Part 33 (1/2)
”I shall not forget it,” Lucy said with a shudder ”While I waited and wondered why he didn't coht the anxiety intolerable, but it orse after we uide He wanted to join us, but I kneas somehow to blalacier That wouldn't reed, with a hard, fixed look ”I--you see, Lawrence wassuspense I knehat I should feel when I stopped, but couldn't go on with the others, because Ihard and now and then a little snow fell, but I scarcely noticed this; I was listening, as I hope I shall never listen again Soe fell into the crevasse, but that was all, and afterwards the silence ful It seeo to meet them because of the crevasse; I drea yet Lawrence was on the other side, out ofon the _couloir_, and I couldn't help But I kneas suffering for Walters'
negligence or perhaps his treachery”
Foster n of sympathetic comprehension ”You hate hiether because I'm vindictive
The ht to be punished”
”He ought Well, I' would be to be satisfied with this, but somehow I'm not You see, Walters probably doesn't knoe suspect hiirl's eyes narrowed and Foster knew she was afraid, but did not think fear was her strongest eain?”
”That is what I mean If he comes back, you must watch him, but keep him here until I arrive If it's impossible for me to come, send for the police”
”Yes,” said Lucy quietly, ”I'll try”
”There's another risk,” said Foster ”HeIn this matter, I'd sooner trust you than Lawrence” He stopped for a lance ”Perhaps I've done wrong to alarm and put this heavy load on you”
”No,” she said resolutely ”I have promised to ave Foster her hand ”I must thank you for your confidence If the need comes, I don't think I'll fail you”
Foster felt satisfied when she left hiiven her a hard part, but she would not shrink One could trust a wo for her lover
After breakfast next raphs of the mountains, in one or two of which Lucy and Lawrence had a place, and he asked: ”Have you a portrait of Walters?”
”No; thehere, and one day asked Walters to join the group he was posing, but he refused”
”How did he get out of it?”
Lawrence, who had cohed ”Rather neatly Said he was a modest sentimentalist and would sooner leave his memory printed on our hearts!”
”Oneof the kind,” Lucy remarked
”Will you or Mrs Stephen describe his looks?” Foster asked
The girl did so and then inquired: ”Why didn't you ask Lawrence?”
”If you want an accurate description of a man, it's better to ask a woue; we say he's all right, a good sport, or perhaps an outsider You note all his idiosyncrasies, the way he talks, the color of his hair----”
”I suppose we do,” Mrs Stephen agreed with a smile ”You are rather shrewd”
”I don't see why that should surprise my friends, but it so station to ask about the train
It stopped for hiain on his search for Daly, which was coainst a man he did not know It looked as if Walters had told Daly that Lawrence was in British Columbia, and he had come out to join his accomplice; but, after all, if Foster did not know Walters, the ave hiainst Lawrence because his evidenceabout Daly's black plan The latter would, no doubt, consider any ht try to protect his victih the mountains Foster felt very ht he ot off at aso, but felt that to go on to Vancouver would be to leave the place where his last clew broke off too far away
The town, for the most part, was built of wood, and soly square fronts that hid the roof A high, plank sidewalk ran down the ht avoid the mud, but the ruts and holes were now hidden by beaten snow At one end stood a big smelter, which filled the place with acrid fumes, and the scream of saws rose from sheds beside the river, where rusty iron sreen torrent was partly covered by cakes of grinding ice All round, in liness below, dark pines ran up to the glittering snowfields on the shoulders of the peaks Foster went to a big new hotel, which he found dirty and too hot Its bare walls were cracked and exuded resin; black drops from the central heater pipes stained the rotunda floor, which was torn by the spikes on the river-Jacks' boots An electric elevator -rooood, and he afterwards sat rather drearily in the rotunda, watching thedoor