Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1908-12-25
THE LADY AND
THE LAW
BY JULIA TRUITT BISHOP
Copyright. by shortstory Pub Coz

IN the CaDln on the Mill woman
was weaving, and If one were near
enough he could hear between the
these messages | called at police
swish of the shuttle darting back and
forth through the parted threads. The
beat of the loom went farther One
could hear it away to the point where
the road crawled around the side of
the opposite boom, boom
boom, with steady relentlessness, as
though one of the Fates were up there,
weaving the web of somebody's life;
or, perchance, a shroud for some one
who was about to be done with life.
Once in long while there was
pause, and then one knew that a
thread was broken, and that the I'M
relenting Fate bending over the LOOM
was mending the thread, so that the
weaving could go grimly on. In those
pauses of the loom, one heard a hawk
shrieking far aloft.
In the cabin, silent child sat on
the floor, building a little house of
sticks, and smiling at it dispassion-
ately when it tumbled down: after
which he built it up again. Not far
from the silent child was the silent
woman, weaving; a pale, big-eyed
woman, keeping at her work with a
deadly composure. She wore a faded
brown homespun dress, clumsily fash
Toned, but on the wall in the corner
hung the decent black dress and the
decent black sunbonnet which she
wore abroad. When one is poor one
cannot mourn every day.
The bench upon which she sat as
she wove was beside a window which
looked out across the valley and to
the other hill, and especially com
manded a view of that yellow road
rounding the shoulder of the hill. If
one were coming from town, for in
stance, the weaver would perhaps see
him on that point of road moving
along through the violet summer haze
and disappearing there; and having
watched him drop down into the val
ley, would perhaps go on sending the
steady boom-boom across the echoing
slopes.
The rider came on down the valley
and up the hill The main road did
not pass the cabin, but he left the
main road and urged his horse up the
path to the door. The woman paused
with the shuttle poised for throwing,
and looked at him under somber
brOWs.
We'll" drawled the man. slowly,
his hand on his sunburnt beard, Il
thought I'd come by an let We know
they've cleared Bill Fowler"
She had looked at him just a mo-
ment, then the poised shuttle flew on
its appointed path, and the loom set
up its dull beating again.
Looks like a man can do anything
he feels like, these days, an come
free said the man at the door, throw
ing one leg over the horn of the sad
die and slouching there sideways.
Specially if he's got money. How
long is it since he killed Joe?-three
years, | reckin-an they've had
changes of venue an mistrials an ap-
peals, an one dodge an another till
! everybody was about wore out with
| It, an cleared i'm to git rid of i'm.
! An now, here e is, scot free. He
| seemed mighty gay up in town"
The woman at the loom laid down
the shuttle and turned on the bench.
IF you-all have got any seeds to
/ spare l wisht yed bring me over
| some" she said. Il want to git ready
/ to plant my fall gardin."
The man in the door shot swift
! glance at her, and then looked away
with an air of absorbed interest in
! the landscape.
TN bring ye over some" he said,
/ slowly Strengthening himself in the
/ saddle. Il jes' thought I'd come by
an let We know. l got off in a hurry
! before Bill lef' town.
The woman did not answer with
words She looked at him, and he
rode away, merely glancing in the
most casual manner towards that lit
/ tie line of road that rounded the Shout
der of the opposite hill.