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"
Very
well
,
"
he
said
,
at
last
,
rubbing
his
hands
feverishly
.
"
It
is
what
I
might
have
expected
.
I
should
have
known
.
There
is
no
other
way
,
but
--
"
Hardly
able
to
repress
the
hot
tears
now
burning
beneath
his
eyelids
,
the
Hon.
Mr.
Sluss
picked
up
his
hat
and
left
the
room
.
Needless
to
add
that
his
preachings
against
Cowperwood
were
permanently
silenced
.
The
effect
of
all
this
was
to
arouse
in
Cowperwood
the
keenest
feelings
of
superiority
he
had
ever
yet
enjoyed
.
Hitherto
he
had
fancied
that
his
enemies
might
worst
him
,
but
at
last
his
path
seemed
clear
.
He
was
now
worth
,
all
in
all
,
the
round
sum
of
twenty
million
dollars
.
His
art-collection
had
become
the
most
important
in
the
West
--
perhaps
in
the
nation
,
public
collections
excluded
.
He
began
to
envision
himself
as
a
national
figure
,
possibly
even
an
international
one
.
And
yet
he
was
coming
to
feel
that
,
no
matter
how
complete
his
financial
victory
might
ultimately
be
,
the
chances
were
that
he
and
Aileen
would
never
be
socially
accepted
here
in
Chicago
.
He
had
done
too
many
boisterous
things
--
alienated
too
many
people
.
He
was
as
determined
as
ever
to
retain
a
firm
grip
on
the
Chicago
street-railway
situation
.
But
he
was
disturbed
for
a
second
time
in
his
life
by
the
thought
that
,
owing
to
the
complexities
of
his
own
temperament
,
he
had
married
unhappily
and
would
find
the
situation
difficult
of
adjustment
.
Aileen
,
whatever
might
be
said
of
her
deficiencies
,
was
by
no
means
as
tractable
or
acquiescent
as
his
first
wife
.
And
,
besides
,
he
felt
that
he
owed
her
a
better
turn
.
By
no
means
did
he
actually
dislike
her
as
yet
;
though
she
was
no
longer
soothing
,
stimulating
,
or
suggestive
to
him
as
she
had
formerly
been
.
Her
woes
,
because
of
him
,
were
too
many
;
her
attitude
toward
him
too
censorious
.
He
was
perfectly
willing
to
sympathize
with
her
,
to
regret
his
own
change
of
feeling
,
but
what
would
you
?
He
could
not
control
his
own
temperament
any
more
than
Aileen
could
control
hers
.
The
worst
of
this
situation
was
that
it
was
now
becoming
complicated
on
Cowperwood
's
part
with
the
most
disturbing
thoughts
concerning
Berenice
Fleming
.
Ever
since
the
days
when
he
had
first
met
her
mother
he
had
been
coming
more
and
more
to
feel
for
the
young
girl
a
soul-stirring
passion
--
and
that
without
a
single
look
exchanged
or
a
single
word
spoken
.
There
is
a
static
something
which
is
beauty
,
and
this
may
be
clothed
in
the
habiliments
of
a
ragged
philosopher
or
in
the
silks
and
satins
of
pampered
coquetry
.
It
was
a
suggestion
of
this
beauty
which
is
above
sex
and
above
age
and
above
wealth
that
shone
in
the
blowing
hair
and
night-blue
eyes
of
Berenice
Fleming
.
His
visit
to
the
Carter
family
at
Pocono
had
been
a
disappointment
to
him
,
because
of
the
apparent
hopelessness
of
arousing
Berenice
's
interest
,
and
since
that
time
,
and
during
their
casual
encounters
,
she
had
remained
politely
indifferent
.
Nevertheless
,
he
remained
true
to
his
persistence
in
the
pursuit
of
any
game
he
had
fixed
upon
.
Mrs.
Carter
,
whose
relations
with
Cowperwood
had
in
the
past
been
not
wholly
platonic
,
nevertheless
attributed
much
of
his
interest
in
her
to
her
children
and
their
vital
chance
.
Berenice
and
Rolfe
themselves
knew
nothing
concerning
the
nature
of
their
mother
's
arrangements
with
Cowperwood
.
True
to
his
promise
of
protectorship
and
assistance
,
he
had
established
her
in
a
New
York
apartment
adjacent
to
her
daughter
's
school
,
and
where
he
fancied
that
he
himself
might
spend
many
happy
hours
were
Berenice
but
near
.
Proximity
to
Berenice
!
The
desire
to
arouse
her
interest
and
command
her
favor
!
Cowperwood
would
scarcely
have
cared
to
admit
to
himself
how
great
a
part
this
played
in
a
thought
which
had
recently
been
creeping
into
his
mind
.
It
was
that
of
erecting
a
splendid
house
in
New
York
.
By
degrees
this
idea
of
building
a
New
York
house
had
grown
upon
him
.
His
Chicago
mansion
was
a
costly
sepulcher
in
which
Aileen
sat
brooding
over
the
woes
which
had
befallen
her
.
Moreover
,
aside
from
the
social
defeat
which
it
represented
,
it
was
becoming
merely
as
a
structure
,
but
poorly
typical
of
the
splendor
and
ability
of
his
imaginations
.
This
second
dwelling
,
if
he
ever
achieved
it
,
should
be
resplendent
,
a
monument
to
himself
.
In
his
speculative
wanderings
abroad
he
had
seen
many
such
great
palaces
,
designed
with
the
utmost
care
,
which
had
housed
the
taste
and
culture
of
generations
of
men
.
His
art-collection
,
in
which
he
took
an
immense
pride
,
had
been
growing
,
until
it
was
the
basis
if
not
the
completed
substance
for
a
very
splendid
memorial
.
Already
in
it
were
gathered
paintings
of
all
the
important
schools
;
to
say
nothing
of
collections
of
jade
,
illumined
missals
,
porcelains
,
rugs
,
draperies
,
mirror
frames
,
and
a
beginning
at
rare
originals
of
sculpture
.
The
beauty
of
these
strange
things
,
the
patient
laborings
of
inspired
souls
of
various
times
and
places
,
moved
him
,
on
occasion
,
to
a
gentle
awe
.
Of
all
individuals
he
respected
,
indeed
revered
,
the
sincere
artist
.
Existence
was
a
mystery
,
but
these
souls
who
set
themselves
to
quiet
tasks
of
beauty
had
caught
something
of
which
he
was
dimly
conscious
.
Life
had
touched
them
with
a
vision
,
their
hearts
and
souls
were
attuned
to
sweet
harmonies
of
which
the
common
world
knew
nothing
.
Sometimes
,
when
he
was
weary
after
a
strenuous
day
,
he
would
enter
--
late
in
the
night
--
his
now
silent
gallery
,
and
turning
on
the
lights
so
that
the
whole
sweet
room
stood
revealed
,
he
would
seat
himself
before
some
treasure
,
reflecting
on
the
nature
,
the
mood
,
the
time
,
and
the
man
that
had
produced
it
.
Sometimes
it
would
be
one
of
Rembrandt
's
melancholy
heads
--
the
sad
"
Portrait
of
a
Rabbi
"
--
or
the
sweet
introspection
of
a
Rousseau
stream
.
A
solemn
Dutch
housewife
,
rendered
with
the
bold
fidelity
and
resonant
enameled
surfaces
of
a
Hals
or
the
cold
elegance
of
an
Ingres
,
commanded
his
utmost
enthusiasm
.
So
he
would
sit
and
wonder
at
the
vision
and
skill
of
the
original
dreamer
,
exclaiming
at
times
:
"
A
marvel
!
A
marvel
!
"
At
the
same
time
,
so
far
as
Aileen
was
concerned
things
were
obviously
shaping
up
for
additional
changes
.
She
was
in
that
peculiar
state
which
has
befallen
many
a
woman
--
trying
to
substitute
a
lesser
ideal
for
a
greater
,
and
finding
that
the
effort
is
useless
or
nearly
so
.
In
regard
to
her
affair
with
Lynde
,
aside
from
the
temporary
relief
and
diversion
it
had
afforded
her
,
she
was
beginning
to
feel
that
she
had
made
a
serious
mistake
.
Lynde
was
delightful
,
after
his
fashion
.
He
could
amuse
her
with
a
different
type
of
experience
from
any
that
Cowperwood
had
to
relate
.
Once
they
were
intimate
he
had
,
with
an
easy
,
genial
air
,
confessed
to
all
sorts
of
liaisons
in
Europe
and
America
.
He
was
utterly
pagan
--
a
faun
--
and
at
the
same
time
he
was
truly
of
the
smart
world
.
His
open
contempt
of
all
but
one
or
two
of
the
people
in
Chicago
whom
Aileen
had
secretly
admired
and
wished
to
associate
with
,
and
his
easy
references
to
figures
of
importance
in
the
East
and
in
Paris
and
London
,
raised
him
amazingly
in
her
estimation
;
it
made
her
feel
,
sad
to
relate
,
that
she
had
by
no
means
lowered
herself
in
succumbing
so
readily
to
his
forceful
charms
.
Nevertheless
,
because
he
was
what
he
was
--
genial
,
complimentary
,
affectionate
,
but
a
playboy
,
merely
,
and
a
soldier
of
fortune
,
with
no
desire
to
make
over
her
life
for
her
on
any
new
basis
--
she
was
now
grieving
over
the
futility
of
this
romance
which
had
got
her
nowhere
,
and
which
,
in
all
probability
,
had
alienated
Cowperwood
for
good
.
He
was
still
outwardly
genial
and
friendly
,
but
their
relationship
was
now
colored
by
a
sense
of
mistake
and
uncertainty
which
existed
on
both
sides
,
but
which
,
in
Aileen
's
case
,
amounted
to
a
subtle
species
of
soul-torture
.
