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- Теодор Драйзер
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- Стр. 227/332
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Mr.
Sluss
went
back
to
his
chair
,
but
he
could
not
sit
in
it
.
He
went
for
his
coat
,
took
it
down
,
hung
it
up
again
,
took
it
down
,
announced
over
the
'
phone
that
he
could
not
see
any
one
for
several
hours
,
and
went
out
by
a
private
door
.
Wearily
he
walked
along
North
Clark
Street
,
looking
at
the
hurly-burly
of
traffic
,
looking
at
the
dirty
,
crowded
river
,
looking
at
the
sky
and
smoke
and
gray
buildings
,
and
wondering
what
he
should
do
.
The
world
was
so
hard
at
times
;
it
was
so
cruel
.
His
wife
,
his
family
,
his
political
career
.
He
could
not
conscientiously
sign
any
ordinances
for
Mr.
Cowperwood
--
that
would
be
immoral
,
dishonest
,
a
scandal
to
the
city
.
Mr.
Cowperwood
was
a
notorious
traitor
to
the
public
welfare
.
At
the
same
time
he
could
not
very
well
refuse
,
for
here
was
Mrs.
Brandon
,
the
charming
and
unscrupulous
creature
,
playing
into
the
hands
of
Cowperwood
.
If
he
could
only
meet
her
,
beg
of
her
,
plead
;
but
where
was
she
?
He
had
not
seen
her
for
months
and
months
.
Could
he
go
to
Hand
and
confess
all
?
But
Hand
was
a
hard
,
cold
,
moral
man
also
.
Oh
,
Lord
!
Oh
,
Lord
!
He
wondered
and
thought
,
and
sighed
and
pondered
--
all
without
avail
.
Pity
the
poor
earthling
caught
in
the
toils
of
the
moral
law
.
In
another
country
,
perhaps
,
in
another
day
,
another
age
,
such
a
situation
would
have
been
capable
of
a
solution
,
one
not
utterly
destructive
to
Mr.
Sluss
,
and
not
entirely
favorable
to
a
man
like
Cowperwood
.
But
here
in
the
United
States
,
here
in
Chicago
,
the
ethical
verities
would
all
,
as
he
knew
,
be
lined
up
against
him
.
What
Lake
View
would
think
,
what
his
pastor
would
think
,
what
Hand
and
all
his
moral
associates
would
think
--
ah
,
these
were
the
terrible
,
the
incontrovertible
consequences
of
his
lapse
from
virtue
.
At
four
o'clock
,
after
Mr.
Sluss
had
wandered
for
hours
in
the
snow
and
cold
,
belaboring
himself
for
a
fool
and
a
knave
,
and
while
Cowperwood
was
sitting
at
his
desk
signing
papers
,
contemplating
a
glowing
fire
,
and
wondering
whether
the
mayor
would
deem
it
advisable
to
put
in
an
appearance
,
his
office
door
opened
and
one
of
his
trim
stenographers
entered
announcing
Mr.
Chaffee
Thayer
Sluss
.
Enter
Mayor
Sluss
,
sad
,
heavy
,
subdued
,
shrunken
,
a
very
different
gentleman
from
the
one
who
had
talked
so
cavalierly
over
the
wires
some
five
and
a
half
hours
before
.
Gray
weather
,
severe
cold
,
and
much
contemplation
of
seemingly
irreconcilable
facts
had
reduced
his
spirits
greatly
.
He
was
a
little
pale
and
a
little
restless
.
Mental
distress
has
a
reducing
,
congealing
effect
,
and
Mayor
Sluss
seemed
somewhat
less
than
his
usual
self
in
height
,
weight
,
and
thickness
.
Cowperwood
had
seen
him
more
than
once
on
various
political
platforms
,
but
he
had
never
met
him
.
When
the
troubled
mayor
entered
he
arose
courteously
and
waved
him
to
a
chair
.
"
Sit
down
,
Mr.
Sluss
,
"
he
said
,
genially
.
"
It
's
a
disagreeable
day
out
,
is
n't
it
?
I
suppose
you
have
come
in
regard
to
the
matter
we
were
discussing
this
morning
?
"
Nor
was
this
cordiality
wholly
assumed
.
One
of
the
primal
instincts
of
Cowperwood
's
nature
--
for
all
his
chicane
and
subtlety
--
was
to
take
no
rough
advantage
of
a
beaten
enemy
.
In
the
hour
of
victory
he
was
always
courteous
,
bland
,
gentle
,
and
even
sympathetic
;
he
was
so
to-day
,
and
quite
honestly
,
too
.
Mayor
Sluss
put
down
the
high
sugar-loaf
hat
he
wore
and
said
,
grandiosely
,
as
was
his
manner
even
in
the
direst
extremity
:
"
Well
,
you
see
,
I
am
here
,
Mr.
Cowperwood
.
What
is
it
you
wish
me
to
do
,
exactly
?
"
"
Nothing
unreasonable
,
I
assure
you
,
Mr.
Sluss
,
"
replied
Cowperwood
.
"
Your
manner
to
me
this
morning
was
a
little
brusque
,
and
,
as
I
have
always
wanted
to
have
a
sensible
private
talk
with
you
,
I
took
this
way
of
getting
it
.
I
should
like
you
to
dismiss
from
your
mind
at
once
the
thought
that
I
am
going
to
take
an
unfair
advantage
of
you
in
any
way
.
I
have
no
present
intention
of
publishing
your
correspondence
with
Mrs.
Brandon
.
"
(
As
he
said
this
he
took
from
his
drawer
a
bundle
of
letters
which
Mayor
Sluss
recognized
at
once
as
the
enthusiastic
missives
which
he
had
sometime
before
penned
to
the
fair
Claudia
.
Mr.
Sluss
groaned
as
he
beheld
this
incriminating
evidence
.
)
"
I
am
not
trying
,
"
continued
Cowperwood
,
"
to
wreck
your
career
,
nor
to
make
you
do
anything
which
you
do
not
feel
that
you
can
conscientiously
undertake
.
The
letters
that
I
have
here
,
let
me
say
,
have
come
to
me
quite
by
accident
.
I
did
not
seek
them
.
But
,
since
I
do
have
them
,
I
thought
I
might
as
well
mention
them
as
a
basis
for
a
possible
talk
and
compromise
between
us
.
"
