E-text prepared by Janet Kegg and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 15591-h.htm or 15591-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/5/9/15591/15591-h/15591-h.htm) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/5/9/15591/15591-h.zip) A WOMAN NAMED SMITH by MARIE CONWAY OEMLER Author of _Slippy McGee_, etc. Grosset & Dunlap Publishers New York 1919 [Frontispiece illustration: "Sophy," he said, "I have found the lost key of Hynds House"] To ELIZABETH HEYWARD OEMLER _Sometimes my Little Girl._ When you were yet an Awful Baby, And bawled o' bed-time, I said "Maybe It is not best to spank or scold her: Suppose a fairy-tale were told her?" And gave you then, to my undoing, The wolf Red Riding-Hood pursuing; Sang Mother Goose her artless rhyming; Showed Jack the Magic Beanstalk climbing; Three Little Pigs were so appealing, You set up sympathetic squealing! Then, Bitsybet, you had your mother-- _You bawled until I told another!_ The Awful Baby's gone. Here lately You bear your little self sedately. You've shed your rompers; you want dresses Prinked out with frillies; fluff your tresses; Delight your daddy, aunts, and mother; And sisterly set straight your brother. Your bib-and-tucker days abolished, Your manners and your nails are polished. One baby trait remains, thank glory! You're still a glutton for a story. Still, Bitsybet, you beg another: So here's one for you from YOUR MOTHER. CONTENTS CHAPTER I THE SCARLET WITCH DEPARTS II AND ARIEL MAKES MUSIC III THE DEAR LITTLE GOD! IV THE HYNDSES OF HYNDS HOUSE V "THY NEIGHBOR AS THYSELF" VI GLAMOURY VII A BRIGHT PARTICULAR STAR VIII PEACOCKS AND IVORY IX THE JUDGMENT OF SPRING X THE FOREST OF ARDEN XI THE JINNEE INTERVENES XII MAN PROPOSES XIII FIRES OF YESTERDAY XIV THE TALISMAN XV THE HEART OF HYNDS HOUSE XVI THE DEVILL HIS RAINBOW XVII ON THE KNEES OF THE GODS XVIII THE GREATEST GIFT XIX DEEP WATERS XX HARBOR CHARACTERS SOPHY: A woman named Smith. ALICIA GAINES: Flower o' the Peach. NICHOLAS JELNIK: Peacocks and Ivory. DOCTOR RICHARD GEDDES: _Coeur-de-Lion._ THE AUTHOR: Himself. THE SECRETARY: A Pleasant Person. MISS EMMELINE PHELPS-PARSONS: of Boston, Massachusetts. MISS MARTHA HOPKINS: "Clothed in White Samite." JUDGE GATCHELL: The Law. SCHMETZ AND RIEDRIECH: Workmen and Visionaries. THE JINNEE: A Son of the Prophet.