Atlantic Narratives: Modern Short Stories; Second Series — What Mr. Grey Said

BY MARGARET PRESCOTT MONTAGUE

HE was the smallest blind child at Lomax, the State school for deaf and blind children.

Even Jimmie Little, who looked like a small gray mouse, and who had always been regarded by the teachers as not much bigger than a minute, appeared large beside Stanislaus.

He was so small, in fact, that Mr. Lincoln, the Superintendent, had declined at first to admit him.

'We don’t take children under six,' he had said to Stanislaus’s father when the latter had brought him to Lomax, 'and your little boy doesn’t look five yet.'

'He’ll be five the twenty-second of March,' the father said.

'I’ll be five ve twenty-second of March,' Stanislaus echoed.

He was sitting holding his cap politely between his knees, swinging his fat legs with a gay serenity, while his blind eyes stared away into the dark.

He had not been paying much attention to the conversation, being occupied with the working out of a little silent bit of rhythm by an elaborate system of leg-swings: twice out with the right foot; twice with the left; then twice together.

He had found that swinging his legs helped to pass the time when grown-ups were talking.

The mention of his birthday, however, brought him at once to the surface.

That was because Mr. Grey had told him of a wonderful thing which would happen the day he was five.

Thereafter his legs swung to the accompaniment of a happy unheard chant:-- 'I’ll be five years old' (right leg out), 'I’ll be five years old' (left leg out), 'I’ll be five years old on my _birf_-day!'

(Both legs in ecstatic conjunction.

) Stanislaus’s father, a sad-eyed man, who, though he spoke with no accent, was evidently of emigrant extraction, looked troubled.

'My wife’s dead,' he said, 'an’ I’m workin' in the coalmines, an’ you know that ain’t no place for a little blind child.

Every one told me sure you’d take him here.'

Mr. Lincoln hesitated.

'Well,' he said at length, 'I’ll send for Miss Lyman,--she’s the matron for the blind boys,--and if she consents to take him, I’ll make no objection.'

Miss Lyman appeared presently, and Mr. Lincoln explained the situation.

'But he is such a little chap,' he concluded, 'it seems hardly possible for us to take him.'

Here, however, Stanislaus gave over his leg-swinging and took it upon himself to remonstrate.

'I _ain’t_ little,' he said firmly.

Slipping off his chair, he drew himself up very straight, and began patting himself all over.

'Feel me,' he urged, 'dest feel me, I’m weally big.

Feel my arms,' he held these chubby members out to Miss Lyman.

'An’ my _legs_,--' he patted them,--'why ve’re _aw_-ful big!'

His serious little mouth rounded itself to amazement at the bigness of his legs.

It was beyond human nature, or at least beyond Miss Lyman’s nature, to resist the appeal of his eager voice and patting baby hands.

Obediently she ran an inquiring touch over his soft body, which was still plump babyhood, not having as yet thinned to boyhood.

'Why,' she said, turning gravely to Mr. Lincoln, 'he does _look_ rather small, but when you _feel_ him, you find he is really quite big.'

'Does he feel big enough for us to take?'

Mr. Lincoln demanded.

'Oh, I think so!'

she answered quickly, one arm slipping about the little boy’s shoulders.

'An’ I’ll be five ve twenty-second of March,' Stanislaus threw in to overbalance the argument in his favor.

He snuggled himself confidingly against Miss Lyman, and fell to playing with the many jingling attachments of her chatelaine.

'I heard vese tinkly fings when you was comin’ ’w-a-y a-w-a-y outside, 'fore you o-pened ve door,' he murmured softly.

'His mother’s dead,' the man explained.

'Little sister’s dead, too,' Stanislaus supplemented him.

'S’e token a awful bad cold so s’e couldn’t b’eave.

I take awful bad colds, but I don’t die, do I?'

he demanded.

'Yes,' said the man, 'my baby’s dead, too.

I had a woman lookin' after both kids, but she let the baby git the pneumonia.'

'I fink I like you better van vat other lady,' Stanislaus confided to Miss Lyman.

'Of course we can take him,' Miss Lyman said hastily to Mr. Lincoln.

And thus it was that Stanislaus came to Lomax.

As has been said, he was the youngest child at school.

This in itself was sufficient to set him apart from the thirty or so other blind boys;

but there were other things that served to distinguish him as well.

His thoughts, for instance, were so different--so unexpected and whimsical;

so entirely off the beaten track.

Witness Mr. Grey, for instance.

At his best Mr. Grey was a delightful person; but as he was of a retiring disposition, he never flowered into being, save in a sympathetic atmosphere.

Miss Julia, for example, never met Mr. Grey.

She was one of the older teachers, whose boast it was that she never stood for any foolishness.

In her not doing so, however, she was apt to walk with a heavy foot over other folks' most cherished feelings.

For which reason, sensitive people were inclined in her presence to retreat within themselves, sailing, as it were, with their lights blanketed.

This was the reason, no doubt, why she and Mr. Grey never met.

Indeed, Mr. Grey was of such an extremely shy nature that he had to be observed with the greatest delicacy.

Looked at too closely, he was apt to go out like a blown candle.

He lived apparently in an empty closet in the blind boys' clothes room.

It is probable that he had taken up his abode there for the sake of being near Stanislaus, for as the latter was too small to be in school all the morning, he spent the rest of his time with Miss Lyman in the clothes room, where she sat and sewed on buttons, mended rips, and put on patches, in a desperate endeavor to keep her army of blind boys mended up.

When the other children were about, as they usually were on Saturdays, Mr. Grey kept discreetly to himself, and his presence in the closet would not have been suspected.

On the long school mornings, however, when Miss Lyman sat quietly sewing, with Stanislaus playing about, no one could be more unbending than Mr. Grey.

Stanislaus would go over to the closet and open it a crack, and then he and Mr. Grey would fall into pleasant conversation.

Miss Lyman, of course, could hear only Stanislaus’s side of it, but he constantly repeated his friend’s remarks for her benefit.

From hints which Stanislaus let fall, Miss Lyman gathered that there had once been a real Mr. Grey in the past, from which beginning, the interesting personality of the closet had developed.

Mr. Grey’s comments upon things and people, as repeated by Stanislaus, showed a unique turn of mind.

He seemed to have a poor opinion of mankind in general, coupled with an excellent one of himself in particular; for, retiring as he was before strangers, in the presence of friends he blossomed into an incorrigible braggart.

If any one failed to do anything, Mr. Grey could always have done it, and never hesitated to say so.

There was, for instance, the time when Mr. Beverly, one of the supervisors, was thrown from his horse and rather severely bruised.

When informed of the incident by Stanislaus, who always gave his friend the news of the day, Mr. Grey was very scornful.

'Gwey says,' Stanislaus, over by the half-open closet door, turned to announce to Miss Lyman, ''at _he_ never had no horse to frow _him_ yet--an’ he’s wid all kinds of horses.

Horses wif four legs, an’ horses wif five legs,--' Stanislaus had been learning to count lately,--'an’ horses wif _six_ legs.'

Again, when Miss Lyman sighed over a particularly disreputable pair of Edward Stone’s trousers, remarking that she really did not think she could patch those, she was met by the assertion, 'Gwey says _he_ could patch 'em.

He says he ain’t erfwaid to patch nobody’s pants.

He could patch Eddy Stone’s, a-a-n' he could patch Jimmie Nickle’s, a-a-a-n' Sam Black’s, an’--an’'--this last all in a hurry, and as a supreme evidence of proficiency in the art of patching--'he dest b’ieves he could patch Mr. _Lincoln’s_ pants!'

But this was more than Miss Lyman could stand.

'No, he couldn’t either, for Mrs. Lincoln wouldn’t let him,' she declared, stung to retort by such unbridled claims on the part of Mr. Grey.

It is sad to relate also that Mr. Grey was a skeptic as well as a braggart, and had had, apparently, a doubtful past.

This was revealed the morning after the Sunday on which Stanislaus had first encountered the Flood, the Ark, and Noah.

After giving Mr. Grey on Monday morning a graphic account of the affair,--'An’ Noah him went into ve ark, an’ token all ve animals wif him, an’ ven all ve wicked people was dwown-ed,'--Stanislaus appeared to listen a moment, after which he turned to Miss Lyman.

'Gwey says,' he reported, ''at he doesn’t b’ieve all ve wicked people was dwown-ed, 'cause he was a-livin' ven, an’ he was a very wicked man, an’ he didn’t go into ve Ark, an’ _he_ wasn’t dwown-ed.'

Miss Lyman might have forgiven Mr. Grey’s skepticism, but he showed a tendency to incite Stanislaus to a recklessness which could not be overlooked.

None of the children were allowed to leave the school grounds without permission, but time and again Stanislaus slipped out of the gate, and was caught marching straight down the middle of the road leading to the village.

This was a particularly alarming proceeding, because at this point in the road automobiles were apt to put on their last crazy burst of speed, before having to slow down to the sober ten miles an hour of the village limits.

Indeed, one day, he was returned to the school by a white and irate automobilist.

'What do you suppose this little scoundrel did?'

the man stormed.

'Why, he ran out from the side of the road and barked at my car!'

'I was dest pertendin' I was a little puppy dog,' Stanislaus murmured softly.

'Pretending you were a _puppy_ dog!'

roared the man.

'Well, if I hadn’t ditched my machine--!

A _puppy dog_, indeed!'

Stanislaus was turned over to Miss Lyman for very severe chastisement.

He shed bitter tears, and in the midst of them his instigator’s name came out.

'G-gwey said he al’us barked at aut’mobiles--dest barked an’ barked at 'em--dest whenever he got weady,' he sobbed.

'If you ever do such a dreadful thing again, I shall give you the very worst whipping you ever had,' Miss Lyman scolded.

'Little blind boys have got to learn to be careful where they walk.'

To which Stanislaus made the astonishing reply:-- 'Gwey says he dest walked anywhere he got weady when he was little--'fore he got _his_ eyes open.'

That was the first hint that Miss Lyman got of it.

Afterwards she and Miss Cynthia--Stanislaus’s teacher--caught constant glimpses of a curious idea that dodged in and out of the little boy’s flow of talk.

A

queer, elusive, will-o'-the-wisp idea, caught one minute, gone the next, yet informing all the child’s dreams and happy castles of the future.

At first they compared notes on the subject.

'What do you suppose Stanny has got into his head?'

Miss Lyman demanded of Miss Cynthia.

'When I told him that Kent Woodward had a little sister, he said, "Has s’e got her eyes open yet?"

'Yes,' agreed Miss Cynthia; 'and when I happened to say that Jimmie Nickle was the biggest blind boy in school, he said he must be awful stupid not to have got his eyes open yet.'

But afterwards they both by common consent avoided the subject.

This was because each dreaded that the other might confirm a fear that was shaping itself in their minds.

It is probable that these two loved Stanislaus better than any one else loved him in all the world.

Certainly if his father cared more for him, he did not take the trouble to show it, having seemingly washed his hands of the little fellow after turning him over to the school.

It was partly his delightful trick of individualizing people in general, and his friends in particular, that had so endeared him to these two.

'I al’us know when it’s you,' he confided to Miss Lyman, as he played with her chatelaine, ''cause I hear vese tinkly fings coming way and away, 'fore you gits here.'

While to Miss Cynthia he said, 'I al’us knows you by vat sweet smell.'

And often he surprised them by such remarks as 'You don’t like wainy days, do you, Miss Lyman?

I heard you tell Miss Cyn-fee-ia vat wainy days de-de-depwessed you.'

He got the big word out after a struggle.

'I fink,' he added, 'vat wainy days de-depwess me too.'

This last remark was simply an extra flourish of politeness on his part.

Nothing ever really depressed him, and when he said, 'Miss Cyn-fee-ia says s’e likes to laugh; I fink I like to laugh too,' he came much nearer the truth.

He did like to laugh, and he loved life and all it had to offer him.

Each morning was a wonderful gift to him, and his days went by like a chain of golden beads strung together on a thread of delight.

It was because of his delight in life, and because they loved him, and could not bear that Fate should prick any of his rainbow bubbles, that both Miss Lyman and Miss Cynthia avoided the subject after they had once discovered what tragic little hope his mind was fostering.

Miss Julia, however, was different.

Her sensibilities did not lead her into by-paths of pathos; therefore, when she chanced upon Stanislaus’s little secret, she joyfully proclaimed it.

'Well, if that little Stanislaus isn’t the funniest child I ever _did_ see!'

she began one evening in the teachers' hall.

'Why, if you’ll believe me, he thinks that children are like kittens and puppies, and are all born blind, and after a while they get their eyes open just like cats and dogs.

He thinks he is big enough now to have his eyes open 'most any day.

Well, I didn’t tell him any better, but I thought I should die laughing.'

Here Miss Lyman and Miss Cynthia rose with one accord, and left the teachers' hall.

Upstairs in Miss Lyman’s room they faced each other.

'You knew?'

Miss Cynthia half questioned, half asserted.

'How can I help knowing!'

Miss Lyman cried passionately.

'He’s always telling me what he’s going to do when "I’m big an’ can see."

It _isn’t_ a foolish idea!

It’s a perfectly natural one.

Some one has told him about puppies and kittens, and of _course_ he thought children were the same way.

It isn’t foolish, it’s--' 'You’ve got to tell him the truth,' Miss Cynthia interposed.

'I won’t,' Miss Lyman declared.

'All his dreams and hopes are centred on that idea.'

'If you don’t tell him, the other boys will find it out soon and laugh at him, and that will be worse.'

'Well, why have I got to tell him?

Why don’t you?'

'He loves you best,' Miss Cynthia evaded.

'I don’t believe any one will have to tell him,' Miss Lyman took her up, hopefully.

'I believe it will just drop out of his mind as he gets older.

He’ll just cease to believe it without any shock, without ever really knowing when he found out it wasn’t so.'

But she reckoned without Mr. Grey.

He, it appeared, had fixed a date for the great event.

'Gwey says,' Stanislaus announced, 'vat he got _his_ eyes open ve day he was five, an’ he dest bets I’ll get mine open ven too.'

Thereafter, all his dreams and plays were inspired by the magic words, 'When I’m five an’ can see.'

The sentence served as a mental spring-board to jump his imagination off into a world of wonder where he could see, 'dest--dest as good as big folks' or 'dest as good as Gwey.'

Every day his fifth birthday drew nearer, and Miss Cynthia’s eyes said, You’ve got to tell; and everyday Miss Lyman avoided them.

At last it was the day before his birthday.

He waked with the words, 'To-mowwow is my birfday,' on his tongue, and scrambled out of bed, a little night-shirted figure of ecstasy.

His dressing that morning--the putting on of his shoes, the scrubbing of his fingers, the rather uncertain brushing of his hair--all went off to the happy refrain of-- 'To-mowwow is my birfday, my birfday, my birfday!'

Some deep wisdom kept him from letting the other boys suspect what Mr. Grey had foretold for his birthday; but when he came to Miss Lyman that she might look him over before he went to school, he pulled her down close to whisper, 'I’m goin' to look at _you_ de very first one of all.'

And to seal the matter he deposited a kiss in the palm of her hand, and shut her fingers upon it.

'Keep vat till I come back,' he commanded, and went jauntily off to school, where in all probability he made the same engaging promise to Miss Cynthia, and sealed it with the same token.

But if he did, one may be certain he hid the token safe away in her hand.

He was always shy about kisses, not being quite sure but that they might be visible.

You could certainly feel the things, so why mightn’t they be seen as well, sticking right out on one’s cheek, for seeing people to stare at?

For this reason, he refused them on his own account, ''cause vey might show'; and those that he gave were always bestowed in the palm of the hand, where the fingers could be closed hastily upon them.

Miss Lyman sat in the clothes room that morning, and sewed and waited.

Her needle blurred, and her thread knotted, and the patches seemed more difficult than ever, and all because she had told herself that presently she must take a little boy up in her lap and shatter his dearest hope with truth.

She had made up her mind that, when he came from school that morning, she would have to tell him.

Therefore she sat and sewed, her whole being tense for the sound of his footsteps.

She knew just how he would come--with a sudden scamper up the steps outside.

He always ran as soon as his fingers were sure of the rail, because much of his time he was an engine, 'An’ vats ve way twains come up steps.'

Then he would whisk around the corner, fumble an instant for the door-handle, and burst in upon her.

But after all, none of these sounds came.

Instead, there was suddenly the trampling of grown-up feet, the rush of skirts, and Miss Cynthia threw the door open.

'Oh, come--come quick!'

she panted.

'Stanny is hurt--He ran away--Oh, I _told_ him to come straight to you!

But he ran away down the road, and a motor--' Together they sped down the long corridors to the hospital.

They had brought Stanny there and laid him on one of the very clean little beds.

Such a tiny crushed morsel of humanity in the centre of the big bare room!

But his hand moved and he found Miss Lyman’s chatelaine as she bent over him.

'I knowed you was comin' by ve tinkly fings,' he whispered.

Then--'I was dest playin' it was my birfday an’ I could see.

--Gwey said to.

--Is you--is you goin' to punish me vis time?'

he quavered.

'No, lovey, no--not this time,' she faltered, for she had caught the look on the doctor’s face.

'Gwey said he al’us dest barked an’ barked at aut’mobiles.

--Let me hold ve tinkly fings so’s I will know you is vere.'

And by and by he murmured, 'It’ll be my birfday soon--_weal_ soon now, won’t it?'

'Very, very soon now,' she answered, and clinched her hand tight to keep her voice steady.

'Why,' he said, his restless fingers chancing upon her clinched ones, 'why, you is still got my kiss all tight in you hand.

I’d fink it would be all melted by now.'

A little startled moan cut him short.

'I hurts!'

he cried.

'Oh, I _hurts_!'

'Yes,' she answered breathlessly, 'yes, my darling, it will hurt a little.'

'Is it--is it 'cause my eyes is openin'?'

he gasped.

'Yes, lovey, that’s the reason.'

Her hand held his tight.

'But it won’t hurt long.'

'Gwey never--never said it would hurt like vis,' he sobbed.

The doctor stooped down and made a tiny prick in the baby arm, and after a little Stanislaus lay still.

'He may be conscious again before the end,' the doctor said, 'but I hardly think it is likely.'

He was not.

He tossed a little, and murmured broken snatches of words, but he was too busy going along this new exciting path to turn back to the old ways, even to speak to his friends.

Miss Lyman sat beside him all through the bright afternoon, through the tender dusk, and through the dark.

Late in the night, he stirred, and cried out with a little happy breath,-- 'My _birfday_!

It’s _come_!'

And by the time it was morning he had gone.

Miss Lyman closed the eyes that had opened so wide upon another world, drew up all the curtains, that the room might be flooded with the dancing light of his birthday morning, said a little prayer, committing him to his angel, and stole softly away.

A SOLDIER OF THE LEGION