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- Теодор Драйзер
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- Стр. 262/332
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Yet
upon
a
renewal
period
of
at
least
twenty
and
preferably
fifty
years
depended
the
fulfilment
of
all
the
colossal
things
he
had
begun
--
his
art-collection
,
his
new
mansion
,
his
growing
prestige
as
a
financier
,
his
rehabilitation
socially
,
and
the
celebration
of
his
triumph
by
a
union
,
morganatic
or
otherwise
,
with
some
one
who
would
be
worthy
to
share
his
throne
.
It
is
curious
how
that
first
and
most
potent
tendency
of
the
human
mind
,
ambition
,
becomes
finally
dominating
.
Here
was
Cowperwood
at
fifty-seven
,
rich
beyond
the
wildest
dream
of
the
average
man
,
celebrated
in
a
local
and
in
some
respects
in
a
national
way
,
who
was
nevertheless
feeling
that
by
no
means
had
his
true
aims
been
achieved
.
He
was
not
yet
all-powerful
as
were
divers
Eastern
magnates
,
or
even
these
four
or
five
magnificently
moneyed
men
here
in
Chicago
who
,
by
plodding
thought
and
labor
in
many
dreary
fields
such
as
Cowperwood
himself
frequently
scorned
,
had
reaped
tremendous
and
uncontended
profits
.
How
was
it
,
he
asked
himself
,
that
his
path
had
almost
constantly
been
strewn
with
stormy
opposition
and
threatened
calamity
?
Was
it
due
to
his
private
immorality
?
Other
men
were
immoral
;
the
mass
,
despite
religious
dogma
and
fol-de-rol
theory
imposed
from
the
top
,
was
generally
so
.
Was
it
not
rather
due
to
his
inability
to
control
without
dominating
personally
--
without
standing
out
fully
and
clearly
in
the
sight
of
all
men
?
Sometimes
he
thought
so
.
The
humdrum
conventional
world
could
not
brook
his
daring
,
his
insouciance
,
his
constant
desire
to
call
a
spade
a
spade
.
His
genial
sufficiency
was
a
taunt
and
a
mockery
to
many
.
The
hard
implication
of
his
eye
was
dreaded
by
the
weaker
as
fire
is
feared
by
a
burnt
child
.
Dissembling
enough
,
he
was
not
sufficiently
oily
and
make-believe
.
Well
,
come
what
might
,
he
did
not
need
to
be
or
mean
to
be
so
,
and
there
the
game
must
lie
;
but
he
had
not
by
any
means
attained
the
height
of
his
ambition
.
He
was
not
yet
looked
upon
as
a
money
prince
.
He
could
not
rank
as
yet
with
the
magnates
of
the
East
--
the
serried
Sequoias
of
Wall
Street
.
Until
he
could
stand
with
these
men
,
until
he
could
have
a
magnificent
mansion
,
acknowledged
as
such
by
all
,
until
he
could
have
a
world-famous
gallery
,
Berenice
,
millions
--
what
did
it
avail
?
The
character
of
Cowperwood
's
New
York
house
,
which
proved
one
of
the
central
achievements
of
his
later
years
,
was
one
of
those
flowerings
--
out
of
disposition
which
eventuate
in
the
case
of
men
quite
as
in
that
of
plants
.
After
the
passing
of
the
years
neither
a
modified
Gothic
(
such
as
his
Philadelphia
house
had
been
)
,
nor
a
conventionalized
Norman
--
French
,
after
the
style
of
his
Michigan
Avenue
home
,
seemed
suitable
to
him
.
Only
the
Italian
palaces
of
medieval
or
Renaissance
origin
which
he
had
seen
abroad
now
appealed
to
him
as
examples
of
what
a
stately
residence
should
be
.
He
was
really
seeking
something
which
should
not
only
reflect
his
private
tastes
as
to
a
home
,
but
should
have
the
more
enduring
qualities
of
a
palace
or
even
a
museum
,
which
might
stand
as
a
monument
to
his
memory
.
After
much
searching
Cowperwood
had
found
an
architect
in
New
York
who
suited
him
entirely
--
one
Raymond
Pyne
,
rake
,
raconteur
,
man-about-town
--
who
was
still
first
and
foremost
an
artist
,
with
an
eye
for
the
exceptional
and
the
perfect
.
These
two
spent
days
and
days
together
meditating
on
the
details
of
this
home
museum
.
An
immense
gallery
was
to
occupy
the
west
wing
of
the
house
and
be
devoted
to
pictures
;
a
second
gallery
should
occupy
the
south
wing
and
be
given
over
to
sculpture
and
large
whorls
of
art
;
and
these
two
wings
were
to
swing
as
an
L
around
the
house
proper
,
the
latter
standing
in
the
angle
between
them
.
The
whole
structure
was
to
be
of
a
rich
brownstone
,
heavily
carved
.
For
its
interior
decoration
the
richest
woods
,
silks
,
tapestries
,
glass
,
and
marbles
were
canvassed
.
The
main
rooms
were
to
surround
a
great
central
court
with
a
colonnade
of
pink-veined
alabaster
,
and
in
the
center
there
would
be
an
electrically
lighted
fountain
of
alabaster
and
silver
.
Occupying
the
east
wall
a
series
of
hanging
baskets
of
orchids
,
or
of
other
fresh
flowers
,
were
to
give
a
splendid
glow
of
color
,
a
morning-sun
effect
,
to
this
richly
artificial
realm
.
One
chamber
--
a
lounge
on
the
second
floor
--
was
to
be
entirely
lined
with
thin-cut
transparent
marble
of
a
peach-blow
hue
,
the
lighting
coming
only
through
these
walls
and
from
without
.
Here
in
a
perpetual
atmosphere
of
sunrise
were
to
be
racks
for
exotic
birds
,
a
trellis
of
vines
,
stone
benches
,
a
central
pool
of
glistening
water
,
and
an
echo
of
music
.
Pyne
assured
him
that
after
his
death
this
room
would
make
an
excellent
chamber
in
which
to
exhibit
porcelains
,
jades
,
ivories
,
and
other
small
objects
of
value
.
Cowperwood
was
now
actually
transferring
his
possessions
to
New
York
,
and
had
persuaded
Aileen
to
accompany
him
.
Fine
compound
of
tact
and
chicane
that
he
was
,
he
had
the
effrontery
to
assure
her
that
they
could
here
create
a
happier
social
life
.
His
present
plan
was
to
pretend
a
marital
contentment
which
had
no
basis
solely
in
order
to
make
this
transition
period
as
undisturbed
as
possible
.
Subsequently
he
might
get
a
divorce
,
or
he
might
make
an
arrangement
whereby
his
life
would
be
rendered
happy
outside
the
social
pale
.
Of
all
this
Berenice
Fleming
knew
nothing
at
all
.
At
the
same
time
the
building
of
this
splendid
mansion
eventually
awakened
her
to
an
understanding
of
the
spirit
of
art
that
occupied
the
center
of
Cowperwood
's
iron
personality
and
caused
her
to
take
a
real
interest
in
him
.
Before
this
she
had
looked
on
him
as
a
kind
of
Western
interloper
coming
East
and
taking
advantage
of
her
mother
's
good
nature
to
scrape
a
little
social
courtesy
.
Now
,
however
,
all
that
Mrs.
Carter
had
been
telling
her
of
his
personality
and
achievements
was
becoming
crystallized
into
a
glittering
chain
of
facts
.
This
house
,
the
papers
were
fond
of
repeating
,
would
be
a
jewel
of
rare
workmanship
.
Obviously
the
Cowperwoods
were
going
to
try
to
enter
society
.
"
What
a
pity
it
is
,
"
Mrs.
Carter
once
said
to
Berenice
,
"
that
he
could
n't
have
gotten
a
divorce
from
his
wife
before
he
began
all
this
.
I
am
so
afraid
they
will
never
be
received
.
He
would
be
if
he
only
had
the
right
woman
;
but
she
--
"
Mrs.
Carter
,
who
had
once
seen
Aileen
in
Chicago
,
shook
her
head
doubtfully
.
"
She
is
not
the
type
,
"
was
her
comment
.
"
She
has
neither
the
air
nor
the
understanding
.
"
