Page 4 (1/2)

"One terrible su his body out of the ravine He was only twenty-one I was seventeen I felt half dead one My father came to me after Mel's funeral and said I'd have to take the place of my older brother and work in one of his banks to learn about the financial world He ht as well have told me I'd have to cut off ht"

All about us the huge house seemed to wait, very quiet, too quiet The storh I could gli htly closer to Chris on the elegant sofa Across froht in er existed for him

"Where did you go?" asked Chris, putting down his teacup and leaning back before he crossed his legs His hand reached for mine "It must have been difficult for a boy of seventeen on his own"

Joel jerked back to the present, see startled to find himself back in his hated childhood ho practical, but at ht steamer and worked as a deckhand to pay my way over to France For the first time in my life I had calluses on htclub and earned a few francs a week Soon I grew tired of the long hours andI'd see all the world and never return hohtclub musician in a s skiing parties into the Alps I'd spendor bicycling One day good friends asked me to join theh peak I was about nineteen then, and the four others ahead were laughing and yelling at each other and didn't notice when I lost control and went tu in the fall I lay down there a day and a half, partly in shock, when twoon donkeys heard et me out--but I don't reer and half out of my mind from pain When I came to, I was in theirat me Their monastery was on the Italian side of the Alps, and I didn't knoord of Italian They taughthealed, and then they used ht artistic talent to help them paint wall ious

illustrations So was healed so I could walk, I found I liked their quiet life, the artwork they gave me to do, the music I played at dawn and sunset, the silent routine of their uneventful days of prayers and work and self-denial I stayed on and eventually becah in the mountains, I finally found peace"

His story was over He sat looking at Chris, then turned his pale but burning eyes on me

Startled by his penetrating gaze, I tried not to shrink away and show the revulsion I couldn't help feeling I didn't like hih he faintly resembled the father I'd loved so well, and certainly I had no reason to dislike him I suspected it was my own anxiety and fear that he'd know that Chris was really my brother and not my husband Had Bart told him our story? Did he see how Chris rese atcharh to knoouldn't be Chris he had to convince

"Why did you come back?" asked Chris

Again Joel tried to smile "One day an American journalist came to the monastery to write a feature story about what it was like to be a monk in today's lish, they used me to represent all of them I casually asked if he'd ever heard of the Foxworths of Virginia He had, since Malcole fortune and was often involved in politics, and only then did I learn of his death, and that of one, I couldn't stop thinking about this house and my sister Years can easily blend one into the other when all days are alike, and calendars weren't kept in sight Finally caain and talk to et to know her The journalist hadn't mentioned if she had e, alo, and settled into a inal house had burned one Christht and my sister had been put away in a mental rest home, and all that tremendous fortune had been left to her It wasn't until Bart came that summer that I learned the rest--how my sister died, how he inherited"

His eyes loweredman; I enjoy his company Before he ca to the caretaker He told me about Bart and his many visits to talk to the builders and decorators, how he had expressed his desire to make this new house look exactly like the old one I made it my business to be here when Bart came the next time We met, I told him who I was, and he seemed overjoyedand that's the whole of it"

Really? I stared at hi he'd have his share of the fortune Malcolood portion for himself? If he could, I wondered why Bart wasn't very upset to knoas still alive

I didn't put any of , moody silence Chris stood up "It's been a full day for us, Joel, and my wife is very tired Could you show us to the rooms we are to use so we can rest and refresh ourselves?"

Instantly Joel was on his feet, apologizing for being a poor host, and then he was leading the way to the stairs

"I will be happy to see Bart again He was very generous to offer me a room in this house However, all these rooe, near the servants' quarters

Just then the telephone rang Joel handedfroritty voice "You can use the phone in the first salon if both of you want to talk to him"