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Show ILOVE and MARRIED IIFEi J 2nj, the noted author H 1. a-fo HCclcme Gibson g !Thc next thing I heard was a volep .that segued to float to my cars from a rrreat distance. It acaid: "Well, sho will bo all right now," and then 1 opened my cyea. I never know that eyelids could be so heavy; It seemed I H , to me that mine weighed pounds and H I looked up Into tho face of my kind Hj old doctor. H, I know', of course, tho moment that H I saw him that I must havo been HI unconscious a long while, long enough M to sond for him, and long enough Hp for. them to stretch me out on tho bod mWa and remove my clothing. I "was lying V, (hero In my night dress, and for all! BHb that I knew, I might have been ill for. I"n , weeks. V Alice came forward and said, "Don't! talk. Katherlnc, just lie still." "But I don't understand. The last I thing I,romcmber, you asked meo go ' P with you to see Ruth. Was that houra . " ' or day-ago?" "It was about two hours ago, Katharine, Kath-arine, when you fainted." "I have fainted so many times lately What Is the matter with me doctor?"! The old doctor looked at me curl-' oiiBly. I "Don't you know what is tho matter with you, my dour child?" he asked. Never Fainted Before j , "I haven't tho slightest idea. .My heart has always been strong enough t my life until wthiii i.iw months. First, Just before the automobile auto-mobile accident, when I was expecting:" expect-ing:" a rush ff realization came over nie. 1 "Was it possIblc-r-Oh, it wouldn't be," But oven as my thoughts formed again the sentence, 'it couldn't be,"-T be,"-T knew instinctively that the doctor was right. j "Oh, Doctor. I can't. I don't want a' baby now," I said. I "Why, Katherlnc. ' I thought you would- be delighted," he said sooth- "I'm not, I don't want one," 1 said liystcrlcally. "1 wanted my other baby, only God knows how I wanted it, and that av.'ful automobile accident came and toook it from me. And 1 grieved and ft 3cemcd to me as though I could not bear it because John, my husband, was not as sympathetic as he should have Uuu'n. It seemed to me that an unborn child meant nothing to him. But, now, now,, I don't want a baby and I con not understand why I must have one- now." I was crying hysterically and Alice was trying to calm mo. Tho doctor mixed a aodativo" and insisted upon my taking it. "She will be better in a little while," he said. Never Will be Better "No, I won't I answered, "I will 1 never be better. I shall be quite as unhappy un-happy about this baby'3 coming as I was about losing the other." It seemed to mc as I layed there, that.no woman had over been so unhappy un-happy over the knowledge that a child wns coming as 1. I tried to tell my self that I was wicked and selfish but ail the while that insistent thought Uvas flashing through my brain that I when a child comes the mariagc bond J!s lightened. As Alice said Just before I fainted. '"When children come, the marriage is cemented in such a way that whatever one's pcrsonalfceligs and inclinations are, one'3 duty is imperative." I told myself theue thins ove rand over, but it meant nothing, literally nothing. Besides them in my brain was written all John's neglect of me, and his utter selfishness where I. was concerned. I think perhaps, what crystallzed j this in m ymlnci was tho fact that since I had Inherited money John had hnpn so kind and thouirhlful of mc. He could never do anything nico for J me in the future, never give me a Caress?, or even a smile that I would not think was inspired, not by mc his wife but by a Texas oil well that was pouring money, money. Into his wife's pocket. . Wanted to Be free I do not think that ever before had I wanted to leave him so much as this 'moment. Never had I wanted, with such great intensity to be free. Perhaps Per-haps this was because I realized that I was bound, bound forever to John and the baby that was coming. Oh, I wonder how many, woman, in the ages that have come and gone, had these thoughts that were wracking -my soul. 2 wonder If any other expectant ex-pectant mother ever fairly hated little life that was budding, because she j knew that when that life bloomed sho would ever after be bound by the great duty of motherhood. Tomorrow Things That Make a Difference. |