Baby Jane

“ Just as they made Mary kneel down like a camel so that they might settle themselves comfortably upon her back to continue the journey, they heard a loud squeaking and whistling behind them and the patter of galloping feet, and who should pull up alongside but the Rabbit mounted on a fox!
[114] 'My eye! What a guy!' was his first remark as he pointed rudely at Baby Jane in her new disguise, and then he stuffed his paw into his mouth as if to stifle his laughter. ”

“ NUTS IN MAY
Baby Jane was slowly waking up, with the gentle morning sun shining on her face.
'What is this silky, furry thing under my head?' she murmured to herself. And then it all came back to her.
'Oh yes, of course,' said she. 'I've come out to the African Desert to teach the poor dear creatures nice things to do, instead of fighting and howling and killing one another. And I've been asleep with my head upon my dear, naughty old Bear, with all my animals and the Piccaninny round me. And yesterday I gave them a dancing lesson. ”

“ After the first few notes the hullaballoo up in the palm tree ceased.
'Oh,' thought Baby Jane, 'it has made them gentle, and the story-books are right—oh, I am glad!'
But at that moment a storm of cocoa-nuts came [39] pelting down upon them, and a voice exclaimed:
'Ah, it's no manners you have at all to come disturbing a decent family at this time of the night. Go away with you!'
And with that the riot began again.
'They all want to thrash little Patsey at once,' shouted the Lion in Baby Jane's ear; 'that is what they usually quarrel about.'
'Oh, how cruel!' she sobbed. ”

“ Like a river of living waves they flowed across the desert—occasionally a wave broke, but generally they pursued the even tenor of their way. Poor Baby Jane felt that it would be unladylike to play, so had to keep company with Edouardo, who had a mind above leap-frog, with the barrow. ”

“ All the way home they sang lustily, and then, having hung up their stockings—Patsey should share hers, said Baby Jane—with their little queen in the middle of them, they curled up and went to sleep.
It should be said that, now that the nights had grown more chilly, they slept in a hollow in a great bush, and had to crawl in by a narrow tunnel. So thick were the leaves and branches that neither rain, nor enemies, nor even sunlight, could enter through the roof, and the floor was carpeted with soft moss. The Lion always slept in the doorway. ”

“ Up above they saw Edouardo's head cut out in black against the darkening sky, as he peered helplessly over the edge.
Mary Carmichael set up a shrill wail, but the others all looked very solemn and stood in a circle round Baby Jane gazing at her, as she stood with her hands over her face trying to make her little brains work more quietly and calmly. Now out of all the hours of her life she most needed all her little stock of memory and knowledge. What would a grown-up person do in such a plight? But no thoughts would come, and her chin sank lower on her breast. ”

“ Most of the creatures were too frightened to know what to do—only the Lion, the Bear, and the Light-Horse remained calm. The Light-Horse, indeed, even took a gloomy pleasure in having prophesied truly.
As for Baby Jane, she squeezed herself close to the Bear, and, hiding her face in his fur, trembled and sobbed. She did not want to be a Princess any more. She wanted only to be protected. ”

“ Whenever Baby Jane was pressed she neatly patted the ball to the 'left wing,' and when he felt two or three elephants and an ostrich or so close upon him he passed it back to her.
In a moment there was no one but the Junior Oakdene Athletic 'full back,' a burly Hippopotamus, to be passed. He went out to meet the Rabbit. There was a scuffle, and the Hippopotamus arose, alone, slowly and heavily, a very full back indeed.
Baby Jane stood as if frozen, and as pale as snow.
Her Rabbit gone? It was impossible. The world would be empty without the Rabbit. ”

“ A great reformer loses nothing by little admissions like this.
'Come along, now,' said she; 'I'll teach you some games on this smooth patch.'
The animals and the Piccaninny all frisked around in high excitement.
'First we'll play blindfold "Cat and Mouse,"' said Baby Jane, after a moment's thought. 'Lion, you are "mouse," and, Rabbit, you are "cat." Now I want two handkerchiefs.'
The Bear retired and came back with a large spotted handkerchief. This time Baby Jane did not ask how he got it—she only sighed. ”

“ Here was maternity, parenthood, another breed than that of the Teddy-bear's hot, pink nursery.
Jane picked up the baby's stubby little hand and patted it. "Then, why do you?"
Ethel's face flamed, but she looked her inquisitor more fully in the eye than she had done at any time before. "Because—Jerry! Jerry! That's why."
"Oh ... I see. You care more for him than for your baby?"
Now there came into the childish face a look of shrewd and calculating wisdom. "I can—I could—have other babies, but I couldn't ever have another—him!" Strength here, of a sort, it appeared, in this Weak Sister. ”

“ After dinner, Baby Jane and the creatures prepared a fine Punch and Judy show, with living figures.
'Nobody but relations, or tortoises laid on their backs, will watch tableaux, but everybody likes a Punch and Judy show,' said Baby Jane.
By using palm-stems with bamboos tied across and draped, they built a very passable Punch's house, and soon all were crowded inside ready to bob up and act while Baby Jane did the squeaky talking.
It is wonderful how soon a crowd collects round a Punch and Judy show. ”

“ I can see no reason for her doing that.”
“Of course Inez returned,” declared Arthur, “for nothing would induce her to run away from us and leave her beloved baby. I believe the poor girl would rather die than be separated for good from little Jane. You’ve no idea how passionately she worshiped the child.”
“All of which,” the doctor stated, “indicates a tragedy rather than some feminine whim—which last I much prefer as a solution. But if both nurses were fond of little Jane—who is the finest baby I ever knew, by the way—no quarrel or other escapade would permit them to injure the dear infant. ”

“ What room is large enough when the romping begins? What you want is a good large desert. That is what Baby Jane and her pupils had, and it was grand. The Lion bounced so high that Baby Jane was swung about like a leaf on a bough on a windy day, and had nothing to do but waggle her toes in the air.
Afterwards, all rather tired, the creatures came and Baby Jane arranged them round her, the Lion [19] and the Bear on each side with her arms round their necks, the Piccaninny and the Rabbit at her feet with their little heads on her knees, and the Crocodile round the whole party like a rampart. ”

“ Baby Jane has mysteriously disappeared, and with her the two nurses.”
“Not necessarily with her,” objected Rudolph. “Let us say the two nurses have also disappeared. Now, the question is, why?”
A shriek from Louise emphasised the query.
“Don’t let’s bother with the ‘why?’” retorted Patsy. “We don’t care why. The vital question is ‘where?’ All we want, just now, is to find baby and get her back home again to her loving friends. She can’t have been gone more than four hours—or five, at the most. Therefore she isn’t so far away that an automobile can’t overtake her.” ”

“ Ever since she had been a baby—a good long while, for she was more than eight years old—it had always troubled the heart of Baby Jane to hear, and later on to read, how rough and rude and wretched the wild beasts and niggers of the African desert were.
The black children always came down to breakfast without their pinafores on, and ate with their fingers, and never washed—though, perhaps, that did not matter, as they had to be black anyhow—and were altogether naughty and, therefore, very miserable. ”

“ But Baby Jane was stern, and in a little while Mary Carmichael, carrying the adventurous couple, was slouching off.
Here the cunning old Bear whispered loudly to Baby Jane, 'Perhaps, after all, perhaps you had better make her a Major-General. She is no good as a horse—can't trot a little bit.'
[110] Mary began to hum loudly to pretend she hadn't heard, but her ears grew very red, and she began stealthily to quicken her pace until she was slinging out her hoofs in a thundering fourteen-miles-an-hour trot—straight for the enemy's country, the Black Mountains. ”

“ At the end of the procession came Edouardo and the barrow as a caravan.
'It's a pity,' thought Baby Jane with a sigh, 'the barrow has no looking-glasses and gold things and a Britannia on the top and a band inside; but they won't know what a real circus is like, so perhaps we can amuse them.'
It is little wonder that a procession, so rarely seen in those parts, should attract the creatures who saw it from afar, and, as each one ran round the corner and beckoned and shouted to his friends to [82] come along quick, the solemn line of sandwich-men was soon escorted by an expectant rabble. ”

“ CHAPTER V—INEZ THREATENS “Yes,” said Louise, a week later, “we all make fools of ourselves over Toodlums, Really, girls, Jane is a very winning baby. I don’t say that because I’m her mother, understand. If she were anyone else’s baby, I’d say the same thing.”
“Of course,” agreed Patsy. “I don’t believe such a baby was ever before born. She’s so happy, and sweet, and—and—”
“And comfortable,” said Beth. “Indeed, Jane is a born sorceress; she bewitches everyone who beholds her dear dimpled face. This is an impartial opinion, you know; I’d say the same thing if I were not her adoring auntie.” ”

“ Every one wanted every one else to look at his presents and see how they worked. The Rabbit was the happiest of all. Though his stocking was empty there was a huge pile of presents underneath, for the reason that he had made it without any toes, so that Santa Claus had gone on trying to fill it up until he grew tired. The Rabbit did not seem a bit ashamed of his deceitfulness, and protested with indignant squeaks when Baby Jane picked him off his pile of ill-gotten gains by the ears with one hand and took as much as she could hold with the other and gave them to Patsey. ”

“ Jane found great peace and help from those straight, slim trees. They were so unfettered, so upstanding, so sure. She repeated over and over:
"Hast thou ne'er known the longings—
Ambitions vain desires—
The hope, the fear, the yearning
Which mortal man inspires?"
She gathered into her being all the calm of Nature, strength from her out-of-door life, wisdom out of silence and Baby's talk, but yet she could not bring herself to send for Jerry. She knew that both of these men were suffering, as they waited for her answer; she wanted not to hurt them, and still—she hesitated. ”

“ She saw the girl again, seated by the fire in the Infirmary ward, with that strange division between herself and all living, removed, as it were, to a distance which could not be bridged. Then Jane was no more to be found. There was the boy-child instead, who knew nothing except his desire to be kept alive; who met all reservations and pity by a determination to be fed. Throughout the whole evening, Anne had been struck by the fact that the other women scarcely thought of Jane any more than the baby did. It remained to them a very simple matter. There was a baby to feed and bring up. ”

“ Louise laughed lightly.
“I’m not such an unfeeling mother as you think,” she answered. “I know just where baby is every minute and she is never out of my thoughts. However, with two nurses, both very competent, to care for Toodlums, I do not think it necessary to hold her in my lap every moment.”
Here Uncle John and the major approached the palm, under which the three nieces were sitting, and Mr. Merrick exclaimed:
“I’ll bet a cookie you were talking of baby Jane.”
“You’d win, then,” replied Patsy. “There’s no other topic of conversation half so delightful.” ”

“ A great detective once said that “every mystery has a simple solution”—meaning, of course, that the solution is simple when once discovered. Therefore, the puzzling mystery of the disappearance of baby Jane and her two nurses, followed later by the vanishment of Mr. Bulwer Runyon, was due to the one-time idiosyncracy of a certain Señor Cristoval, happily deceased, rather than to any supernatural agency.
Until now we have only known Mildred Travers, as she called herself, in a casual way. We know that she was considered a competent nurse and had proved her capability in the care of baby Jane. ”

“ Even Miss Garnett looked the same. She was the sort of dried-up creature which shows no age. She did not remember Jane, but she was interested in the baby. They were the only boarders, as it happened, so no one could be disturbed by the boy. They had two big, sunny rooms, with the balcony out of one of them, on which Jerry Jr. could sleep. It was comfortable and independent, the two things Jane desired.
The first day was spent in getting unpacked, settling Baby's routine. ”

“ It was not an English Christmas Eve, with holly and snow, and darkness lit and warmed by cosy flickering fires, but it seemed to Baby Jane that at that time all over the world as the darkness deepens there spreads everywhere one same feeling of coming happiness growing and growing until, as the dawn breaks, a great loving kiss falls upon the poor world to comfort and bless it, so that it awakes with its heart full of warmth and joy on Christmas morning. ”

“ The baby wakened with shrill screams and the only way to quiet her was to give her the bottle, which was now less than a third full. Mildred was in a quandary whether to withhold the remainder of the food from little Jane, so as to prolong her life as much as possible, or to allow the baby to eat what she desired, as long as any of the food remained. ”