Stanley Baldwin

“ There is a perfectly good plantation there just waiting for us."
"But...." I said, sparring for time, "I couldn't leave Sarah."
Father laughed outright. "You baby!" he said, caressingly.
"You won't have to," said Bill. "She needs a rest as much as you do. She's coming along—and so is your friend Peter. We can't leave him behind, and Mr. Goodrich has to sail for Spain sooner than he expected. I saw him this morning."
I was too amazed for words. And over my defenceless head the affair was settled. Canada for father and Uncle John; Cuba for Sarah, Peter, Bill, and me. ”

“ Presently the docks faded into a vari-colored blur, and Bill pulled me away from the rail.
"Good-by, Cuba!" I said, waving my hand for the last time, as I turned.
"You're not crying?" he asked, teasingly.
"No," I dried my eyes a little defiantly, "but I have loved it so. Color and warmth and sunshine," I said, watching the soft pastel shades of the shore line, where Morro Castle stood, dazzling in the light, its stone feet set in blue waters, "and I hated to leave, somehow—"
"We'll go back," said he. "No, don't go below. Sarah will unpack and settle for you. ”

“ My father's face looked back at me, wonderfully living. Almost it seemed as if the gentle, strong mouth would smile and speak.
"I had it painted before—before the tide turned," said Bill, "from the picture he gave me."
I closed my hands upon the miniature and my eyes against the tears.
"You are very good," I said falteringly. "I—you couldn't have given me anything I could have cared for more."
He stood, his broad shoulders squared against the mantel, and looked at me gravely.
"I hope," he said and stopped. Then, very evenly, he went on, "I hope you will try to be happy here, Mavis." ”

“ I am certain that Bill will have all the practice he needs to keep him from getting rusty—even in Green Hill. And good old Mac is quite ready to abdicate in his favor. How splendidly it has all worked out! Never a day passes that I do not thank God for your health, for your happiness, and for my own reprieve.
Give my love to my son-in-law. I will answer his letter shortly. Tell Peter I've a present for him—we've a guide up here who is a genius with a pen-knife and a scrap of wood.
And inform Sarah that the last snap-shot of her you sent me is a marvel! ”

“ Bill laughed at me and promises me more thrills when the racing season is on in New York. He says the Cuban race horses are a "lot of junk"—but he doesn't realize what it meant to me. No one can realize what it means to me, to be unfettered, to walk, to feel well, to be hostess in my own (borrowed) home, to be like other girls! It is no longer a miracle, of course. Nothing is, for very long, except perhaps—life. And I look back on all my invalid years with amazement: it seems a dream, a fantasy, remote and impossible. It is as though I had always lived—as now,—really lived, Daddy dearest! ”

“ Anonymous letters, begging for a lock of hair or an old glove! There have been times when your husband, Madame, has been forced to assume a disguise!"
"You colossal idiot," said Bill amiably. 171
"Don't listen to him, Mavis," urged Bill's best friend. "Listen to me instead!"
"I'm willing to be convinced," I answered. "And now that you're both on your second cigarette, shall we walk about the place a little? Bill," I went on, turning to him, very sweetly, "would you mind running to my room and getting my big, lavender shade hat—? It's right on the bureau." ”

“ After all, the hansom has advantages. One can sit awfully close, and hold hands under the shiny, wooden apron.
Wednesday Mother came. I called her that right off. She was the dearest thing, with such curly red hair and 261 eyes the color of Bill's, only a different shape. She was littler than I even, with hands and feet that were wholly ridiculous. Father was immediately enchanted with her. The four of us had a long talk, all one soft Spring day, interrupted by Uncle John, and by getting Peter and Sarah safely off to Green Hill. ”

“ Do you think," he begged, "that you could manage 'Wright'?"
"In fair exchange for 'Mavis,'" I answered, smiling.
"You're on!" he said, dropping my hands after a vigorous clasp, "that is to say, if Bill has no objection."
Bill turned from a colloquy with Wing and Silas and waved benevolently in our direction.
"Not an objection," he answered gaily. "Mavis has me trained. Her word is, naturally, my law."
If that was the tone he wished to adopt, I was convinced that here, at least, was a game which two could play.
"Bill is a very satisfactory husband," I confided to Wright, pleasantly. ”

“ We both heard the car drive up to the front door. 166
"Well," he said, "my cards are on the table now, Mavis."
"The car is waiting," I said. "You had best go. As far as I am concerned, the game is over. Richard Warren, as I knew him, never existed,—only a very clever young doctor who amused himself at my expense. Here," I said, turning to the open drawer, "are your letters. Take them, please. They would make good reading of the type which is called 'light fiction.'"
"Careful," said Bill, under his breath, and his hand shot out and caught my arm, "careful, Mavis! ”

“ Of course men tire of life. Some of them commit suicide, some of them drink, others get married! The remedy is entirely according to temperament."
"Horrid man!" said Mercedes, pouting. And answering amiably, "Am I not?" Wright guided her to the bridge table, having persuaded her at dinner that, with him as partner, she could trump his ace to her heart's content.
As we followed them, Bill said, very low,
"Remember—not to go out alone, Mavis." ”

“ Baldwin himself was above the ordinary stature, wonderfully active, skilful in horsemanship, and of great strength and bravery. His hair, we are told, was thin and fair, and already streaked with grey. He was married to an Armenian princess, by whom he had several daughters, but no sons. He wore a long Oriental beard, but though he conformed in many respects to Eastern habits, he had not forgotten his early piety, and scrupulously obeyed the rules of the church, insomuch that we are told that his knees were covered with callosities, the result of many prayers and penances. ”

“ On the street I met Bill, hatless and disturbed out of all proportion.
"Please never do that again, Mavis," he commanded, 138 taking my arm. "I am not willing to have you roam the streets of Havana alone."
I drew my arm away.
"I am quite capable of taking care of myself," I said with frigidity, "especially in broad daylight."
"This is not Green Hill," he answered enigmatically, "nor yet New York." ”

“ He went on past the entrance of the San Francisco Stock Exchange and almost collided with a bent-over, shrewd-faced man, whose eagle-beak and penetrating eyes were a familiar sight along California street.
He was E.J. (better known as "Lucky") Baldwin, who had started the Pacific Stock Exchange.
Baldwin had a great ranch in the South, where he bred blooded horses. He owned the Baldwin theater and the Baldwin Hotel, which rivaled the Palace. Women, racing and stocks were his hobbies. Benito had done some legal work for Baldwin and Robert knew him casually. ”

“ She raised to mine the tremendous pools of liquid darkness in question.
"But no," she said. "All Spanish girls are clever with the needle. The Sisters taught me when I was very young."
I had been, with the Howells, to one of the convents near Havana, and I recalled now the sweet, patient faces of the nuns, and the marvelous work they showed us. Some of it lay in one of my trunks now, a present to Mrs. Goodrich from Bill and me. The thought of Mercedes behind the austere cloister walls was incongruous. ”

“ He made a sound in his throat, half-anger, half-impotence.
"The roof of the garage has blown off," he said. "It's a nice little storm. I have been looking for you all over the plantation. No one had any idea where you were. I found Wright and sent Mercedes in the house—she's had rather a narrow escape—from a falling tree. She's all right, but hysterical—"
"I must go to her at once," I said, starting off.
The long arm shot out and I was pulled close to the tall, lean figure.
"Just a minute," said Bill. "Mercedes is all right, 213 as I said. Sarah is with her. But I want to ask you this ... ”

“ There is no place for fear."
"You are asking me to give you myself, and if I give, I must give unreservedly."
"Take any time you like to consider it. I can wait," he answered gently.
"No. I don't ask any longer time than a few minutes. Leave me alone for ten minutes; then come to me."
Without another word he returned to the verandah and seated himself beside Father O'Connor, lighting his pipe and blowing thick volumes of blue smoke into the evening air. ”

“ Say by the way Phil how are you getting on with that little stenographer you were taking out?”
“Man the food an drink an theaters I’ve wasted on that lil girl. . . . She’s got me run to a standstill. . . . Honest she has. You’re a sensible feller, George, to keep away from the women.”
“Maybe,” said Baldwin slowly and spat an olive stone into his clenched fist.
The first thing they heard was the quavering whistle that came from a little wagon at the curb opposite the entrance to the ferry. ”

“ Denton!"
"Yes, Miss Mavis. Juan crept up here to warn him. But those devils fired the cane while he was in this very house. Fields of it in flame, and Silas there—"
She was in a chair now, her apron twisted between her work-worn fingers, the sobs taking her by the throat.
Funny that she could cry like that, I thought, watching her. I must give her something to make her stop—if Bill were here—
Bill! Bill!
I must have screamed. Sarah, her arms around me, was herself in a minute, had herself in hand.
"There, there," she said soothingly. "They'll be all right, I am sure. ”

“ I suggested.
"Being a poet," he objected, "he is probably myopic." 160
I ignored this.
"I must find him some pretty girls to play with," I said idly.
"Mercedes," said Bill, "might fit the case."
I was conscious of a sudden flare of anger.
"Bobby Willard's little sister," I said, "seems more Mr. Penny's type. She is very gentle and lovely."
"Meow?" said my husband, with a rising inflection.
The bright color came to my cheeks.
"Not at all," I said indignantly. "I like Mercedes Howell very much. But—"
Bill raised an eyebrow, smiled at the glowing end of the cigarette in his hand and said nothing. ”

“ The injunction given me by his wife, in such a mysterious manner, had raised a doubt in my mind as to whether he was perfectly sane, and the apprehension I was under lest I should unwittingly say something that would “set him off,” or “send him wild,” was a constant restraint upon the freedom of my conversation.
“I am not to say anything about the lakes of New England, and I am to take no notice of that queer picture,” said I to myself. “Well, there are plenty of other subjects open to me, for Mr. Baldwin is a sensible, intelligent man.” ”

“ She patted her nose with a little rolledup handkerchief. “Georgy I’m goin to hate ye.... Goodby.” The door snapped sharply to behind her.
Baldwin sat at his desk and chewed the end of a pencil. A faint pungence of her hair lingered in his nostrils. His throat was stiff and lumpy. He coughed. The pencil fell out of his mouth. He wiped the saliva off with his handkerchief and settled himself in his chair. From bleary the crowded paragraphs of the lawbook became clear. He tore the written sheet off the scratchpad and clipped it to the top of a pile of documents. ”

“ About two o'clock, I was attacked by an overpowering languor. Twice, no less, I yawned in Peter's face, in the midst of his thrilling description of "babies an' ladies an' gentlemen, all brown, Aunt Mavis!"
"Siesta, now!" remarked my husband briskly. "Both of you! Off to bed!"
"Bed!" I said, "in the middle of the day!" Peter, but recently released from the burden of an afternoon nap, protested.
"Custom of the country," said Bill. "No getting around it. Couldn't if you wanted to. Even Arthur is asleep." ”

“ Of course, it probably won't amount to a hill of beans, but you never know where you stand."
"Haven't they just finished a comic-opera revolution here?" asked Wright. "Seems to me I read something about it."
"There are always uprisings," answered Mercedes, covering a yawn, "generally in the eastern districts—nearer Santiago. They are like children, these people."
She turned, with a shrug which dismissed the subject, to Bill.
"Come," she urged prettily, "play my accompaniment for me. I want to sing you some of the old songs my little, Spanish grandmother taught her grandchildren." ”

“ In the brilliant nature of these men they recognized and loved the peaceful and modest behavior, the relentless courage, the fearlessness in the face of death, which exceeded what might be expected of royal majesty, as well as the great self-control, and an extreme generosity that exceeded their resources. Baldwin's loyalty towards his people and disregard of himself can be inferred from one event: in an expedition he was conducting against the enemies, to save a certain foot-soldier, he put himself in great peril, received a serious wound, and narrowly escaped death. ”

“ It is certainly now more Baldwin than—well, whatever it was before they rented it. They are not the kind of people to be defeated by atmosphere. Their chief duty in this world, I gather, is to make things Baldwin, and very good for the world too ”