Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. [Illustration: "I shall get married when and where I please,--and to whom I please, Mr. Gwynne."] VIOLA GWYN BY George Barr McCutcheon CONTENTS PROLOGUE--THE BEGINNING CHAPTER I SHELTER FOR THE NIGHT II THE STRANGE YOUNG WOMAN III SOMETHING ABOUT CLOTHES, AND MEN, AND CATS IV VIOLA GWYN V REFLECTIONS AND AN ENCOUNTER VI BARRY LAPELLE VII THE END OF THE LONG ROAD VIII RACHEL CARTER IX BROTHER AND SISTER X MOTHER AND DAUGHTER XI A ROADSIDE MEETING XII ISAAC STAIN APPEARS BY NIGHT XIII THE GRACIOUS ENEMY XIV A MAN FROM DOWN THE RIVER XV THE LANDING OF THE "PAUL REVERE" XVI CONCERNING TEMPESTS AND INDIANS XVII REVELATIONS XVIII RACHEL DELIVERS A MESSAGE XIX LAPELLE SHOWS HIS TEETH XX THE BLOW XXI THE AFFAIR AT HAWK'S CABIN XXII THE PRISONERS XXIII CHALLENGE AND RETORT XXIV IN AN UPSTAIRS ROOM XXV MINDA CARTER XXVI THE FLIGHT OF MARTIN HAWK XXVII THE TRIAL OF MOLL HAWK XXVIII THE TRYSTING PLACE OF THOUGHTS XXIX THE ENDING PROLOGUE THE BEGINNING Kenneth Gwynne was five years old when his father ran away with Rachel Carter, a widow. This was in the spring of 1812, and in the fall his mother died. His grandparents brought him up to hate Rachel Carter, an evil woman. She was his mother's friend and she had slain her with the viper's tooth. From the day that his questioning intelligence seized upon the truth that had been so carefully withheld from him by his broken-hearted mother and those who spoke behind the hand when he was near,--from that day he hated Rachel Carter with all his hot and outraged heart. He came to think of her as the embodiment of all that was evil,--for those were the days when there was no middle-ground for sin and women were either white or scarlet.