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Avalanche, by Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton
Project Gutenberg's The Avalanche, by Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton 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: The Avalanche
Author: Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton
Release Date: June 30, 2004 [EBook #7863]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE AVALANCHE
A MYSTERY STORY
BY GERTRUDE ATHERTON
1919
CHAPTER I
I
Price Ruyler knew that many secrets had been inhumed by the earthquake and fire of San Francisco and wondered if his wife's had been one of them. After all, she had been born in this city of odd and whispered pasts, and there were moments when his silent mother-in-law suggested a past of her own.
That there was a secret of some sort he had been progressively convinced for quite six months. Moreover, he felt equally sure that this impalpable gray cloud had not drifted even transiently between himself and his wife during the first year and a half of their marriage. They had been uncommonly happy; they were happy yet ... the difference lay not in the quality of Hélène's devotion, enhanced always by an outspoken admiration for himself and his achievements, but in sub