Pierre had named himself, be allowed to see her?

Starting point is 07:36:03 No, I thought not. This, with a sympathetic glance at Pierre. She is not conscious yet, dangerously ill. Could I speak to the doctor? Pierre asked hoarsely. The gentleman wants to know if he can speak to the doctor. Certainly not at present. If he will wait, the doctor will speak.

Starting point is 07:36:27 to speak to him on the way out." Pierre sat on the bench and waited. He leaned forward, elbows on knees, head crushed in both hands, and the woman stared at him pitilessly. Not that he was aware of her scrutiny. His eyes looked through his surroundings to Joan. He saw her in every pose and in every look in which he had ever seen her, and with a very sick and frightened heart.

Starting point is 07:36:57 saw her at the last pass by him in her fur coat throwing that half-contemptuous look and smile she didn't know him was he changed so greatly or was the change in her so enormous that it had disassociated her completely from her old life from him he kept repeating to himself hollywell's stern admonishing speech however changed for the worse she may may be when you do find her, Pierre, you must remember that it is your fault, your sin. You must not judge her, must not dare to judge her. Judge yourself. Condem yourself. It is for her to forgive if she can bring herself to do it. So now Pierre fought down his suspicions and his fears.

Starting point is 07:37:53 He had not recognized to prosper. The man who had come in. out of the white night four years ago, had worn his cap low over his eyes, his collar turned up about his face, and even at that, Pierre, in his drunken stupor, had not been able to see him very clearly. This prosper gale who had stood behind the footlights, this prosper gale at whom Joan, from some unknown cause, had sprung like a woman maddened by injury, was a person entirely strange to pierre but pierre hated him the man had done joan some insufferable mischief which at the last had driven her beside herself pierre put up a hand pressing it against his eyes he wanted to shut out the picture of that struggling girl with her torn dress and the double scar across her shoulder if it hadn't been for the scar he would know he would know if it hadn't been for the scar he would know

Starting point is 07:38:57 never have known her, his Joan, his gentle, silent Joan. What had they been doing to her to change her so? No, not they, he! He had changed her. He had branded her and driven her out. It was his fault. He must try to find her again, to find the old Joan, if she should live. The doctor had said that she was desperately ill. Oh, God! What was keeping him so long? Why didn't he come? The arrival of the trained nurse

Starting point is 07:39:37 distracted Pierre for a few moments. She went past him in her gray cloak, very quiet and earnest, and the elevator lifted her out of sight. Were you in the theater tonight? asked the girl at the desk, seeing that he was temporarily aware of her again. Yes, ma'am.

Starting point is 07:39:57 she was puzzled by his appearance and the fashion of his speech he must be a gentleman she thought for his bearing was gentle and assured and unself-conscious but he wore his clothes differently and spoke differently from other gentlemen that yes ma'am especially disturbed her then she remembered a novel she had read and her mind jumped to a conclusion she leaned forward say aren't you from the west yes ma'am you weren't ever a cowboy were you pierre smiled yes ma'am i was raised in a cow camp i was a cowboy till about seven years ago when i took to ranchin where was that out in wyoming and you've come straight from there to new york she pronounced it new yoke no ma'am i've been in alasky for two years now i've been in a lumber camp gee that's real interesting and you knew miss west before she came east then yes ma'am but there was a subtle change in pierre's patient voice and clear unhappy eyes so that the girl fell to humming and bottled up her curiosity But just as soon as he began to brood again, she gave up her whole mind to staring at him. Gee, he was brown and strong and thin, and a good looker.

Starting point is 07:41:42 She wished that she had worn her transformation that evening and her blue blouse. He might have taken more interest in her. A stout, bald-headed man, bag in hand, stepped out of the elevator, and Pierre rippled to his feet. Are you the doctor? Yes. Oh, you're the gentleman who wanted to see Miss West. She's come, too, but she is out of her head completely. Doesn't know anyone.

Starting point is 07:42:13 Can you step out with me? Pierre kept beside him and stood by the motor, hat still in hand, while the doctor talked irritably. No, you certainly can't see her, for some time. I shall not allow anyone to see her, except the nurse. It will be a matter of weeks. She'll be lucky if she gets back her sanity at all. She was entirely out of her head there at the theater. She's worn out, nerves frayed to a frazzle. Horribly unhealthy life and unnatural. To take a country girl, an ignorant, untrained, healthy animal, bring her to the city and

Starting point is 07:42:57 force her under terrific pressure into a life so foreign to her, well, it was just a piece of damned brutality. Then his acute eye suddenly fixed itself on the man standing on the curb listening. You're from the west yourself? Yes, sir. New her in the old days, eh? Yes, sir. Pierre's voice was faint, and he put a hand against the most. odor. "'Well, why don't you take her back with you to that life? You're not feeling any too fit yourself, are you? Look here. Get in, and I'll drop you where you belong.' Pierre obeyed rather blindly and leaned back with closed eyes. The doctor got out a flask and poured him a dose of brandy. "'What's the trouble? Too much New York?'

Starting point is 07:43:54 pierre shook his head and smiled no sir i've been bothered and didn't get round to eating and sleeping lately then i'll take you to a restaurant and we'll have supper i need something myself and look here i'll make you a promise just as soon as i consider her fit for an interview with any one i'll let you see miss west that helps you a whole lot doesn't it but there were other powers besides this friendly one watching over joan and they were bent upon keeping pierre away day after sickening day pierre came and stood beside the desk and the girl each time a little more careless of him a little more insolent toward him for the cowboy would not notice her blue blouse and her transformation and the invitation of her eyes gave him negligent and discouraging information miss west was better but very weak no she wouldn't see any one yes mr marina could see her but not mr landis certainly not mr pierre landis of wyoming and the doctor being questioned by the half frantic westerner admitted that mr marina had hinted at reasons why it might be dangerous for the patient to see her old friend from the west pierre stood to receive this sentence and after it his eyes fell the doctor had seen the quick desperate moisture in them i tell you what landis he said putting a hand on pierre's shoulder i'm willing to take a risk i'm sure of one thing miss west hasn't even heard of your inquiries

Starting point is 07:45:52 you mean marina's making it up about her not being willing to see me i do mean that and no doubt he's doing it with the best intentions but i'm willing to take a risk see those stairs you run up them to the fifth floor the nurse is out gale is in attendance that is he's in the sitting-room she doesn't know of his presence hasn't been allowed to see him miss west's door the outside one is ajar go up get past gale if you can behave yourself quietly and if you see the least sign of weakness on the part of Miss West, or if she shows the slightest disinclination for your company, come down, I'm trusting you, as quickly as you can, and tell me. I'll wait. Have I your promise? Yes, sir, gasped Pierre.

Starting point is 07:46:57 The doctor smiled at the swift leaping grace of his Western friend's assent. He was anxious, concerning the result of his experiment, but there was a memory upon him of a haunted look in Joan's eyes that seemed the fellow to a look of Pierre's. He rather believed in intuitions, especially his own. End of Book 2, Chapter 12. Recording by Roger Maline. Book 2, Chapter 13 of the branding iron by Catherine Newland Bert. This Librevox recording is a recording. in the public domain. Recording by Roger Maline.

Starting point is 07:47:45 Chapter 13. The End of the Trail. At the top of the fourth flight of steps, Pierre found himself facing a door that stood ajar. Beyond that door was Joan, and he knew not what experience of discovery, of explanation, of punishment. What he had suffered since the night of his cruelty would be nothing to what he might have to suffer now at the hands of the woman he had loved and hurt that she was incredibly changed he knew what had happened to change her he did not know that she had suffered greatly was certain one could not look at the face of jane west even under its disguise of paint and pencil without a sharp realization of profound and embittering experience and just as certainly she had gone far ahead of her husband in learning in a certain sort of mental and social development pierre was filled with doubt and with dread with an almost unbearable self-deprecation and at the same time he was filled with a nameless fear of what joan might herself have become he stood with his hand on the knob of that half-open door bent his head and drew some deep uneven breaths he thought of hollowell as though the man were standing beside him he stepped in quietly shut the door and walked without hesitation down the passageway into the little sunny sitting-room

Starting point is 07:49:29 there before the crackling open fire sat prosper gale prosper it seemed was alone in the small silent place he was seen he was alone in the small silent place he was seen he was sitting on the middle of his spine as usual with his long thin legs stretched out before him and a veil of cigarette smoke before his eyes he turned his head idly expecting no doubt to see the nurse pierre white and grim stood looking down at him the older man recognized him at once but he did not change his position by a muscle merely lounged there his head against the side of the cushioned chair the brilliant surprised gaze changing slowly to amused contempt his cigarette hung between the long fingers of one hand its blue spiral of smoke rising tranquilly into a bar of sunshine from the window the doctor told me to come up said pierre gravely he was aware of the insult of this stranger's attitude but he was aware of the insult of this stranger's attitude but he was was too deeply stirred, too deeply suspenseful, to be irritated by it. He seemed to be moving in some rare, disconnected atmosphere. I have his permission to see Miss West if she is willing to see me. Prosper flicked off an ash with his little finger.

Starting point is 07:51:02 "'And you believe that she is willing to see you, Pierre Landis?' he asked slowly. Pierre gave him a startled look. You know my name? Yes, I believe that four years ago, on an especially cold and snowy night, I interrupted you in a rather extraordinary occupation and gave myself the pleasure of shooting you. With that he got to his feet and stood before the mantle, negligently enough, but ready to his fingertips. pierre came nearer by a stride he had been stripped at once of his air of high detachment he was pale and quivering he looked at prosper with eyes of incredulous dread were you that man a tide of shamed scarlet engulfed him and he dropped his eyes i thought that would take the assurance out of you said prosper

Starting point is 07:52:08 as a matter of fact shooting was too good for you on that night you forfeited every claim to the consideration of man or woman i have the right of any decent citizen to turn you out of here do you still maintain your intention of asking for an interview with miss jane west pierre half blind with humiliation turned without a word and made his way to the door he meant to go away and kill himself the purpose was like iron in his mind that he should have to stand and because of his own cowardly fault to endure insult from this contemptuous stranger made of life a garment too stained too shameful to be worn he was in haste to be rid of it something however barred his exit he stumbled back to avoid it there holding aside the curtain in the doorway stood joan this time there was no possible doubt of her identity she was wrapped in a long blue gown her hair had fallen in braided loops on either side of her face and neck the unchanged eyes of joan under her broad brows looked up at him she was thin and wan unbelievably broken and tired and and hurt but she was joan pierre could not but forget death at sight of her he staggered forward and she putting up her arms drew him hungrily and let fall her head upon his shoulder my gal my joan pierre sobbed prosper's voice sought into their tremulous silence so after all the branding-iron is the proper instrument

Starting point is 07:54:08 he said a man can always recognize his astray and when she is recognized she will come to heal joan pushed pier from her violently and turned upon prosper gale her voice broke over him in a tumult of soft scorn you know nothing of loving prosper gale not the first letter of loving nobody has learned that about you as well as i have now listen and i will teach you something this is something i have learned there are worse wounds than i had from pierre and it is by the hands of such men as you that they are given the hurts you get from love they heal pierre was mad he was a beast he branded me as though i had been a beast for long years i couldn't think of him but with a sort of horror in my heart if it hadn't been for you i might never have thought of him no other way forever but what you did to me prosper you with your white-hot brain and your gray cold heart you with your music and your talk throbbing and talking and whining about my soul what you did to me has made pierre's iron a very gentle thing i have not acted in the play you wrote the play you made out of me and my unhappiness without understanding just what it was that you did to me perhaps if it hadn't been for the play i might even have believed that you were capable of something better than that passion you had once for me but not now never now can i believe it what you made other people suffer is material for your own success and you delight in it you make notes upon it

Starting point is 07:56:07 pierre was mad through loving me too ignorantly too jealously but what you did to me was through loving me too little that was a brand upon my brain and soul some time since then that scar on my shoulder has seemed to me almost like the memory of a caress i went away from pierre leaving him for dead ready for death myself when you left me you left me alive and ready for what sort of living it has been pierre's love and his following after me that have kept me from low and beastly things i've run from him knowing i wasn't fit to be found by him but i've run clean and free she began to tremble will you say anything more to me and to my man prosper's face wore its old look of the winged demon he was cold in his angry pain just one thing to your man perhaps if you will allow me but perhaps you'll tell him that yourself that his method is the right one i admit but in one respect not even a brand will altogether preserve property rights morina could say something on that score so could i hush said joan i will tell him myself pierre i left you for dead and i went away with this man and after a while because i thought you were dead, and because I was alone and sorrowful and weak, and because, perhaps, of what my mother was,

Starting point is 07:57:58 I—I—she fell away from Pierre, crouched against the side of the door, and wrapped the curtain around her face. He told me you were dead. The words came muffled. Pierre had let go and turned to prosper. His own face, was a mask of rage. Prosper knew that it was the Westerners' intention to kill. For a minute, no longer, he was a lightning channel of death. But Pierre, the Pierre shaped during the last four difficult years, turned upon his own writhing savage soul and forced it to submit. It was as though he fought with his hands. Sweat broke out on him. at last he stood and looked at prosper with sane stern eyes if that's true what you hinted if that's true what she was trying to tell if it's even partly true he said painfully

Starting point is 07:59:05 then it was me that brought it upon her not you and not herself but me he turned back to joan drew the curtain from her face drew down her hands lifted her and carried her to the couch beside the fire there she shrank away from him tried to push him back it's true pierre not that about marina but the rest is true it's true only he told me you were dead but you weren't no don't take my hands i never did have dealings with hollowell indeed i loved only you but you must have known me better than i knew myself for i am bad i am bad i left you for dead and i went away he had mastered her hands both of them in one of his and he drew them close to his and he drew them close to his heart don't joan hush joan you mustn't it was my doings gal all of it hush he bent and crushed his lips against hers silencing her then she gave way and clung to him sobbing after a while pierre looked up at prosper gale all the patience and the hunger and the beauty of his love possessed his face there was simply no room in his heart for any lesser thing stranger he said in the grave and gentle western speech i'll have to ask you to leave me with my wife prosper made a curious silent gesture of self-despair and went out feeling his way before him it was half an hour later when the doctor came softly to the door and

Starting point is 08:01:03 and held back the curtain in his hand. He did not say anything, and, after a silent minute, he let fall the curtain, and moved softly away. He was reassured as to the success of his experiment. He had seen Joan's face. The end.

Starting point is 08:01:25 End of Book 2, Chapter 13. End of Book 2. End of the branding iron, Catherine Newellyn Burt.

Classic Audiobook Collection - The Branding Iron by Katharine Newlin Burt ~ Full Audiobook [romance]

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