Evening star., 1914-02-14
THE EVENING STORY.
THE SMILING WOMAN.
t.opyright. 1911. by W. werner.A


The baby had been dead a month. but
the pain and surprise of it were still
fresh to Gratia. It was her first baby.
She had loneed for it and loved it when
il came. and then. suddenly. a little cold,
which it seemed one doctor, 10 say moth
ins of three. might have overcome, had
wroug anal disaster and left her an
guished and bereft-
Dick was just as good to her as lac
could be. of course, but the baby was
not the same thing to him that it had
been to her. He was not at home at
all save nights and Sundays. business
made him forget a great deal He had
never understood the baby. He had been
afraid to touch it Why. 1 might break
it or something" he had said. Dick was
young, like herself, but. unlike herself,
he had not undergone any illuminating
process with the babys arrival.
To Dick the loss had come more as.
a wonder than an ache. The little wax
doll he whispered over it, as Il lay
tucked in with flowers and white satin.
When it was all over he went back to
his work as usual lie came home at
night to find Gratia. After all. she was
the only thing in the world that martered
to him.
Gratia could not make Dick understand
lust how she felt about it. At first she
tried to explain her feelings mlnutely
10 linn, but she gave that up immediate
iy lie always ended his comforting with
! -'Pshaw, honey, We've got eacn other!
But Gratia missed the baby. When she
was alone in the house the void seemed
uncomfortable. Dick could not take her
viewpoint at all Even the women who
had lost children did not seem TO enter
into her sorrow at all. You'll get over
it, my dear" they said
There was one woman who came sev-
eral times. She had never noticed Gra;ll
before save for one chilly formal call
though they had lived on the same street
for year. OF all the women who cam"
Gratia least wished to see her. for she
had disagreeable peculiarity. She was
forever smiling. Some one In Gratia $
presence once had called her The Mona
Lisa" because of that smile, but her
smile had an utter absence of amy
emotion
The smiling woman, Mrs. Saule, had
the handsomest house on Pink street,
but until within the year she had scarce
ly lived in it. Her husband had died
long before and she had taken to wan
dering the earth over. Her house was
full of wonderful things, but she never
made mention of them or showed them
unless requested She did not go out
into society much. but when she did her
white hair and splendid dress made her a
notable figure Everybody liked to be
friendly with her. but nobody understood
her. She was rich and inscrutable.
She smiled when she came that first
day upon her errand of coincidence to
Cratia. She did not stay long. After
she had said the proper and expected
things she seemed to have nothing more
to say; so she went away. But she
came again presently before Gratia had
ever answered her call. She did not men
ton being there before. This time she
talked about the weather. She had seen
it in all its moods, from the burning
passion of the Sahara TO the frigidity of
Moscow. But. when she went away
Gratia walked sup and down the house
and clinched her fists and cried and said
a lot of futile things to the unsuscepuble
wall paper, which later she repeated less
futilely to Dick.
Il hate her. she sobbed. "Oh, I hate
her. She's the most perfectly heartless
human creature l ever saw in my life.
l sat and listened to her describe Kan
sas cyclone. 1t sucked up a river and
pauperized whole community, yet she
smiled over. il in that inane way of hers.
Shes actually got wrinkles at the cor
ners of her mouth. she's smiled SO much.
l wanted TO hop right UP. Dick, and go
to her and tear that grin off her face
/ wanted to hurt right where her heart
ought TO be and isn't, and then. when
She was hurt bad enough, say to her:
Vow, you've got something to cry about;
cry, and you'n know how / feel-how
everybody that's sad and bereft in this
world feels But l couldn't do anything
at all save. sit still and listen. When she
Went away l hoped out loud that she
would never come again, the snfully
smiling thing"
Dick tilted back in his chair and eyed
her thoughuully. 81 bet that smile COW
ers up something he said at last Il
knew fellow once who went round
grinning like Cheshire cat III the face
of everything, and he'd had more bad
luck than ten men ought to have legiti-
mately. He said that if he gave vent to
his natural expression they'd probably
put him in an asylum. L hate my face
sometimes Id like to snatch 1t off
and stamp on it. he said, but what's the
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