The Call of the Canyon by Zane Grey (best books to read for self development txt) đ
- Author: Zane Grey
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âHappier! Why Glenn, Iâd be miserable! ⊠But listen. It wasnât my beautiful and useless hand I wanted you to see. It was my engagement ring.â
âOh!âWell?â he went on, slowly.
âIâve never had it off since you left New York,â she said, softly. âYou gave it to me four years ago. Do you remember? It was on my twenty-second birthday. You said it would take two monthsâ salary to pay the bill.â
âIt sure did,â he retorted, with a hint of humor.
âGlenn, during the war it was not soâso very hard to wear this ring as an engagement ring should be worn,â said Carley, growing more earnest. âBut after the warâespecially after your departure West it was terribly hard to be true to the significance of this betrothal ring. There was a let-down in all women. Oh, no one need tell me! There was. And men were affected by that and the chaotic condition of the times. New York was wild during the year of your absence. Prohibition was a joke.âWell, I gadded, danced, dressed, drank, smoked, motored, just the same as the other women in our crowd. Something drove me to. I never rested. Excitement seemed to be happinessâGlenn, I am not making any plea to excuse all that. But I want you to knowâhow under trying circumstancesâI was absolutely true to you. Understand me. I mean true as regards love. Through it all I loved you just the same. And now Iâm with you, it seems, oh, so much more! ⊠Your last letter hurt me. I donât know just how. But I came West to see youâto tell you thisâand to ask you⊠. Do you want this ring back?â
âCertainly not,â he replied, forcibly, with a dark flush spreading over his face.
âThenâyou love me?â she whispered.
âYesâI love you,â he returned, deliberately. âAnd in spite of all you sayâvery probably more than you love me⊠. But you, like all women, make love and its expression the sole object of life. Carley, I have been concerned with keeping my body from the grave and my soul from hell.â
âButâclearâyouâre well now?â she returned, with trembling lips.
âYes, Iâve almost pulled out.â
âThen what is wrong?â
âWrong?âWith me or you,â he queried, with keen, enigmatical glance upon her.
âWhat is wrong between us? There is something.â
âCarley, a man who has been on the vergeâas I have beenâseldom or never comes back to happiness. But perhapsââ
âYou frighten me,â cried Carley, and, rising, she sat upon the arm of his chair and encircled his neck with her arms. âHow can I help if I do not understand? Am I so miserably little? ⊠Glenn, must I tell you? No woman can live without love. I need to be loved. Thatâs all thatâs wrong with me.â
âCarley, you are still an imperious, mushy girl,â replied Glenn, taking her into his arms. âI need to be loved, too. But thatâs not what is wrong with me. Youâll have to find it out yourself.â
âYouâre a dear old Sphinx,â she retorted.
âListen, Carley,â he said, earnestly. âAbout this love-making stuff. Please donât misunderstand me. I love you. Iâm starved for your kisses. Butâis it right to ask them?â
âRight! Arenât we engaged? And donât I want to give them?â
âIf I were only sure weâd be married!â he said, in low, tense voice, as if speaking more to himself.
âMarried!â cried Carley, convulsively clasping him. âOf course weâll be married. Glenn, you wouldnât jilt me?â
âCarley, what I mean is that you might never really marry me,â he answered, seriously.
âOh, if thatâs all you need be sure of, Glenn Kilbourne, you may begin to make love to me now.â
It was late when Carley went up to her room. And she was in such a softened mood, so happy and excited and yet disturbed in mind, that the coldness and the darkness did not matter in the least. She undressed in pitchy blackness, stumbling over chair and bed, feeling for what she needed. And in her mood this unusual proceeding was fun. When ready for bed she opened the door to take a peep out. Through the dense blackness the waterfall showed dimly opaque. Carley felt a soft mist wet her face. The low roar of the falling water seemed to envelop her. Under the cliff wall brooded impenetrable gloom. But out above the treetops shone great stars, wonderfully white and radiant and cold, with a piercing contrast to the deep clear blue of sky. The waterfall hummed into an absolutely dead silence. It emphasized the silence. Not only cold was it that made Carley shudder. How lonely, how lost, how hidden this canyon!
Then she hurried to bed, grateful for the warm woolly blankets. Relaxation and thought brought consciousness of the heat of her blood, the beat and throb and swell of her heart, of the tumult within her. In the lonely darkness of her room she might have faced the truth of her strangely renewed and augmented love for Glenn Kilbourne. But she was more concerned with her happiness. She had won him back. Her presence, her love had overcome his restraint. She thrilled in the sweet consciousness of her womanâs conquest. How splendid he was! To hold back physical tenderness, the simple expressions of love, because he had feared they might unduly influence her! He had grown in many ways. She must be careful to reach up to his ideals. That about Flo Hutterâs toil-hardened hands! Was that significance somehow connected with the rift in the lute? For Carley admitted to herself that there was something amiss, something incomprehensible, something intangible that obtruded its menace into her dream of future happiness. Still, what had she to fear, so long as she could be with Glenn?
And yet there were forced upon her, insistent and perplexing, the questionsâwas her love selfish? was she considering him? was she blind to something he could see? Tomorrow and next day and the days to come held promise of joyous companionship with Glenn, yet likewise they seemed full of a portent of trouble for her, or fight and ordeal, of lessons that would make life significant for her.
Carley was awakened by rattling sounds in her room. The raising of sleepy eyelids disclosed Flo on her knees before the little stove, ill the act of lighting a fire.
âMawninâ, Carley,â she drawled. âItâs shore cold. Reckon itâll snow today, worse luck, just because youâre here. Take my hunch and stay in bed till the fire burns up.â
âI shall do no such thing,â declared Carley, heroically.
âWeâre afraid youâll take cold,â said Flo. âThis is desert country with high altitude. Spring is here when the sun shines. But itâs only shininâ in streaks these days. That means winter, really. Please be good.â
âWell, it doesnât require much self-denial to stay here awhile longer,â replied Carley, lazily.
Flo left with a parting admonition not to let the stove get red-hot. And Carley lay snuggled in the warm blankets, dreading the ordeal of getting out into that cold bare room. Her nose was cold. When her nose grew cold, it being a faithful barometer as to temperature, Carley knew there was frost in the air. She preferred summer. Steam-heated rooms with hothouse flowers lending their perfume had certainly not trained Carley for primitive conditions. She had a spirit, however, that was waxing a little rebellious to all this intimation as to her susceptibility to colds and her probable weakness under privation. Carley got up. Her bare feet landed upon the board floor instead of the Navajo rug, and she thought she had encountered cold stone. Stove and hot water notwithstanding, by the time she was half dressed she was also half frozen. âSome actor fellow once said w-when you w-went West you were c-camping out,â chattered Carley. âBelieve me, he said something.â
The fact was Carley had never camped out. Her set played golf, rode horseback, motored and house-boated, but they had never gone in for uncomfortable trips. The camps and hotels in the Adirondacks were as warm and luxurious as Carleyâs own home. Carley now missed many things. And assuredly her flesh was weak. It cost her effort of will and real pain to finish lacing her boots. As she had made an engagement with Glenn to visit his cabin, she had donned an outdoor suit. She wondered if the cold had anything to do with the perceptible diminishing of the sound of the waterfall. Perhaps some of the water had frozen, like her fingers.
Carley went downstairs to the living room, and made no effort to resist a rush to the open fire. Flo and her mother were amused at Carleyâs impetuosity. âYouâll like that stinginâ of the air after you get used to it,â said Mrs. Hutter. Carley had her doubts. When she was thoroughly thawed out she discovered an appetite quite unusual for her, and she enjoyed her breakfast. Then it was time to sally forth to meet Glenn.
âItâs pretty sharp this mawninâ,â said Flo. âYouâll need gloves and sweater.â
Having fortified herself with these, Carley asked how to find West Fork Canyon.
âItâs down the road a little way,â replied Flo. âA great narrow canyon opening on the right side. You canât miss it.â
Flo accompanied her as far as the porch steps. A queer-looking individual was slouching along with ax over his shoulder.
âThereâs Charley,â said Flo. âHeâll show you.â Then she whispered: âHeâs sort of dotty sometimes. A horse kicked him once. But mostly heâs sensible.â
At Floâs call the fellow halted with a grin. He was long, lean, loose jointed, dressed in blue overalls stuck into the tops of muddy boots, and his face was clear olive without beard or line. His brow bulged a little, and from under it peered out a pair of wistful brown eyes that reminded Carley of those of a dog she had once owned.
âWal, it ainât a-goinâ to be a nice day,â remarked Charley, as he tried to accommodate his strides to Carleyâs steps.
âHow can you tell?â asked Carley. âIt looks clear and bright.â
âNaw, this is a dark mawninâ. Thetâs a cloudy sun. Weâll hev snow on anâ off.â
âDo you mind bad weather?â
âMe? All the same to me. Reckon, though, I like it cold so I can loaf round a big fire at night.â
âI like a big fire, too.â
âEver camped out?â he asked.
âNot what youâd call the real thing,â replied Carley.
âWal, thetâs too bad. Reckon itâll be tough fer you,â he went on, kindly. âThere was a gurl tenderfoot heah two years ago anâ she had a hell of a time. They all joked her, âcept me, anâ played tricks on her. Anâ on her side she was always puttinâ her foot in it. I was shore sorry fer her.â
âYou were very kind to be an exception,â murmured Carley.
âYou look out fer Tom Hutter, anâ I reckon Flo ainât so darn above layinâ traps fer you. âSpecially as sheâs sweet on your beau. I seen them together a lot.â
âYes?â interrogated Carley, encouragingly.
âKilbourne is the best fellar thet ever happened along Oak Creek. I helped him build his cabin. Weâve hunted some together. Did you ever hunt?â
âNo.â
âWal, youâve shore missed a lot of fun,â he said. âTurkey huntinâ. Thetâs what fetches the gurls. I reckon because turkeys are so good to eat. The old gobblers hev begun to gobble now. Iâll take you gobbler huntinâ if youâd like to go.â
âIâm sure I would.â
âThereâs good trout fishinâ along heah a little later,â he said, pointing to the stream. âCrickâs too high now. I like West Fork best. Iâve ketched some lamminâ big ones up there.â
Carley was amused and interested. She could not say that Charley had shown any indication
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