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- Стр. 164/332
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After
this
Lynde
had
no
opportunity
to
talk
to
Aileen
privately
;
but
in
saying
good
night
he
ventured
to
press
her
arm
suggestively
.
She
suffered
a
peculiar
nervous
thrill
from
this
,
but
decided
curiously
that
she
had
brought
it
upon
herself
by
her
eagerness
for
life
and
revenge
,
and
must
make
up
her
mind
.
Did
she
or
did
she
not
wish
to
go
on
with
this
?
This
was
the
question
uppermost
,
and
she
felt
that
she
must
decide
However
,
as
in
most
such
cases
,
circumstances
were
to
help
decide
for
her
,
and
,
unquestionably
,
a
portion
of
this
truth
was
in
her
mind
as
she
was
shown
gallantly
to
her
door
by
Taylor
Lord
.
The
interested
appearance
of
a
man
like
Polk
Lynde
at
this
stage
of
Aileen
's
affairs
was
a
bit
of
fortuitous
or
gratuitous
humor
on
the
part
of
fate
,
which
is
involved
with
that
subconscious
chemistry
of
things
of
which
as
yet
we
know
nothing
.
Here
was
Aileen
brooding
over
her
fate
,
meditating
over
her
wrongs
,
as
it
were
;
and
here
was
Polk
Lynde
,
an
interesting
,
forceful
Lothario
of
the
city
,
who
was
perhaps
as
well
suited
to
her
moods
and
her
tastes
at
this
time
as
any
male
outside
of
Cowperwood
could
be
.
In
many
respects
Lynde
was
a
charming
man
.
He
was
comparatively
young
--
not
more
than
Aileen
's
own
age
--
schooled
,
if
not
educated
,
at
one
of
the
best
American
colleges
,
of
excellent
taste
in
the
matter
of
clothes
,
friends
,
and
the
details
of
living
with
which
he
chose
to
surround
himself
,
but
at
heart
a
rake
.
He
loved
,
and
had
from
his
youth
up
,
to
gamble
.
He
was
in
one
phase
of
the
word
a
HARD
and
yet
by
no
means
a
self-destructive
drinker
,
for
he
had
an
iron
constitution
and
could
consume
spirituous
waters
with
the
minimum
of
ill
effect
.
He
had
what
Gibbon
was
wont
to
call
"
the
most
amiable
of
our
vices
,
"
a
passion
for
women
,
and
he
cared
no
more
for
the
cool
,
patient
,
almost
penitent
methods
by
which
his
father
had
built
up
the
immense
reaper
business
,
of
which
he
was
supposedly
the
heir
,
than
he
cared
for
the
mysteries
or
sacred
rights
of
the
Chaldees
.
He
realized
that
the
business
itself
was
a
splendid
thing
.
He
liked
on
occasion
to
think
of
it
with
all
its
extent
of
ground-space
,
plain
red-brick
buildings
,
tall
stacks
and
yelling
whistles
;
but
he
liked
in
no
way
to
have
anything
to
do
with
the
rather
commonplace
routine
of
its
manipulation
.
The
principal
difficulty
with
Aileen
under
these
circumstances
,
of
course
,
was
her
intense
vanity
and
self-consciousness
.
Never
was
there
a
vainer
or
more
sex-troubled
woman
.
Why
,
she
asked
herself
,
should
she
sit
here
in
loneliness
day
after
day
,
brooding
about
Cowperwood
,
eating
her
heart
out
,
while
he
was
flitting
about
gathering
the
sweets
of
life
elsewhere
?
Why
should
she
not
offer
her
continued
charms
as
a
solace
and
a
delight
to
other
men
who
would
appreciate
them
?
Would
not
such
a
policy
have
all
the
essentials
of
justice
in
it
?
Yet
even
now
,
so
precious
had
Cowperwood
been
to
her
hitherto
,
and
so
wonderful
,
that
she
was
scarcely
able
to
think
of
senous
disloyalty
.
He
was
so
charming
when
he
was
nice
--
so
splendid
.
When
Lynde
sought
to
hold
her
to
the
proposed
luncheon
engagement
she
at
first
declined
.
And
there
,
under
slightly
differing
conditions
,
the
matter
might
easily
have
stood
.
But
it
so
happened
that
just
at
this
time
Aileen
was
being
almost
daily
harassed
by
additional
evidence
and
reminders
of
Cowperwood
's
infidelity
.
For
instance
,
going
one
day
to
call
on
the
Haguenins
--
for
she
was
perfectly
willing
to
keep
up
the
pretense
of
amity
in
so
long
as
they
had
not
found
out
the
truth
--
she
was
informed
that
Mrs.
Haguenin
was
"
not
at
home
.
"
Shortly
thereafter
the
Press
,
which
had
always
been
favorable
to
Cowperwood
,
and
which
Aileen
regularly
read
because
of
its
friendly
comment
,
suddenly
veered
and
began
to
attack
him
.
There
were
solemn
suggestions
at
first
that
his
policy
and
intentions
might
not
be
in
accord
with
the
best
interests
of
the
city
.
A
little
later
Haguenin
printed
editorials
which
referred
to
Cowperwood
as
"
the
wrecker
,
"
"
the
Philadelphia
adventurer
,
"
"
a
conscienceless
promoter
,
"
and
the
like
.
Aileen
guessed
instantly
what
the
trouble
was
,
but
she
was
too
disturbed
as
to
her
own
position
to
make
any
comment
.
She
could
not
resolve
the
threats
and
menaces
of
Cowperwood
's
envious
world
any
more
than
she
could
see
her
way
through
her
own
grim
difficulties
.
One
day
,
in
scanning
the
columns
of
that
faithful
chronicle
of
Chicago
social
doings
,
the
Chicago
Saturday
Review
,
she
came
across
an
item
which
served
as
a
final
blow
.
"
For
some
time
in
high
social
circles
,
"
the
paragraph
ran
,
"
speculation
has
been
rife
as
to
the
amours
and
liaisons
of
a
certain
individual
of
great
wealth
and
pseudo
social
prominence
,
who
once
made
a
serious
attempt
to
enter
Chicago
society
.
It
is
not
necessary
to
name
the
man
,
for
all
who
are
acquainted
with
recent
events
in
Chicago
will
know
who
is
meant
.
The
latest
rumor
to
affect
his
already
nefarious
reputation
relates
to
two
women
--
one
the
daughter
,
and
the
other
the
wife
,
of
men
of
repute
and
standing
in
the
community
.
In
these
latest
instances
it
is
more
than
likely
that
he
has
arrayed
influences
of
the
greatest
importance
socially
and
financially
against
himself
,
for
the
husband
in
the
one
case
and
the
father
in
the
other
are
men
of
weight
and
authority
.
The
suggestion
has
more
than
once
been
made
that
Chicago
should
and
eventually
would
not
tolerate
his
bucaneering
methods
in
finance
and
social
matters
;
but
thus
far
no
definite
action
has
been
taken
to
cast
him
out
.
The
crowning
wonder
of
all
is
that
the
wife
,
who
was
brought
here
from
the
East
,
and
who
--
so
rumor
has
it
--
made
a
rather
scandalous
sacrifice
of
her
own
reputation
and
another
woman
's
heart
and
home
in
order
to
obtain
the
privilege
of
living
with
him
,
should
continue
so
to
do
.
"
