Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net THE BRANDING IRON ---------------------------------------------------------------------- THE BRANDING IRON BY KATHARINE NEWLIN BURT GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS NEW YORK BY ARRANGEMENT WITH HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY ---------------------------------------------------------------------- COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY THE RIDGWAY COMPANY COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY KATHARINE N. BURT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED CL PRINTED IN THE U. S. A. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CONTENTS Book One THE TWO-BAR BRAND I. Joan Reads by Firelight 3 II. Pierre Lays his Hand on a Heart 12 III. Two Pictures in the Fire 21 IV. The Sin-Buster 25 V. Pierre Becomes Alarmed about his Property 32 VI. Pierre Takes Steps to Preserve his Property 42 VII. The Judgment of God 51 VIII. Delirium 56 IX. Dried Rose-Leaves 61 X. Prosper Comes to a Decision 72 XI. The Whole Duty of Woman 80 XII. A Matter of Taste 91 XIII. The Training of a Leopardess 100 XIV. Joan Runs Away 105 XV. Nerves and Intuition 116 XVI. The Tall Child 124 XVII. Concerning Marriage 133 Book Two THE ESTRAY I. A Wild Cat 151 II. Morena's Wife 161 III. Jane 170 IV. Flight 182 V. Luck's Play 191 VI. Joan and Prosper 205 VII. Aftermath 215 VIII. Against the Bars 227 IX. Gray Envelopes 236 X. The Spider 255 XI. The Clean Wild Thing 266 XII. The Leopardess 284 XIII. The End of the Trail 300 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- THE BRANDING IRON Book One THE TWO-BAR BRAND ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CHAPTER I JOAN READS BY FIRELIGHT