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The
cat-like
Steger
,
who
had
all
the
graceful
contemplative
air
of
a
prowling
Tom
,
was
just
the
person
to
deal
with
her
.
A
more
suavely
cunning
and
opportunistic
soul
never
was
.
His
motto
might
well
have
been
,
speak
softly
and
step
lightly
.
"
My
dear
Mrs.
Cowperwood
,
"
he
argued
,
seated
in
her
modest
West
Philadelphia
parlor
one
spring
afternoon
,
"
I
need
not
tell
you
what
a
remarkable
man
your
husband
is
,
nor
how
useless
it
is
to
combat
him
.
Admitting
all
his
faults
--
and
we
can
agree
,
if
you
please
,
that
they
are
many
"
--
Mrs.
Cowperwood
stirred
with
irritation
--
"
still
it
is
not
worth
while
to
attempt
to
hold
him
to
a
strict
account
.
You
know
"
--
and
Mr.
Steger
opened
his
thin
,
artistic
hands
in
a
deprecatory
way
--
"
what
sort
of
a
man
Mr.
Cowperwood
is
,
and
whether
he
can
be
coerced
or
not
.
He
is
not
an
ordinary
man
,
Mrs.
Cowperwood
.
No
man
could
have
gone
through
what
he
has
and
be
where
he
is
to-day
,
and
be
an
average
man
.
If
you
take
my
advice
you
will
let
him
go
his
way
.
Grant
him
a
divorce
.
He
is
willing
,
even
anxious
to
make
a
definite
provision
for
you
and
your
children
.
He
will
,
I
am
sure
,
look
liberally
after
their
future
.
But
he
is
becoming
very
irritable
over
your
unwillingness
to
give
him
a
legal
separation
,
and
unless
you
do
I
am
very
much
afraid
that
the
whole
matter
will
be
thrown
into
the
courts
.
If
,
before
it
comes
to
that
,
I
could
effect
an
arrangement
agreeable
to
you
,
I
would
be
much
pleased
.
As
you
know
,
I
have
been
greatly
grieved
by
the
whole
course
of
your
recent
affairs
.
I
am
intensely
sorry
that
things
are
as
they
are
.
"
Mr.
Steger
lifted
his
eyes
in
a
very
pained
,
deprecatory
way
.
He
regretted
deeply
the
shifty
currents
of
this
troubled
world
.
Mrs.
Cowperwood
for
perhaps
the
fifteenth
or
twentieth
time
heard
him
to
the
end
in
patience
.
Cowperwood
would
not
return
.
Steger
was
as
much
her
friend
as
any
other
lawyer
would
be
.
Besides
,
he
was
socially
agreeable
to
her
.
Despite
his
Machiavellian
profession
,
she
half
believed
him
.
He
went
over
,
tactfully
,
a
score
of
additional
points
.
Finally
,
on
the
twenty-first
visit
,
and
with
seemingly
great
distress
,
he
told
her
that
her
husband
had
decided
to
break
with
her
financially
,
to
pay
no
more
bills
,
and
do
nothing
until
his
responsibility
had
been
fixed
by
the
courts
,
and
that
he
,
Steger
,
was
about
to
retire
from
the
case
.
Mrs.
Cowperwood
felt
that
she
must
yield
;
she
named
her
ultimatum
.
If
he
would
fix
two
hundred
thousand
dollars
on
her
and
the
children
(
this
was
Cowperwood
's
own
suggestion
)
and
later
on
do
something
commercially
for
their
only
son
,
Frank
,
junior
,
she
would
let
him
go
.
She
disliked
to
do
it
.
She
knew
that
it
meant
the
triumph
of
Aileen
Butler
,
such
as
it
was
.
But
,
after
all
,
that
wretched
creature
had
been
properly
disgraced
in
Philadelphia
.
It
was
not
likely
she
could
ever
raise
her
head
socially
anywhere
any
more
.
She
agreed
to
file
a
plea
which
Steger
would
draw
up
for
her
,
and
by
that
oily
gentleman
's
machinations
it
was
finally
wormed
through
the
local
court
in
the
most
secret
manner
imaginable
.
The
merest
item
in
three
of
the
Philadelphia
papers
some
six
weeks
later
reported
that
a
divorce
had
been
granted
.
When
Mrs.
Cowperwood
read
it
she
wondered
greatly
that
so
little
attention
had
been
attracted
by
it
.
She
had
feared
a
much
more
extended
comment
.
She
little
knew
the
cat-like
prowlings
,
legal
and
journalistic
,
of
her
husband
's
interesting
counsel
.
When
Cowperwood
read
it
on
one
of
his
visits
to
Chicago
he
heaved
a
sigh
of
relief
.
At
last
it
was
really
true
.
Now
he
could
make
Aileen
his
wife
.
He
telegraphed
her
an
enigmatic
message
of
congratulation
.
When
Aileen
read
it
she
thrilled
from
head
to
foot
.
Now
,
shortly
,
she
would
become
the
legal
bride
of
Frank
Algernon
Cowperwood
,
the
newly
enfranchised
Chicago
financier
,
and
then
--
"
Oh
,
"
she
said
,
in
her
Philadelphia
home
,
when
she
read
it
,
"
is
n't
that
splendid
!
Now
I
'll
be
Mrs.
Cowperwood
.
Oh
,
dear
!
"
Mrs.
Frank
Algernon
Cowperwood
number
one
,
thinking
over
her
husband
's
liaison
,
failure
,
imprisonment
,
pyrotechnic
operations
at
the
time
of
the
Jay
Cooke
failure
,
and
his
present
financial
ascendancy
,
wondered
at
the
mystery
of
life
.
There
must
be
a
God
.
The
Bible
said
so
.
Her
husband
,
evil
though
he
was
,
could
not
be
utterly
bad
,
for
he
had
made
ample
provision
for
her
,
and
the
children
liked
him
Certainly
,
at
the
time
of
the
criminal
prosecution
he
was
no
worse
than
some
others
who
had
gone
free
.
Yet
he
had
been
convicted
,
and
she
was
sorry
for
that
and
had
always
been
.
He
was
an
able
and
ruthless
man
.
She
hardly
knew
what
to
think
.
The
one
person
she
really
did
blame
was
the
wretched
,
vain
,
empty-headed
,
ungodly
Aileen
Butler
,
who
had
been
his
seductress
and
was
probably
now
to
be
his
wife
.
God
would
punish
her
,
no
doubt
.
He
must
.
So
she
went
to
church
on
Sundays
and
tried
to
believe
,
come
what
might
,
that
all
was
for
the
best
.
The
day
Cowperwood
and
Aileen
were
married
--
it
was
in
an
obscure
village
called
Dalston
,
near
Pittsburg
,
in
western
Pennsylvania
,
where
they
had
stopped
off
to
manage
this
matter
--
he
had
said
to
her
:
"
I
want
to
tell
you
,
dear
,
that
you
and
I
are
really
beginning
life
all
over
.
Now
it
depends
on
how
well
we
play
this
game
as
to
how
well
we
succeed
.
If
you
will
listen
to
me
we
wo
n't
try
to
do
anything
much
socially
in
Chicago
for
the
present
.
Of
course
we
'll
have
to
meet
a
few
people
.
That
ca
n't
be
avoided
.
Mr.
and
Mrs.
Addison
are
anxious
to
meet
you
,
and
I
've
delayed
too
long
in
that
matter
as
it
is
.
But
what
I
mean
is
that
I
do
n't
believe
it
's
advisable
to
push
this
social
exchange
too
far
.
People
are
sure
to
begin
to
make
inquiries
if
we
do
.
My
plan
is
to
wait
a
little
while
and
then
build
a
really
fine
house
so
that
we
wo
n't
need
to
rebuild
.
We
're
going
to
go
to
Europe
next
spring
,
if
things
go
right
,
and
we
may
get
some
ideas
over
there
.
I
'm
going
to
put
in
a
good
big
gallery
,
"
he
concluded
.
"
While
we
're
traveling
we
might
as
well
see
what
we
can
find
in
the
way
of
pictures
and
so
on
.
"
