Maida

“ But you must peep in if you would understand the history that will follow.
Look; there is Maida, beaming her loveliest. Her eyes are radiant with joy, as she listens to a gentleman who is talking to her: what he says you cannot tell; there are those who know; let them tell who have learnt how to overcome artlessness with art.
Look again.
As a dissolving view the scene has changed, but the figures are the same. Maida is weeping. Her face depicts great mental agony—his face just such anxiety as a person would feel on seeing a long-sought treasure within hand-grasp. ”

“ As Rosie disappeared with her sleeping burden, Laura appeared at the stairs carrying a tray.
“Hop back into bed, Maida Westabrook,” she said serenely. “You’re going to have your breakfast in bed this morning—like a princess.” ”

“ As for Maida, her confidence in the veiled woman at the head of the Sisterhood was apparently unbroken. Judging from the little I could find out, she was irritatingly happy in her work among rescued women and children, at the lonely old house on Long Island. No doubt there were genuine cases cared for, which made it hard to prove anything crooked, especially to a girl so high-minded. ”

“ I wondered whether I should wake Maida, and get her to go with me, but somehow I wasn't in the mood for Maida. I was afraid that, being in a monastery, she would be thinking of her precious Sisterhood and wanting to hurry back as fast as she could. She does mean to join when her year is up, I know, which is so silly of her, when the world's such a nice place ”

“ Maida replied, “and always have some one near the telephone if anybody calls up. And remember, if the baby doesn’t seem all right, telephone for the doctor at once. Get the hospital on the telephone at nine o’clock and ask how Mrs. Dore is this morning.” Then mounting her machine in a flash, Maida was off like a bird.
“Who would ever have thought,” Rosie said looking after her, “that the Maida Westabrook who first came to Primrose Court—so pale and thin and lame—would ever grow into such a strong girl? Do you remember, Laura?” ”

“ Often after dinner, the W.M.N.T.’s would call in a body on Maida. Then would follow long hours of such fun that Maida hated to hear the clock strike nine. Always there would be molasses-candy making by the capable Rosie at the kitchen stove and corn-popping by the vigorous Arthur on the living-room hearth. After the candy had cooled and the pop corn had been flooded in melted butter, they would gather about the hearth to roast apples and chestnuts and to listen to the fairy-tales that Maida would read. ”

“ I feel dreadfully homesick and lonesome without mother.”
“Oh Rosie, I am sorry,” Maida said. “But perhaps your mother won’t stay long. Do you like your Aunt Theresa?”
“Oh, yes, I like her. But of course she isn’t mother.”
“No, of course. Nobody is like your mother.”
“Oh, yes; there’s something else I had to tell you. The W.M.N.T.’s are going to meet at Dicky’s after school this afternoon. Be sure to come, Maida.”
“Of course I’ll come.” Maida’s whole face sparkled. “That is, if Granny doesn’t think it’s too wet.” ”

“ How fervent, was the grasp with which she caught hold of Maida's hand before she had come quite close to her stretcher! How grateful became the lustrous eyes as, fatigued with her journey across the ward, Maida dropped into her seat—the edge of No. 1's bed!
'Are you only twenty-two, Wilcox?' asked the latter in surprise, as she read the card over her head.
'Barely that. Sickness has made me look old; sorrow, older.'
Maida pressed the hand lying within hers. ”

“ Maida fixed her eye haughtily on her mistress, who went on to say:
'The thing is, I plainly see, we've been too indulgent to you; you forget what you are; and that'll never do: your own will mustn't be allowed as it has been.'
'I pray God that my will may never again be my guide, ma'am. To be left to my own devices would be to be given over to evil,' exclaimed Maida, the fire fading from her glance, and an expression of pain gathering on her countenance.
'What does the woman mean?' turning to Mr. Herbert: he arose and approached the window. ”

“ After a while, Rosie taught Maida to jump in the big rope with a half a dozen children at once. Maida never tired of this. When [Pg 205] she heard the rope swishing through the air, a kind of excitement came over her. She was proud to think that she had caught the trick—that something inside would warn her when to jump—that she could be sure that this warning would not come an instant too soon or too late. The consciousness of a new strength and a new power made a different child of her. It made her eyes sparkle like gray diamonds. It made her cheeks glow like pink peonies. ”

“ But she wrapped Maida up, as Maida herself said: “As if I was one of papa’s carved crystals come all the way from China.”
First Granny put on a sweater, then a coat, then over all a raincoat. She put a hood on her head and a veil over that. She made her wear rubber boots and take an umbrella. Maida got into a gale of laughter during the dressing.
“I ought to be wrapped in excelsior now,” she said. “If I fall down in the puddle in the court, Granny,” she threatened merrily, “I never can pick myself up. ”

“ Maida laughed. “Now isn’t it strange I have always thought that you look like somebody in a fairy tale, too. You’re like Rose-Red in ‘Rose-Red and Snow-White.’ I think,” she added, flushing, for she was a little afraid that it was not polite to say things like this, “that you are the beautifulest girl I ever saw.”
“Why, that’s just what I think of you,” Rosie said in surprise.
“I just love black hair,” Maida said.
“And I just adore golden hair,” Rosie said. “Now, isn’t that strange?”
“I guess,” Maida announced after a moment of thought, “people like what they haven’t got.” ”

“ During the drive to the hotel, she was speechless with pain, and Maida, who had never seen the strong, vital directress in such a condition, was anxious. "I'm afraid we must take a room in the hotel for a while, where I may lie down until I'm able to see Miss Hartland," the Head Sister said as the grey car drew up at the door. Maida was thankful for this concession, but surprised that she should be told, in a faint voice, to engage the best room in the house. The Head Sister was usually spartan in her ways, setting an example of self-sacrifice to all those under her care. ”

“ All the trouble began because Maida was such a little girl. She was just big enough to know how little she was, and she didn’t like being a little girl at all. She wanted to be grown up. She told me so herself. She had reasons, too, oh so many. To3 begin with, there was ICE-CREAM. Maida loved ICE-CREAM. She could never get enough. ”

“ Take him away. He is made goot; and if you look bretty in him all right. So. Pay me when you can.”
Maida breathed a millionth part of the thanks in her heart, and hurried away with her dress. As she left the shop a smart dash of rain struck upon her face. She smiled and did not feel it.
Ladies who shop in carriages, you do not understand. Girls whose wardrobes are charged to the old man’s account, you cannot begin to comprehend—you could not understand why Maida did not feel the cold dash of the Thanksgiving rain.
At five o’clock she went out upon the street wearing her purple dress. ”

“ Poor Maida, she had so many troubles—but you understand, don’t you? So she wished and wished with all her heart that she were a really grown-up; that she could read those lovely books and have her hair fuzzed all over her head—that she could wear those traily, hangy gowns, and stay up nights, and never, never, NEVER have to eat anything but ICE-CREAM.
7 Chapter II
If you stand with one hand on the Wishing Post, and think hard of what you would like most in all the world, your wish comes true. ”

“ When the second bell rang, the boys came in from the barn and the twelve children, Granny Flynn at one end of the table and Mrs. Dore at the other, sat down to a breakfast of fruit, oatmeal, eggs, and all the milk they wanted.
After breakfast, Maida said, “Now, first, I want to show the six little children where’s the nicest place for them to play. Do the rest of you want to come?”
The rest did want to come. Perhaps Laura voiced their sentiments when she said, “That’s a great idea, Maida. Get the little children interested, so they won’t be forever tagging us.” ”

“ Red was her color. Maida sat by the window in her old cheviot skirt and blue waist darning a st—. Oh, doing fancy work.
“Why, goodness me! ain’t you dressed yet?” shrilled the red one. “How does it fit in the back? Don’t you think these velvet tabs look awful swell? Why ain’t you dressed, Maida?”
“My dress didn’t get finished in time,” said Maida. “I’m not going to the dinner.”
“That’s too bad. Why, I’m awfully sorry, Maida. Why don’t you put on anything and come along—it’s just the store folks, you know, and they won’t mind.”
“I was set on my purple,” said Maida. ”

“ Rosie’s tone was still scornful. “I don’t believe, even if you did go to school, that you’d ever do anything bad. You’d never be anything but a fraid-cat and teacher’s pet.”
“I guess I’d be so glad to be there, I’d do anything the teacher asked,” Maida said dejectedly. “I do a lot of things that bother Granny but I guess I never have been a very naughty girl. You can’t be very naughty with your leg all crooked under you.” Maida’s voice had grown bitter. ”

“ Oh, tell me quick, Rosie.”
“She says she’s going to let me give him his bath Saturdays and Sundays and wheel him out every day in his carriage.”
“Rosie,” Maida said impressively, “you ought to be the happiest little girl in the world. Think of having a baby brother for a Christmas present. You will let me wheel him sometimes, won’t you?” ”

“ But Maida didn't seem to care particularly about it; and the society novels that Mamma loves don't interest her a bit. Her favourite authors are Shakspere and Thomas Hardy, and she reads Cooper and Sir Walter Scott. So what can you do with a girl like that?"
"There are other things in life besides society."
"Mamma doesn't think so. I guess we've both done all we [Pg 111] can. I'm afraid poor Maida's doomed. But there's one comfort; she'll look perfectly beautiful in the white robe and veil that her Sisterhood wears."
Mr. Barrymore gave a sort of groan. "What a vocation for a girl like that!" ”

“ Dicky admitted it. “But the swimming and the canoeing and the tennis, too,” he added as though a little jealous for these new sports of his. “But of course the white peacocks most— Well, if Arthur thinks the deer are like adventure stories I think the peacocks are like all the fairy stories in the world come true. What do you enjoy most, Maida?”
[Pg 253]
Maida thought carefully. “Everything! Having all of you here.”
“Oh but what special thing, Maida?” Rosie pleaded. “There’s always one thing you like better than others.”
“Betsy’s badness, then,” Maida admitted. ”

“ Maida answered. “There was archery and diabolo and croquet and fishing-ponds and a merry-go-round and Punch and Judy on the lawn and a play in my little theater—I can’t remember everything.”
Laura’s eyes had grown very big. “Didn’t you have a perfectly splendiferous time?” she asked.
“No, not particularly,” Maida said. “Not half such a good time as I’ve had playing in Primrose Court. I wasn’t very well and then, somehow, I didn’t care for those children the way I care for Dicky and Rosie and the court children.”
“Goodness!” was all Laura could say for [Pg 129] a moment. ”

“ Maida announced at breakfast a week later, “we’ve had all the vacation we’re going to get—at least all that the Big Six get. To-morrow begins our work. Father said we could plan it ourselves how it was to be done and unless our plans were bad ones, we could keep right on with them. Now I propose that, right after breakfast, you boys go to the barn and make a program of your work. We girls will stay here and make a program for ourselves. You remember what it is you’re expected to do?” ”

“ Maida Meets Santa Claus
So Maida sat on his knee and told him45 all about it. “I’m going to the Wishing Post,” she said, “and wish to be grown up.”
“Grown up?” replied the chubby old man. “Why childhood is the happiest time of life.”
“That’s what the grown-ups tell us,” Maida answered, “but I guess they’ve forgotten all about it. I don’t suppose you were ever spanked and put to bed without your supper because you wouldn’t learn your lessons.”
The chubby old man became very earnest and a little sad. “If you grow up quickly,” he said, “you won’t care for dollies and candy any more. ”

“ Sure enough, she was crying, and185 every tear was washing away a grain of the grown-up Maida.
Then the little girl Maida triumphed and bubbled over. “Save me! Save me!” she screamed; “I don’t want to be grown up. I can’t have any fun and people don’t like me. ”

“ Maida’s cup of happiness brimmed over.
While Billy talked with Granny, the two little girls rearranged the stock.
“My mother was awful mad with me just before supper,” Rosie began at once. “It seems as if she was so cross lately that there’s no living with her. She picks on me all the time. That’s why I’m here. She sent me to bed. But I made up my mind I wouldn’t go to bed. I climbed out my bedroom window and came over here.”
“Oh, Rosie, I wish you wouldn’t do that,” Maida said. “Oh, do run right home! Think how worried your mother would be if she went up into your room and found you gone. ”

“ Maida said mournfully to Dicky one day.
“You see she never has any money to spend,” Dicky explained. “That’s the way her mother punishes her. But sometimes she earns it on the sly taking care of babies. She loves babies and babies always love her. Delia’ll go to her from my mother any time and as for Betsy Hale—Rosie’s the only one who can do anything with her.”
But a whole week passed. And then one day, to Maida’s great delight, the tinkle of the bell preceded the entrance of Rose-Red. ”