Blaine

“ Blaine's eyes grew moist at the memory.
Erwin understood. "Nothing more?" he ventured.
"Nary thing, except that we gave the Krupp works hell for about fifteen or twenty minutes. You should have seen the explosions."
"That part was good. Say, Blaine," Orris, was looking, thoughtful, "has it ever struck you how terribly uncertain a thing life is —"
"Oh, rats!" Blaine shook his smaller companion as they neared the club door. "Stow that sort of talk and thought! Don't do you a bit of good or those that hear you. See?" ”

“ Blaine never could be a specialist, but must be world-wide in his knowledge, as he is in his sympathies. Some men are like ponds in which trout are raised,—small and narrow, serve a single purpose, and serve it well ”

“ Blaine, without changing his travelling clothes, rang for a cab and was driven rapidly up the Avenue. He was a man of science, not of enthusiasms, cold, unerring, brilliant; a superb intellectual machine, which never showed a fleck of rust, unremittingly polished, and enlarged with every improvement. But for one man he cherished an abiding sympathy ”

“ Blaine’s home is a republic. Every member of his family seems to be on an absolute equality; and he, as one, has described him, and an intimate friend confirmed it, is more like a big brother than aught beside. Certainly he is no emperor, no monarch, czar, or king. He is not even president or governor, nor chieftain there, or general; but rather the senior member of the family, the head by right of priority. He is there deeply loved, greatly respected, and highly honored. Why need he be a tyrant where a father’s wisdom and a father’s love will serve him best and win high encomiums of praise? ”

“ Blaine was showing himself a master in the arts of diplomacy, not with aught of cunning artifice or sly interrogation, but with straight-forward, solid utterances upon the great interests of the nation’s weal. Not only of the loved and honored president did the assassin’s bullet deprive us, but also of the services of Mr. Blaine, as well. A Providence more kind seems to be giving him back to the nation, to complete their unfinished work. ”

“ He could swim across to Brownsville, discarding both ferry and bridge.
He went nutting with the boys, as is their wont when autumn days are on the woods, and Nature, glorified with a thousand tints of foliage, is, in the poet’s sombre language, “in the sere and yellow leaf.” Black walnuts, butternuts, shellbarks, hickory nuts, and chestnuts rewarded their search, and gladdened winter evenings with their cheer.
[54] There was nothing unnatural about young Blaine. He was no prodigy; no marvel, except of industry and constant training. ”

“ Blaine's observer, Stanley, was also in his seat behind.
When the two girls finally reached their quarters that night at the small inn in the adjacent village they were both dispirited. The Senator was writing letters while the girls were preparing for the evening meal.
"Funny, isn't it, how we seem to be interested in those lads?" said
Andra. "I think that young Blaine is just splendid."
"He is no better than Mr. Bangs." This from Avella. "Just think, Buck is from Butte! Why, that is right next door to us in Idaho." ”

“ Blaine, senior, looked down on her daughter-in-law as not aristocratic enough to have married a Blaine. How intrinsically absurd is such an idea in connection with a family as close to what Lincoln called “the plain people”—and as really proud of so being—as that of the famous Republican leader! Blaine is a man so thoroughly democratic that only a very stupid enemy of his could have invented such a piece of self-convicting nonsense ”

“ Rising again to a higher altitude, he surveyed the surroundings as well as the night's dim light would permit. Nothing to be seen anywhere. All at once Bangs thought of Blaine. Faintly he had heard the sound of explosions down near the earth; but whether the same were bombs, or guns, or if any other cause were responsible the lad did not know.
"Ought I to look him up or not?" he more than once asked himself. "No better chap anywhere than Blaine, or for that matter Stanley either." ”

“ The one ahead seemed to be loaded with munitions and with artillery on the rear cars.
Swooping down closer, Blaine laid his plan. When within three hundred feet he saw some Archies posted at a crossroads who at once began firing. In his present mood he would have cared little for any obstacle as yet untried.
Above the noise of his propellers he detected something behind, and, turning, what was his amazement to see Stanley's ashen gray face peering up over the observer's seat. Blaine was startled, as if he looked at a ghost.
"Get down, boy!" he adjured. "You ain't strong enough. Get down! ”

“ Bertram Blaine was sound asleep. His face was turned to the wall. He breathed deeply, regularly, after the manner of a healthy man. Warwick watched and waited.
Blaine was a man of about fifty-five, he judged, a man who always had known prosperity and had lived well. He was a giant in body, and was known to possess an active and keen mind.
Warwick sat down in a chair a dozen feet from the side of the bed, faced the sleeper, held his weapon in readiness—and waited. After a time the consciousness of the lights burning seemed to arouse Bertram Blaine. ”

“ Blaine acquiesced, and after issuing his orders to the subordinates about him, waited in a fever of impatience which he could scarcely control, and which, had he stopped to think of it, would have astonished him beyond 294 measure. That he––who had daily, almost hourly, awaited unmoved the appearance of men famous and infamous, illustrious and obscure, should so agitatedly view the coming of this old offender, was incomprehensible. ”

“ Herbert Blaine and his bright-eyed wife slept in the city of the dead. With their latest breath they had, one by one, adjured their beloved daughter, the only surviving child since the civil war had laid low their three manly boys, to regain possession of the old homestead. Time, they assured her, would make all things even, and long before they laid down the burden of life, they had seen how the wife's curse beat upon the head of the man who had so oppressed them. They had learned to feel pity for him whom they had once despised. Not so Jessie Blaine. ”

“ Yes, Blaine appears there, in all his beautiful suggestiveness. Those who contributed to his defeat may indeed rest in the consciousness of having done their country a good turn. I do not know whether, as you say, I deserve a statue for my part in that business ”

“ But when the Speaker says to a railroad man: “I did you such and such a service by the exercise of my power, and now I want you to give me a valuable interest in your enterprise; I know I am not going to be a deadhead in it, and I see various channels in which I can be useful”—is not that quite another thing? But that is just what Mr. Blaine did.
3. You say it is not true that when Mr. Blaine read the Mulligan letters in the House the order in which he read them tended to create the least difficulty in understanding them. What is the fact? ”

“ Blaine is very obliging, and he can usually tell an opportunity from a chance. Life is no lottery to him; he keeps his feet on the granite, and gives all “fortuitous combination of atoms” the slip, being too discriminating to invest. ”

“ But for you, there would never have been any––to-morrow.”
“That’s true!” The young man’s arm encircled the girl’s slender waist as they stood together in the glowing sunlight, but his other hand gripped the detective’s. “We owe life, our happiness, the future, everything to you!”
And so Henry Blaine left them.
At the door he turned and glanced back, and the sight his eyes beheld was a goodly one for him to carry away with him into the world––a sight as old as the ages, as new as the hour, as prescient as the hours and ages to come. Just a man and a maid, sunshine and happiness, youth and love! ”

“ Blaine gritted his teeth.
The Dictator addressed him directly. "You are a fortunate young man," he drawled sarcastically. "You have slain several of my trusted retainers and by so doing have forfeited your right to life. But Ianito is forgiving. Mechanized, you will be of value to me when the great day comes. And it pleases me that you are so deeply attached to the Rulan maiden; it pleases me greatly."
"Why?" Blaine snapped, a great rage consuming him. Only the pressure of Ulana's fingers held him back. He would have to control his temper or he'd make a mess of things. ”

“ Such a conference never took place, and you know it!”
“‘Come, Lawton, be sensible; half a loaf is better than no bread,’” Blaine quoted slowly. “‘There is no blackmail about this––it is an ordinary business proposition.’
“‘It’s a damnable crooked scheme, and I shall have nothing to do with it. This is final! My hands are clean, and I can look every man in the face and tell him to go where you can go now!’
“You remember that, don’t you, Rockamore?” Blaine interrupted himself to ask sharply. “Do you also recall your reply?––‘How about poor Herbert Armstrong? ”

“ Blaine was a brilliant and able man, lovable, patriotic, far-seeing, kind. He acted in a great way under great responsibilities. He was wise and prudent when wisdom and prudence were demanded. If he had attained to the supreme object of his ambition and reached the goal of the Presidency, if his life had been spared to complete his term, it would have been a most honorable period, in my opinion, in the history of the country. No man has lived in this country since Daniel Webster died, save McKinley alone, who had so large a number of devoted friends and admirers in all parts of the country. ”

“ Blaine, if she wanted him to move from the table, would say, “James! James!” and again, “James!” like enough half a dozen times before he would hear, and she pleasant and careful of him all the time. She has had mind and heart to know his worth, and has needed no one to tell her that teaching school in Kentucky has paid her a handsome dividend and is full of promise for the future. He has made no move but what she has seconded the motion. Her life is in his, and not a thing independent and apart from it. ”

“ A whir as of wings sounded in his rear, and Blaine became aware of shadowy movements through the faintly growing light in the east. Undoubtedly it must be a hostile machine. He had been spotted as he flew eastward. In addition to the now waning fire from the Archies, planes were now out after him. Divining this, Blaine wheeled, put on more power and flow towards the northwest, the German keeping after him at increasing speed. As the light increased the clinging shadow in the east grew more plain. Whoever it was, the pursuer was determined not to be shaken off. Soon he would begin firing. ”

“ Blaine, you're a sensible woman. I feel I can talk to you plain. There comes a time in every man's life when he feels lonesome—when it looks good to him to have someone round all the time, looking after things—his dinner, his clothes, and so on. Why, sometimes I go around for weeks with my suspenders only half fastened, just because I've got no one to sew a button on. It gets on a feller's nerves—yes, it does—until at last he says to himself: 'Jimmie, my boy, you've knocked about alone long enough. ”

“ The other smiled. "I can, Earth man," he replied. "You have been taught our language while you slept. A thought transference process we use for educating the young. You are in the palace of the Zara and your friend is safe in the next room. I may add that you are in high favor with Her Majesty."
The wizened creature lowered his voice on the last words, and his knowing eyes spoke volumes. In favor with that she-devil! Blaine went cold at the thought. ”

“ Blaine cogitated aloud. “I’ll put another man on to-morrow morning. Leave the address of the tobacconist with my secretary on your way out, and if there is another message to-morrow, he’ll get it first. You needn’t do anything more on this Paddington matter; I think the other end needs your services more; and since you’ve already broken ground up there, you’ll be able to do better than anyone else. I want you to return to the Bronx, get back your old room, if you can, and stick close to the Brunells.” ”

“ He tells what a real mother Mrs. Blaine was to him if he was sick, or anything the matter with him, how she would take the best of care of him. Every winter they published a tri-weekly during the session of the legislature, and this kept him at the office late every-other night, and she would be “worried about him because he had to work nights,” and Mr. Blaine would say, “Howard, you are worth a dozen boys (shiftless, good-for-nothing boys, he meant) , but you must not work so hard.” The humanities of life were the amenities to them. ”

“ Bertram Blaine was a mystery to his neighbors. He did not seek human companionship. He seemed to be pleasant enough when one met him, but none ever learned his history. The story had started that he grieved over the death of his wife, and cared for nothing except his books and his flower gardens. Warwick grinned when he thought of these things now. There were many things persons did not know about their neighbors, he thought.
Glancing up and down the street while standing in the shadows cast by a giant tree, Warwick made sure that there was no human being within sight. ”

“ The operative started to speak, but checked himself, and listened while Henry Blaine went on slowly but steadily.
“Each letter gained helps us to others, you see, Guy. For instance -o-ey must be money; the character following yo three times in different places must be u; the word ––-r-day can only be Thursday; -all is call; a- is at; and -o-r is four. That gives us eight more letters, and makes the message read like this.” Blaine wrote it down and handed the result to Morrow, who read:
Dear Old Boy. ”