The Project Gutenberg eBook, Hidden Creek, by Katharine Newlin Burt

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: Hidden Creek

Author: Katharine Newlin Burt

Release Date: February 7, 2004 [eBook #10978]

Language: English

Character set encoding: US-ASCII

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HIDDEN CREEK***

E-text prepared by Rick Niles, Mary Meehan, and the Project Gutenberg
Online Distributed Proofreading Team

HIDDEN CREEK

BY KATHARINE NEWLIN BURT

AUTHOR OF "THE BRANDING IRON" AND "THE RED LADY"

1920

TO MAXWELL STRUTHERS BURT WHO BLAZED THE TRAIL

CONTENTS

PART ONE: THE GOOD OLD WORLD

I. SHEILA'S LEGACY
II. SYLVESTER HUDSON COMES FOR HIS PICTURE
III. THE FINEST CITY IN THE WORLD
IV. MOONSHINE
V. INTERCESSION
VI. THE BAWLING-OUT
VII. DISH-WASHING
VIII. ARTISTS
IX. A SINGEING OF WINGS
X. THE BEACON LIGHT
XI. IN THE PUBLIC EYE
XII. HUDSON'S QUEEN
XIII. SYLVESTER CELEBRATES
XIV. THE LIGHT OF DAWN
XV. FLAMES

PART TWO: THE STARS

I. THE HILL
II. ADVENTURE
III. JOURNEY'S END
IV. BEASTS
V. NEIGHBOR NEIGHBOR
VI. A HISTORY AND A LETTER
VII. SANCTUARY
VIII. DESERTION
IX. WORK AND A SONG
X. WINTER
XI. THE PACK
XII. THE GOOD OLD WORLD AGAIN
XIII. LONELINESS
XIV. SHEILA AND THE STARS

HIDDEN CREEK

PART ONE

THE GOOD OLD WORLD

CHAPTER I

SHEILA'S LEGACY

Just before his death, Marcus Arundel, artist and father of Sheila,
bore witness to his faith in God and man. He had been lying apparently
unconscious, his slow, difficult breath drawn at longer and longer
intervals. Sheila was huddled on the floor beside his bed, her hand
pressing his urgently in the pitiful attempt, common to human love, to
hold back the resolute soul from the next step in its adventure. The
nurse, who came in by the day, had left a paper of instructions on the
table. Here a candle burned under a yellow shade, throwing a circle of
warm, unsteady light on the head of the girl, on the two hands, on the
rumpled coverlet, on the dying face. This circle of light seemed to
collect these things, to choose them, as though for the expression of
some meaning. It felt for them as an artist feels