The Hunted Woman
Summary
A candle-flame of a woman, Joanne Grey, is snuffed by her father’s death-bed decree into a loveless, corpse-cold union with the serpentine Mortimer Fitzhugh; the ritual is barely sealed before a spectral former lover spills venomous truth across the sheets, sending the bride fleeing across an ocean. In the timbered cathedrals of British Columbia she believes herself widowed—until rumor resurrects the husband she hoped was carrion. A single rash knock on the wrong cabin door flings her into a gorge of male appetites ruled by Bill Quade, a man whose grin is a hatchet wound. Salvation arrives in the guise of John Aldrous, a novelist-explorer with glacier-blue eyes and a conscience still warm. Together they trespass into the granite heart of a mountain just as the gods of dynamite prepare to speak; the world collapses, wires snap, and the lovers are entombed in a basalt womb, whispering vows that taste of stone dust while assassins prowl above. When the smoke settles, two husbands lie dead—the false and the true—and Joanne steps out of the rubble clutching not merely survival but sovereignty over her own pulse.
Synopsis
Sir Daniel Grey, dying in India, begs his daughter, Joanne, to marry the man of his choice, Mortimer Fitzhugh, and she finally consents, although disliking the man. The marriage ceremony is performed at Sir Daniel's deathbed, and at its conclusion, all present receive a shock when a former mistress of Mortimer's confronts them. Joanne, horrified at the woman's story, refuses to live with her husband and runs away to America. There she receives news of her husband's death while hunting in the wilds of British Columbia, and her relief is great. But two years later she hears that her husband is alive, and the old fear returns. Determined to prove for herself the truth, Joanne leaves for the railroad construction camp high up in the mountains of British Columbia. She is maliciously directed to Bill Quade's place, thus falling into the clutches of the worst men in the camp. He conceives a violent love for Joanne and tries to force his caresses upon her, but is prevented by John Aldrous, a young novelist and explorer and his companion, Donald McDonald, typical old mountaineer. Bill swears he will have the girl, and John places her under the protection of his friends, Paul Blackton and his wife. She and Aldrous fall in love, but her former marriage is a barrier to their happiness. While watching blasting operations Joanne and Aldrous wander into the cavern which is to act as the air chamber for the explosion of several tons of dynamite and are trapped there by a landslide. Expecting death momentarily, they are saved by the fact that the exploding wires were broken by the landslide and they are rescued. Meanwhile, Quade and his gang have been on the trail of Aldrous and Joanne, and after some exciting adventures, one of the crooks turns out to be Joanne's first husband. In a struggle with John he is killed, freeing Joanne forever and when John has recovered from his experience, he and Joanne are reunited in permanent happiness and love.
