Smyrna times., 1912-04-17
The Decree

The slender figure of a woman
slipped down the path to the gate.
Closing it behind her she stared
back at the great house.
= Shrouded in the softening shadows
of dawn, it lay like a slumbering
giant, unconscious of her escape.
For escape it was; she shrank,
covering against the walls as she
looked. Her shoulders were bowed
beneath some weight. She tried to
remember what it was. 1t op-
pressed her, dragged her down.
She could not free herself. That
was what she was escaping, that,
and the man who lived within those
gray walls, the doctor, her husband.
He had been cruel TO her, he was
somehow the cause of it all. And
then, too, he had watched her. For
three nights he had sat beside her
and made her stay.
Now, on the fourth, he had still
watched. But as she lay with wide
eyes fixed upon him she saw his
head droop. His face relaxed, he
was asleep. With noisaless stealth
she dressed, packed hastily few of
her most necessary belongings, and
fed.
She was free at last. But no, not
yet! She must go farther. She
| cforfoJ Joup +bo rooJ TCbo .,,o,.
ing mists hung, ghostlike, in the
valley and the silent, breathless air
was cool with dew. Far over the
fields the meadow lark sent forth
his clear, high whistle. and, like a
mellow answer, came back the
white throat's silver call.
She half paused to listen, shiver-
ing. What was the nameless op-
preston that hung over her? Why
was she afraid? Her brain was
numbed, her thoughts blurred. She
seemed to forget, try as she would
to remember. She only knew that
she must flee, that she must hurry
on. Perhaps she could leave the
shadow behind with the great house
and the sleeping doctor.
The mist cleared away, as the SUI
rose higher, and the dew dried OF
the clover blossoms that fringet
the dusty road. She was tired, yer,
tired, for she was unused to walk
ing far; hut she had almost reache
the town. Would she be in tim
for an early train? She quickene
her pace once more.
Yes, just in time, for as sh
walked down the station platform 6
= last, the train came in. She ha
no ticket but then she had money
she could pay.
The morning wore away slowly
the crowded car. At first she We
too tired to notice anything, bu
as she rested, she grew nervOr
again. Something haunted her. 81
glanced down at her dress.
Why, 1t was blackl And only
little while ago she had never wor
black. always white, or rose, {
blue, or gray, perhaps, but nev'
black. Why was it black, 81
wondered.
A baby began to cry across Il
aisle. The sound disturbed h
strangely. She started up to fo
low it-but why? She sank ba'
again.
The tired child still sobbed, T
gardless of his fathers attempts
play ande his mothers weary care
ses.
Once more the restless, blac
garbed woman looked. She mu
go to the baby! Why were her arr
so empty while a baby cried
nearP Suddenly she spokel
''Let me have himI ~
The little one stopped its fretti
in sheer surprise and then forgot
J resume it for the woman's embra
was soft, though her arm clu
tightly round the tiny figure. Ov
and over she crooned a cradle sor
The speeding train lulled tn,
both, woman and child. It's hoai
roar grew fainter, like a ceasele
=. soothing murmur.
The woman was falling aslet
Z like the child she still caress,