AS YE SOW

Fresh from a London hospital though he was, John Hunter found that the condition of Julie Breton demanded the exercise of all his skill as a surgeon. But the operation, aided by the girl's young strength and vitality, was successful, and she slowly overcame the grip of the infection.

Four days after Marcel reeled into Whale River with his battered dogs, bringing the man who was winning back life for Julie Breton, an exhausted dog-team limped in from the south. Rushing into the trade-house the white-faced Wallace grasped Gillies' hand, hoarsely demanding:

"Does she live, Gillies?"

"She's all right, Mr. Wallace; doing well, the doctor says," answered Gillies. "She's going to pull through, thanks to Jean Marcel and Dr. Hunter. I take my hat off to those two men."

Wallace's eyes shifted to the floor as he ventured:

"When did they get in?"

"Oh, they came through against that blow in three days and a half. The greatest feat of man and dogs in my time. When did you leave East Main?"

Wallace stared incredulously at Colin Gillies' wooden face.

"East Main? Why, didn't Marcel tell you?"

"No," replied Gillies, but he did not say that his wife had been told by Hunter of the presence of Wallace at Fort George the night Marcel brought the news. However, the factor did not further embarrass his chief by questions. And Wallace did not see fit to inform him that not until the wind died, two days after the relief party started, had he left Fort George.

"I suppose she's too sick to see me?" the nervous Inspector hazarded.

"Yes, no one sees her except Mrs. Gillies and Hunter."

"Well, I'll look up Father Breton," and Wallace went out followed by an expression in Colin Gillies' face which the Inspector would not have cared to see.

For a week Wallace remained at Whale River and then, assured by Dr. Hunter of Julie's safety, left, to return later. When, meeting Marcel in the trade-house, he had attempted to thank him, the cold glitter in the eyes of the Frenchman as he listened with impassive face to the halting words of the Inspector of the East Coast, filled Colin Gillies with inward delight.

When Gillies bade good-bye to his chief, he said casually, "Well, I suppose we'll have a wedding here in June, Mr. Wallace."

"Yes, Gillies, Father Breton and I are only waiting for Julie to set the date. Good-bye; I'll be up the coast next month," and was off.

But what piqued Gillies' curiosity was whether Dr. Hunter had told Père Breton just what happened at Fort George when the tragic call for help came in on Christmas night. Jean Marcel's mouth had been shut like a sprung trap, even Jules and Angus did not know; of that, Gillies was sure. But why had the doctor not told Père Breton, as well as Mrs. Gillies? He was Julie's brother and ought to know. If Hunter had enlightened the priest, then Colin Gillies was no judge of men, for he had always admired the Oblat.

The first week in February Julie Breton was sitting up, and Mr. Hunter bade good-bye to the staunch friends he had made at Whale River. Not always are the relations between Oblat or Jesuit, and Protestant missionaries, unduly cordial in the land of their labors, but when the Reverend Hunter left the Mission House at Whale River, there remained in the hearts of Père Breton, his sister and Jean Marcel, a love for the doctor, clergyman and man which the years did not dim.

One day, later on, Marcel and Fleur were making their afternoon call on Julie, who was propped in bed, her hair hanging in two thick braids.

"We leave in a few days," Jean said in French. "Michel is anxious to get back to his traps."

"Oh, don't go so soon, Jean. I haven't yet had an opportunity to talk to you as I wished."

"If you mean to thank me, I am glad of that," he said, his lips curling in a faint smile.

"Why should I not thank you, Jean Marcel, who risked your life like a madman to help me? I do now thank you with all my heart. But for you, I would not be here. Dr. Hunter told me I could not have lived had he arrived one day later."

With a gesture of impatience Marcel turned in his chair and gazed through the window on the world of snow.

The dark eyes in the pale face of the girl were strangely soft as they rested on the sinewy strength of the man's figure; then lifted to the strong profile, with its bony jaw and bold, aquiline nose.

"You do not care for my thanks, Jean?" she asked.

"Please!" he begged. "It is over, that! You are well again! I am happy; and will go back to my trap-lines."

"But it is not all over with Julie Breton," she insisted.

He turned with brows raised questioningly.

"It has left her—changed. She will never be the same."

"What do you mean? Dr. Hunter said you would be as strong as ever, by spring."

"Ah, but I do not speak of my body, Jean Marcel."

He gazed in perplexity at her wistful face. In a moment his eyes again sought the window.

For a long space, she was silent. Then a suppressed sob roused him from his bitter thoughts and he heard the strained voice of the girl.

"I know all," she said.

"What do you mean?"

"Mrs. Gillies, and Dr. Hunter—when I asked him—told me—long ago. We have kept it from Père Henri. It seems years, for I have been thinking much since then—lying awake, thinking."

"Julie, what has been worrying you? Don't let what I did cause you pain," he pleaded, not catching the significance of her words. "It's all right, Julie. You owe me nothing—I understand."

"Ah, but you do not understand," she said, smiling at the man's averted face.

"Julie, I have suffered, but I want you to be happy. Don't think of Jean Marcel."

"But it is of Jean Marcel of the great heart that I must think—have been thinking, for days and days." She was sitting erect, tense; her pale face drawn with emotion.

"I tell you I know it all," she cried, "how they—he, feared to start in the storm—and waited—ordered you to wait. But no wind or snow could hold Jean Marcel, and in spite of them, he brought Dr. Hunter to Whale River—and saved Julie Breton."

Dumb with surprise at her knowledge of what he thought he and Hunter alone knew—at the scorn in her voice, Marcel listened with pounding heart.

"Yes, they told me," she went on, "how Jean Marcel heard the news when he reached Whale River and, without sleep, that night hurried south for help, swifter than men had ever travelled, because Julie Breton was in peril. Dr. Hunter has told me all; how you and Fleur fought wind and snow to bring him to Whale River—and Julie Breton. And now you ask her not to thank you—you who gave her back her life."

Only the low sobbing of the girl broke the silence. In a moment the paroxysm passed, and she looked through tears at the man who sat with bowed head in hands, as she faltered:

"Ah, will you not see—not understand? Must I tell you—that I—love—Jean Marcel?"

Dazed, Jean rose. With a hoarse cry of "Julie!" he groped to the bed and took her in his yearning arms.

After the years—she had come home.

Later, Mrs. Gillies looked in to see a dusky head on the shoulder of the man who knelt by the bed, and on the coverlet beside them the great head of Fleur, who gazed up into two illumined faces through narrow eyes which seemed to comprehend as her bushy tail slowly swept to and fro.

In June there was a wedding at Whale River, with an honored guest who journeyed up the coast from Fort George for the ceremony, John Hunter.

The Mission church overflowed with post people and the visiting Crees, few of whom but had known some kindness from Julie Breton. In the robes of his order, Père Breton faced the bride and groom. Beside the former, gravely stood the matron of honor; her gown of slate-gray and snowy white, carefully groomed for the occasion by the faithful Jules, glossy with superb vitality; her great neck circled by a white ribbon knotted in a bow—which it had required days to accustom her to wear—in strange contrast to the massive dignity of the head. From priest to bride and groom, curiously her slant eyes shifted, in wonder at the proceeding.

The ceremony over, the bride impulsively kissed the slate-gray head of the dog while a hum of approval swept the church. Then, before repairing with their friends to the Mission House, where the groaning table awaited them, Julie and Jean Marcel, accompanied by Fleur, went to the stockade. Three gray noses thrust through the pickets whined a welcome. Three gigantic, wolfish huskies met them at the gate with wild yelps and the mad swishing of tails. Then the happy Jean and Julie gave the whelps of the wolf their share of the wedding feast.

The greatest pleasure in life is that of reading. Why not then own the books of great novelists when the price is so small

Of all the amusements which can possibly be imagined for a hard-working man, after his daily toil, or in its intervals, there is nothing like reading an entertaining book. It calls for no bodily exertion. It transports him into a livelier, and gayer, and more diversified and interesting scene, and while he enjoys himself there he may forget the evils of the present moment. Nay, it accompanies him to his next day's work, and gives him something to think of besides the mere mechanical drudgery of his every-day occupation—something he can enjoy while absent, and look forward with pleasure to return to.

Ask your dealer for a list of the titles in Burt's Popular Priced Fiction

Ask your dealer for a list of the titles in Burt's Popular Priced Fiction

In buying the books bearing the A. L. Burt Company imprint you are assured of wholesome, entertaining and instructive reading

THE BEST OF RECENT FICTION AT A POPULAR PRICE

Sinister Mark, The. Lee Thayer. Sin That Was His, The. Frank L. Packard. Sir or Madam. Berta Ruck. Sisters-in-Law. Gertrude Atherton. Sky Line of Spruce. Edison Marshall. Slayer of Souls, The. Robert W. Chambers. Smiles: A Rose of the Cumberlands. Eliot H. Robinson. Snowdrift. James B. Hendryx. Snowshoe Trail, The. Edison Marshall. Son of His Father, The. Ridgwell Cullum. Son of Tarzan, The. Edgar Rice Burroughs. Souls for Sale. Rupert Hughes. (Photoplay Ed.). Speckled Bird, A. Augusta Evans Wilson. Spirit of the Border, The. Zane Grey. (New Edition). Spirit-of-Iron. Harwood Steele. Spoilers, The. Rex Beach. (Photoplay Ed.). Spoilers of the Valley, The. Robert Watson. Star Dust. Fannie Hurst. Steele of the Royal Mounted. James Oliver Curwood. Step on the Stair, The. Anna Katherine Green. Still Jim. Honoré Willsie. Story of Foss River Ranch, The. Ridgwell Cullum. Story of Marco, The. Eleanor H. Porter. Strange Case of Cavendish, The. Randall Parrish. Strawberry Acres. Grace S. Richmond. Strength of the Pines, The. Edison Marshall. Subconscious Courtship, The. Berta Ruck. Substitute Millionaire, The. Hulbert Footner. Sudden Jim. Clarence B. Kelland. Sweethearts Unmet. Berta Ruck. Sweet Stranger. Berta Ruck. Tales of Chinatown. Sax Rohmer. Tales of Secret Egypt. Sax Rohmer. Tales of Sherlock Holmes. A. Conan Doyle. Talkers, The. Robert W. Chambers. Talisman, The. Sir Walter Scott (Photoplay Ed.).
Screened as Richard the Lion Hearted. Taming of Zenas Henry, The. Sara Ware Basset. Tarzan of the Apes. Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar. Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tattooed Arm, The. Isabel Ostrander. Tempting of Tavernake, The. E. Phillips Oppenheim. Tess of the D'Urbervilles. Thomas Hardy. (Photoplay Ed.). Tex. Clarence E. Mulford. Texan, The. James B. Hendryx. Thankful's Inheritance. Joseph C. Lincoln. That Affair at "The Cedars." Lee Thayer. That Printer of Udell's. Harold Bell Wright. Their Yesterdays. Harold Bell Wright. Thief of Bagdad, The. Achmed Abdullah. (Photoplay Ed.) Thieves' Wit. Hulbert Footner. Thirteenth Commandment, The. Rupert Hughes. This Side of Paradise. F. Scott Fitzgerald. Thoroughbred, The. Henry Kitchell Webster. Thread of Flame, The. Basil King. Three Black Bags. Marion Polk Angelloti. Three Men and a Maid. P. G. Wodehouse. Three Musketeers, The. Alexander Dumas. Three of Hearts, The. Berta Ruck. Through the Shadows with O. Henry. Al. Jennings. Thunderbolt, The. Clyde Perrin. Timber. Harold Titus. Timber Pirate. Charles Christopher Jenkins. Tish. Mary Roberts Rinehart. To Him That Hath. Ralph Connor. Toilers of the Sea, The. Victor Hugo. (Photoplay Ed.). 		Toll of the Sands. Paul Delaney. Trail of the Axe, The. Ridgwell Cullum. Trailin'. Max Brand. Trail to Yesterday, The. Chas. A. Seltzer. Treasure of Heaven, The. Marie Corelli. Trigger of Conscience, The. Robert Orr Chipperfield. Triumph of John Kars, The. Ridgwell Cullum. Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel, The. Baroness Orczy. Trodden Gold. Howard Vincent O'Brien. Trooper O'Neill. George Goodchild. Trouble at the Pinelands, The. Ernest M. Porter. T. Tembarom. Frances Hodgson Burnett. Tumbleweeds. Hal G. Evarts. Turn of the Tide. Eleanor H. Porter. Twenty-fourth of June. Grace S. Richmond. Twins of Suffering Creek, The. Ridgwell Cullum. Two-Gun Man, The. Chas. A. Seltzer. Two-Gun Man, The. Robert Ames Bennet. Two-Gun Sue. Douglas Grant. Typee. Herman Melville. Tyrrel of the Cow Country. Robert Ames Bennet. Under Handicap. Jackson Gregory. Under the Country Sky. Grace S. Richmond. Uneasy Street. Arthur Somers Roche. Unlatched Door, The. Lee Thayer. Unpardonable Sin, The. Major Rupert Hughes. Unseen Ear, The. Natalie Sumner Lincoln. Untamed, The. Max Brand. Up and Coming. Nalbro Bartley. Up From Slavery. Booker T. Washington. Ursula Trent. W. L. George. Valiants of Virginia, The. Hallie Erminie Rives. Valley of Content, The. Blanche Upright. Valley of Fear, The. Sir A. Conan Doyle. Valley of Gold, The. David Howarth. Valley of the Sun, The. William M. McCoy. Vandemark's Folly. Herbert Quick. Vanguards of the Plains. Margaret Hill McCarter. Vanished Messenger, The. E. Phillips Oppenheim. Vanishing of Betty Varian, The. Carolyn Wells. Vanity Fair. Wm. M. Thackeray. (Photoplay Ed.). Vashti. Augusta Evans Wilson. Viola Gwyn. George Barr McCutcheon. Virginia of Elk Creek Valley. Mary Ellen Chase. Virtuous Wives. Owen Johnson. Voice of the Pack, The. Edison Marshall. Wagon Wheel, The. William Patterson White. Wall Between, The. Sara Ware Bassett. Wall of Men, A. Margaret Hill McCarter. Wasted Generation, The. Owen Johnson. Watchers of the Plains, The. Ridgwell Cullum. Way of an Eagle, The. Ethel M. Dell. Way of the Strong, The. Ridgwell Cullum. Way of These Women, The. E. Phillips Oppenheim. We Can't Have Everything. Major Rupert Hughes. Weavers, The. Gilbert Parker. West Broadway. Nina Wilcox Putnam. West Wind Drift. George Barr McCutcheon. What's the World Coming To? Rupert Hughes. What Will People Say? Rupert Hughes. Wheels Within Wheels. Carolyn Wells. Whelps of the Wolf, The. George Marsh. When a Man's a Man. Harold Bell Wright. (Photoplay Ed.). When Egypt Went Broke. Holman Day. Where the Sun Swings North. Barnett Willoughby. Where There's a Will. Mary Roberts Rinehart.

Transcriber's Notes:
Page 41: Changed etes to êtes
Page 52: Changed Companee to Company
Page 66: Changed uninterruped to uninterrupted
Page 113: Changed eyrie to eerie
Page 273: Changed matchles to matchless