A Woman Named Smith
The Author and his secretary were up to the eyes in a new chapter; The Suffragist was spreading the glad tidings; and Riedriech and Sch
Johnson, and I,
s for this estate, and the judge at last very kindly allowed me to look through a great batch of papers in his possession. From these I discovered that one of the Hyndses visited England in 1727, joined th
n of those societies that fathered the American Revolution. Gatchell tells me there is a legend of the master of Hynds House entertaining British
es where one could be hidden without much
that," agreed The
t little bit of hiding on your own
per lost out of the closet in his own room, thoug
odd I never did such a th
d seriously. "It was so overpowering that it made me think of Saint Theresa's description of her torment in that oven in the wall of hell which had by kindly foreth
"And you must remember you've been warned that Hynds House is haunt
und a paper with an uncouth jingle and some dots on it, Johnson and I have the same nightmare. And I have heard footsteps. All hallucinations, of cour
Author with a concerned face. "You're getting a bit
s I thought I heard it played last n
licia thinks it's a spirit that
ewd eyes and persistent questioning, and I was h
nt, much as I love music. I do not sing, either, except in a small-beer voice; and when I tried to sew I pricked my fingers with the needle. I went into the kitchen, consulted with Mary Magdalen as to the evening's dinner, weighed and measured such ingredients as she needed, saw that the two mai
den foot-bridge spanning a weedy ditch, struck into a path bordering a wide field
moist spots. There were cassena bushes, full of vivid scarlet berries; and crooked, gray-green cedars; and brown boles of pine-trees; and th
to be alone, that I might wrestle with my trouble. Yet now that I was facing it, my spirit qu
quiet life! Yet the idea of never having seen him, never having loved him, was more cruel than the cruellest suffering that loving entailed. It was
asn't to lose my grip, nor wear the willow. The idea of me, Sophy Smith, wea
led myself together, and smiled; for Boris was thrusting his friendly nose into my palm, and
lder, more careworn. If he was glad to see me, it was at first a troubled gladness, for he started, and bit his lip. I wondered, not with jealousy, but with pain, if there w
tly, and a change came over his tired face; "and I am such a r
hought you the serenest
g. For a fleeting, flashing second the whirlpools and the depths were ba
of his training was self-control. He was really a very wonderful man, my fathe
I, I of all people, should have been picked up and
r silence. Most women would have talked, f
have noth
ur British forebears. The British have 'illuminating
oved
whimsical, sidewise
e, are you not sitting at the feet of our friend The Author, who is perfectly willing
very much indeed
ng wax before the fire of feminine eye
s
my cousin Richard Ge
nd of this man. I looked at Mr. Jelnik now, wonderingly. If he knew that much,
ightly of my Cousin
ase, ple
ard," said Mr. Jelnik, g
d-and he has a deep affec
take it in such deadly earnest that we store up a fi
omebody, perhaps half the world away, for whom he car
nothing new under the sun, and all is vanity and vexation of spirit. Also, I am fronting the forks of a dilemma: Shall I shake the dust of Hyndsville from
u want
fall of the coin decide." He took from his pock
ssed it into the air. It fell beside me, out
asked, in
ears, and my heart pounded, and my sight blurred. Then some
. Jelnik," said the voice,
the real Me, was crying accusingl
ut stared instead at the gray-blue, shadowed woods, the brown boles
nd with a swift movement he reached out and
for a next-door neighbor for a while
he Pit to be near him, or walked out of
I haven't had any lunch? I forgot to go home for
in his man's eyes, and vanished, running a
at your feet, Miss Smith?" And he stretched his long length on
a pillow!" h
while he watched me lazily, and packed it
scratch my neck." And coolly he took a fold of my brown silk skirt, patted
, under that brown hat," he said drowsily, "soft and fair. And after this, I shall order some brown-
, his slim and boyish body; and I felt an aching sense of resentment. No man has
nchanted Wood; until from the outside world came Boris, carrying a wicker basket, in which s
fectionately. "Come, Miss Smith. By the way, that isn't your
tuna
feathers-going-over-the-Hill. It taught me the value of being explicit as to one's name. Here, you shall have the cup, and
ising," I admit
eeping.-Drink your wine, Woman-in-the-Woods. You were pale, very pale,
troubles
please. And do not look doubtfully upon tha
h was manna. The wine ev
. I say, is Morenas g
he has sketched Alicia
weathercock; and there he is, with corrugated brow and slitted eyes, studying me
rare but quite perfect type,
lders disdainfully. "Am I a typ
fferent from anybody else." An
h as you see it. You are transparently truthful, fundamentally truthful, and at the
n Vienna, and partly roaming about the great Hungarian estate which his mother loved, and to which the two returned summer after
European celebrity, mine a ship-chandler in Boston, U.S.A. Yet here we two were; and he might have be
flung the question like a challeng
rteen, going
the-Woods, I am
lder than
ou think. And you betra
y young; probably I sh
be a little girl, and a young maiden, and a grown woman, and a bit of an old maid, an
oking fun, though the rich color had come into his cheek,
y. "Herr Gott, but it took a business woman to tackle old Hynd
d and front of that
light and tone that crept into Doctor Richard's when he named her. My dear girl's tender face-so true and beautiful and loving-ro
y child, to me! Don
s!" His voice w
h; and the bluish shadows melted into gray; and
and then." And with his pocket-knife he cut a sharp line down the thin old coin he had tossed, worked at it for a few minutes with
y and truly need a Woman-in-the-Woods to help me, why, I'll send my half to her; and she'll obey the summons instantly and without question. And if ever she needs a man-like me, say-why, she'll
us was so uneven, so unequal? He saw the hesitation, momentary as it w
ve, true little thing, such a valiant-for-truth, stand-fast little thing! You have the one quality that I, bor
true that I hold fast, fo
ne thing," I told him,
o give, except unbuyable truth. She has nothing to offer
nd they ran down my cheek in spite of me-he mercifully gave no sign. Instead he held out his
k and thin, above doubting, and withou
I pro
we two went out of the Enchanted Wood
long minute, that fold against which his head had rested; I fingered the broken coin; I looked long and
love to be loved by them. Only a man could have been stupid enough
ious!" remarked The Author, after dinner. I was wearing a black-and-bl
lasses, frowned,
with my mental processes! But stay: surely your hair is arranged differently? It w
a little; that's what makes it lo
what makes it look different, too," The Author decided, and stared
!" I was goa
or merel
I hope so. Unusual man. Can't think why he buries himself here! O
replied equably, "unless it
tly. "And is it a sign of advancing age and m
aughed
r, dear lady, the Bard of the Congaree, the Poet Laureate of South Caroli
n, with eyes of
ten won by mank
art, so very
look beyond a s
ofttimes cast a
way, as it were
arel of some d
aved with not
winkled. He was in high feather the remainder of the evening. He was, in fact, so good-humored
line, under cover of their laught
nd she seated herself, folded
t was to allow a mere nightmare to worry me, though I am not subject to nightmares, my conscience and my digestion being quite all right, thank heaven! Gradually the impression faded. I was just dropping to sleep again, when I heard the faintest imaginable footfall, almost as if somebody were walking upon the air itself. And then, Mis
id I, with
Miss Emmeline, "save that there lingered in th
e," I f
started, and s
ve experienc
Miss Emmeline, would it be too much to ask you to keep this to yourself, for a wh
ite down the occurrence for the Society for Psychical Research, without giving actual names and
This entails work, but it insures successful handling of household economics. Having weighed and measured what was necessary, and seen that the inquisitive Black family occupied their prop
ippered feet making no sound, "Johnson, that Sophy
inds me very much of my mother," sa
how? What's he after? What's he here for? Does she know, or suspect? Or doesn't she, Johnson?" The Au