Mrs. Sanderson, at the various stations of her social pilgrimage, had
managed to create fresh enthusiasms for every shrine. Each year found
her alert, substituting new images for those cast down, and, withal,
grading so ingeniously the declivities of time, that the world failed to
detect the skillful engineering, because for her there had been none of
those abrupt drops so disastrous to the grace of womanhood.
She was always in sympathy with the age. For this reason she was
perpetually surrounded by young people, who referred to her upon all
questions, accepting her decree as preeminent.
Her distinguished bearing and captivating manners were so infectious
that, before she had been in San Gabriel a week, she was the recognized
authority of the hotel.
It was suicidal to one's standing with a laundress to advocate the
doctrines of unfluted linen, contrary to the opinion of Mrs. Sanderson.
Even the non-emotional Wing Lee replied to my entreaty "to handle less
roughly Marjorie's frocks": "High tone lady _she_ muchey likey my
washey! my starchey!" I felt the propriety of the rebuke when Mrs.
Sanderson at that moment sauntered past my door.
Having established her position, even in the estimation of the domestics
and Celestials, it is not surprising that at the end of two weeks she
was widely known in the district of San Gabriel. Devoutly feared by the
usual social barometers of the hotel, adored by all on whom she smiled,
and hated by the unfortunate few ostracized from her favor, she seemed
the sun of the San Gabriel social system, compelling Sidney and every
one about her to reflect modestly the capricious beams she magnanimously
bestowed. In the meantime, a marvelous change had taken place in the
bare apartments that, up to the present time, had not been distinguished
as the choice of a popular leader. The rooms were no longer suggestive
of the fluctuating tourist, but suddenly became rich in abiding
personality and comfort.
It was observable that the obsequious housekeeper had rifled other
apartments, and that couches and easy chairs had materialized with a due
conformity to the prolific climate.
The formerly obtrusive white walls soon grew companionable, as pictures,
draperies, Japanese plaques, and characteristic Indian baskets sprouted
upon them each night. In all directions were strewn evidences of travel
and refinement.
In the bepillowed alcove a dainty tea table invited the five o'clock
teabibbers of the circle elect, while a piano and stringed instruments
allured the musical, and always the young.
More noticeable, however, than all else in the rooms was the display of
attractive photographs, indicating for the Sandersons a large and
distinguished acquaintance of beautiful women.
"Sid's sweethearts!" the mother said playfully, to the girls who
questioned her about the rival beauties, and when a pert miss bravely
intimated that young Sanderson must be "a kind of a Blue Beard," the
lady good-naturedly replied: "Oh, yes, Sid is terribly fickle. Most of
the dear ones have been beheaded long ago, and now the naughty boy is
only in love with his mother."
At the same time, we noticed that the face of one beautiful girl was
repeated many times in the collection, and inferred that this particular
beauty still found favor.
The son was noncommittal. He submitted indifferently to the attentions
of the various young women who thronged his mother's rooms, yet more
often appeared bored than entertained.
Had I met Sidney away from his clever relative, I am certain I would
never have honored him with my acquaintance; but from the first his
mother compelled me, as well as her entire circle of friends, to accept
the young man at her estimate. Sidney Sanderson was undoubtedly a
striking development of his type; but foolish indulgence, a naturally
indolent and unsympathetic disposition--together with certain
disreputable vices, had made him totally unworthy of the consideration
he received. About his full, blond physique there was a blase
indifference which unfortunately very often fascinates young girls. Yet,
without his mother, the young man would have found it difficult to
retain social approbation. Deprived of her shielding expedients, his
dissipations would have become notorious, his gentlemanly pretensions
questioned.
Away from her far-reaching influence, her vigilant contrivance and
conquering resources, he would not have been long courted or extolled.
The usual unhappy demand for young men would doubtless have insured, for
a time, his toleration about the hotel, but his position would have been
different. He would have been openly criticised, and perhaps denounced,
unprotected by his mother's popularity.
As it was, no one dared to hint an unfavorable judgment on the son of
the gifted mother who put words into his mouth and characteristics to
his account, which, in reminiscent moods, must have embarrassed him.
Mrs. Sanderson approved, or withered instantly, our plans, although she
never neglected to refer with the sweetest subserviency to her son.
"Ask Sid," she would say; "I dare say he will think it quite the thing
for us all, but his judgments are so much quieter than mine, that he is
best to consult." Thus she constituted her self-instructed oracle a
paramount authority.
I am still fascinated with the recollections of this wily woman. Her
ability to deceive captivates me now, as, in the beginning of our
acquaintanceship, it enthralled my reason and silenced my prejudices.
Not satisfied with posing her son before the young and unthinking as a
model of refinement, endowed with the intrinsic qualities of manhood,
his intellectual upheavals were often depicted in side talk, with
celebrities. Once with maternal discretion as fine as it was
impertinent, she told our latest nervously prostrated authoress, who was
enjoying a cup of tea in the alcove, about her boy's passion for old
books. "Sidney's library is his one extravagance," she confided,
sweetly. Then, with unblushing assurance, she told how her son's
intellectual indulgence had cost her an orange ranch; yet, owing to the
extremely moral character of the fad, she had grown resigned. Only once
had she ventured a remonstrance--when a fabulous sum was paid for an
atrocious old Dante, too absolutely filthy for any one but a
connoisseur. Of course, she knew she was uncultivated, but she preferred
her books fresh and clean, with attractive covers. However, there were
compensations with every trial, and Sid's veneration for antiquities
might still prove a blessing, as she herself would some day be
sufficiently antique to justify his supreme devotion.
Thus the woman audaciously chattered, advertising fearlessly the bogus
literary tastes of her son.
If we questioned Sidney's phenomenal reticence upon subjects so near his
heart, for convenient reasons all appeared willing to accept the
mother's version of the unexplored country where gold abounded--and
still waters ran to a depth unparalleled.
Now that the scales have fallen from my eyes, I have spare justification
for this woman, for so many weeks my daily companion. Even a mother's
desperation can not excuse her conduct, although it may possibly
moderate its enormity in the eyes of those who have sought to shield
with ornate falsehood an unworthy child. With the woman's clear
perception, she must have known more certainly than all others the
fullest truth concerning her son. She could not be blind to his aimless
life, his selfish nature, his depraved, ill-controlled passions. Yet,
with all her superior knowledge of the risk, she deemed it her right to
supplement her boy's deficiencies by chimerical attractions, sheltering
him, if possible, to the end, beneath the decencies and refinements of
society.
Without his mother in the breach, Sidney Sanderson would undoubtedly
have been publicly disgraced many times, for he was not a clever rogue.
Yet, only once, to my knowledge, did his disreputable conduct appear in
print, and even then the mother proved herself equal to the dastardly
emergencies of the scandal.
The affair occurred in one of the quick-grown Western cities in which
the Sandersons were financially interested. They lived in the place for
a number of months, and were soon the center of the fashionable!
questionable! mushroom! set of the town. I had the story from an eye
witness of the unique local travesty, which, together with my personal
knowledge of the leading lady's adaptation for her part, enabled me to
readily imagine the dramatic force of the situation.
It was simple to see a group of fair gossipers, suspending instantly the
bold assertions of the moment, when the tall, gracious, masterful Mrs.
Sanderson appeared among them, holding in her beautiful jeweled hands
the daily paper. Still easier to fancy the incredulous expressions,
followed by eager devotion to fancy work, when the lady deliberately
seated herself in the cosy corner of the hotel corridor and read,
unflinchingly, a long, scandalous article, replete with stinging
invective, which everyone knew applied to but one man, and that man her
son. I could fancy the woman asking insolently, at the close of her
desperate performance, if any one could locate the "Blond Lothario" of
the sensation, feeling absolutely sure that no voice would answer.
Such was Mrs. Sanderson's nerve, such her diabolical vigor. So strong
were her restraining influences, and so unflinching her power, that none
of the social squad dared to confront her with her lie. It was not until
weeks afterwards, when both mother and son had left the town, that
tongues were loosened and restricted gossips happy.