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diff --git a/57830-0.txt b/57830-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..46a7f4e --- /dev/null +++ b/57830-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12060 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 57830 *** + + + + + + + + + + + + + THE COMMON LOT + + + + BY + + ROBERT HERRICK + + AUTHOR OF "THE WEB OF LIFE," "THIS REAL WORLD," ETC. + + + + New York + THE MACMILLAN COMPANY + LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD. + 1904 + + + _All rights reserved_ + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1904, + + BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. + + Set up and electrotyped. Published September, 1904. Reprinted + October, 1904. + + + + Norwood Press + J. B. Cushing & Co.--Berwick & Smith Co. + Norwood, Mass, U.S.A. + + + + + TO + E. H. A. + AND + M. T. A. + + + + +PART I + +THE WILL + + + + +THE COMMON LOT + +CHAPTER I + +From time to time the door opened to admit some tardy person. Then the +May sunlight without flooded the dim, long hall with a sudden radiance, +even to the arched recess in the rear, where the coffin was placed. +The late-comers sank into the crowd of black-coated men, who filled the +hall to the broad stairs. Most of these were plainly dressed, with +thick, grizzled beards and lined faces: they were old hands from the +Bridge Works on the West Side, where they had worked many years for +Powers Jackson. In the parlors at the left of the hall there were more +women than men, and more fashionable clothes than in the hall. But the +faces were scarcely less rugged and lined; for these friends of the old +man who lay in the coffin were mostly life-worn and gnarled, like +himself. Their luxuries had not sufficed to hide the scars of the +battles they had waged with fortune. + +When the minister ceased praying, the men and the women in the warm, +flower-scented rooms moved gratefully, trying to get easier positions +for their cramped bodies. Some members of a church choir, stationed at +the landing on the stairs, began to sing. Once more the door opened +silently in the stealthy hands of the undertaker, and this time it +remained open for several seconds. A woman entered, dressed in +fashionable widow's mourning. She moved deliberately, as if she +realized exactly the full effect of her entrance at that moment among +all these heated, tired people. The men crowded in the hall made way +for her instinctively, so that she might enter the dining-room, to the +right of the coffin, where the family and a few intimate friends of the +dead man were seated. Here, a young man, the nephew of Powers Jackson, +rose and surrendered his chair to the pretty widow, whispering:-- + +"Take this, Mrs. Phillips! I am afraid there is nothing inside." + +She took his place by the door with a little deprecatory smile, which +said many things at the same time: "I am very late, I know; but I +really couldn't help it! You will forgive me, won't you?" + +And also: "You have come to be a handsome young man! When I saw you +last you were only a raw boy, just out of college! Now we must reckon +with you, as the old man's heir,--the heir of so much money!" + +Then again: "It is a long time since we met over there across the sea. +And I have had my sorrows, too!" + +All this her face seemed to speak swiftly, especially to the young man, +whose attention she had quite distracted, as indeed she had disturbed +every one in the other rooms by her progress through the hall. By the +time she had settled herself, and made a first survey of the scene, the +hymn had come to an end, and the minister's deep voice broke forth in +the words of ancient promise, "I am the Resurrection and the Life"... + +At this note of triumph the pretty widow's interruption was forgotten. +Something new stirred in the weary faces of those standing in the hall, +touching each one according to his soul, vibrating in his heart with a +meaning personal to him, to her, quite apart from any feeling that they +might have for their old friend, in the hope for whose immortality it +had been spoken.... + +"I am the Resurrection and the Life" ... "yet in my flesh shall I see +God"... + +The words fell fatefully into the close rooms. The young man who had +given his chair to Mrs. Phillips unconsciously threw back his head and +raised his eyes from the floor, as though he were following some point +of light which had burst into sight above his head. His gaze swept +over his mother's large, inexpressive countenance, his cousin Everett's +sharp features, the solemn, blank faces of the other mourners in the +room. It rested on the face of a young woman, who was seated on the +other side of the little room, almost hidden by the roses and the +lilies that were banked on the table between them. She, too, had +raised her face at the triumphant prophecy, and was seeing something +beyond the walls of the room, beyond the reach of the man's eyes. Her +lips had parted in a little sigh of wonder; her blue eyes were filled +with unwept tears. The young man's attention was arrested by those +eyes and trembling lips, and he forgot the feeling that the minister's +words had roused, in sudden apprehension of the girl's beauty and +tenderness. He had discovered the face in a moment of its finest +illumination, excited by a vague yet pure emotion, so that it became +all at once more than it had ever promised. + +The tears trembled at the eyelids, then dropped unnoticed to the face. +The young man looked away hastily, with an uncomfortable feeling in +beholding all this emotion. He could not see why Helen Spellman should +take his uncle's death so much to heart, although the old man had +always been kind to her and to her mother. She had come to the house a +great deal, for her mother and his uncle had been life-long friends, +and the old man loved to have the girl about his home. Yet he did not +feel his uncle's death that way; he wondered whether he ought to be +affected by it as Helen was. He was certainly much nearer to the dead +man than she,--his nephew, the son of his sister Amelia, who had kept +his house all the many years of her widowhood. And--he was aware that +people were in the habit of saying it--he was his favorite relative, +the one who would inherit the better part of the property. This last +reflection set his mind to speculating on the impending change in his +own world,--that new future which he pleasantly dreamed might bring him +nearer to her. For the last few days, ever since the doctors had given +up all hope of the old man's recovery, he had not been able to keep his +imagination from wandering in the fields of this strange, delightful +change in his affairs, which was so near at hand.... + +"There is a natural body," so the minister was saying solemnly, "and +there is a spiritual body.... For this corruptible must put on +incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality."..... + +The young man tried to curb his imagination, to feel the significance +of the fact before him in some other way than as it might affect his +own material fate. His eyes rested on the great coffin with its load +of cut flowers, and he thought of the silent face that lay therein, and +wondered. But the state of death was inexplicable to him. + +When the minister began his remarks about the dead man's personality, +the tired people roused themselves and their wandering thoughts came +back to their common earth. What could he say on this delicate theme? +The subject was full of thorns! Powers Jackson had not been a bad man, +take his life all in all, but he had been accused, justly, of some +ruthless, selfish acts. He had forced his way, and he had not been +nice about it. His private morality, also, had never quite satisfied +the ideals of his neighbors, and he could not be called, in any sense +of the word known to the officiating minister, a religious man. + +Yet there was scarcely a person present to whom Powers Jackson had not +done in the course of his life some kind and generous act. Each one in +his heart knew the dead man to have been good and human, and forgave +him his sins, public and private. What did it matter to old Jim Ryan, +the office porter, who was standing in the corner with his son and +grandson, whether Powers Jackson had or had not conspired with certain +other men to secure illegally a large grant of Texas land! He and his +family had lived in the sun of the dead man's kindness. So it went +with the others. + +While the minister was saying what every one agreed to in his +heart,--that their dead friend was a man of large stature, big in heart +as in deed, strong for good as for evil,--his nephew's thoughts kept +returning to that glowing, personal matter,--what did it all mean to +him? Of course, his uncle had been good to him, had given him the best +kind of an education and training in his profession; his mother's +comfort and his own nurture were due to this uncle. But now the old +man was about to give him the largest gift of all,--freedom for his +whole lifetime, freedom to do with himself what he pleased, freedom +first of all to leave this dull, dirty city, to flee to those other +more sympathetic parts of the earth which he knew so well how to +enjoy!... + +The pretty widow in the chair beside him fidgeted. She was exceedingly +uncomfortable in the close, stuffy room, and the minister's skilful +words roused merely a wicked sense of irony in her. She could have +told the reverend doctor a thing or two about old Powers! There were +current in her set stories about the man which would not have tallied +altogether with his appreciative remarks. She had seen him at close +range, and he was a man, like the others. She threw back her jacket, +revealing an attractive neck and bust. During the service she had +already scanned the faces of most of those in the rooms, and, with +great rapidity, had cast up mentally their score with the dead. This +handsome young nephew was the only one of them all that counted in her +own estimation. What would he do with the old fellow's money? She +threw a speculative, appreciative look at him. + +Across the room the girl's face had settled into sober thought, the +tears drying on her cheeks where they had fallen. With that glorious +promise of Life Everlasting still reverberating in her soul, she felt +that the only real Life which poor human beings might know was that +life of the "spiritual body," the life of the good, which is all one +and alike! To her, Powers Jackson was simply a good man, the best of +men. For she had known him all her life, and had seen nothing but good +in him. She loved him, and she knew that he could not be evil! + +Finally, the minister rounded out his thought and came to the end of +his remarks. The singers on the stairs began to chant softly, "Now, O +Lord, let thy servant depart in peace!" And the tired faces of the +mourners relaxed from their tense seriousness. Somehow, the crisis of +their emotion had been reached and passed. Comforted and reassured, +they were about to leave this house of mourning. An old man, +childless, a widower of many years, who had done his work successfully +in this world, and reaped the rewards of it,--what can any one feel for +his death but a solemn sense of mystery and peace! Perhaps to one +only, the girl hidden behind the lilies and the roses in the +dining-room, was it a matter of keen, personal grief. He had left her +world,--he who had stroked her head and kissed her, who had loved her +as a father might love her, who had always smiled when she had touched +him. + +On the sidewalk outside the people gathered in little knots, speaking +in subdued tones to one another, yet luxuriating in the riotous spring +air. Then they moved away slowly. After the house was nearly emptied, +those mourners who had been in the dining-room appeared, to take +carriages for the cemetery. Mrs. Phillips came first, talking to young +Jackson Hart. She was saying:-- + +"The service was beautiful. It was all quite what the dear old +gentleman would have liked, and such good taste,--that was your part, I +know!" + +He murmured a protest to her compliment as he handed her into her +carriage. She leaned toward him, with a very personal air:-- + +"It is so different from the last time we met! Do you remember? You +must come and see me, soon. Don't forget!" + +As the young man turned away from her, he met Helen Spellman descending +the long flight of steps. The girl was carrying in her arms a great +mass of loose flowers, and his cousin Everett who followed her was +similarly burdened. + +"Are you going on ahead of us?" Jackson asked anxiously. + +"Yes. I want to put these flowers there first; so that it won't seem +so bare and lonely when he comes. See! I have taken those he liked to +have in his library, and yours and your mother's, too!" + +She smiled over the flowers, but her eyes were still dull with tears. +Again she brought his thoughts back from self, from his futile, worldly +preoccupations, back to her love for the dead man, which seemed so much +greater, so much purer than his. + +"That will be very nice," he said, taking the flowers from her hands +and placing them in a carriage that had driven up to the curb. "I am +sure he would have liked your thought for him. He was always so fond +of what you did, of you!" + +"Dear uncle," she murmured to herself. + +Although the dead man was not connected with her by any ties of blood, +she had grown into the habit of calling him uncle, first as a joke, +then in affection. + +"He always had me select the flowers when he wanted to give a really +truly dinner!" she added, a smile coming to her face. "I know he will +like to have me take these out to him there now." + +She spoke of the dead in the present tense, with a strong feeling for +the still living part of the one gone. + +"I should like to drive out with you!" the young man exclaimed +impulsively. "May I?" + +"Oh, no! You mustn't," she replied quickly. "There's your mother, who +is expecting you to go with her, and then,"--she blushed and stepped +away from him a little space,--"I had rather be alone, please!" + + +When the heavy gates of the vault in Rose Hill had closed upon Powers +Jackson forever, the little group of intimate friends, who had come +with him to his grave, descended silently the granite steps to their +carriages. Insensibly a wave of relief stole over the spirit of the +young nephew, as he turned his back upon the ugly tomb, in the +American-Greek style, with heavy capitals and squat pillars. It was +not a selfish or heartless desire to get away from the dead man, to +forget him now that he no longer counted in this world; it was merely +the reaction from a day of gloom and sober thoughts. He felt stifled +in his tall silk hat, long frock coat, patent-leather shoes, and black +gloves. His spirit shrank from the chill of the tomb, to which the day +had brought him near. + +"Let's send all the women back together, Everett," he suggested to his +cousin, "and then we can smoke. I am pretty nearly dead!" + +As the three men of the party got into their carriage, Jackson took out +his cigarette-case and offered it to his cousin; but Everett shook his +head rather contemptuously and drew a cigar from his breast pocket. + +"I never got in the habit of smoking those things," he remarked slowly. +There was an implication in his cool tone that no grown man indulged +himself in that boyish habit. + +"_He_ never liked cigarettes either,--wouldn't have one in the house," +Jackson commented lightly. + +The other man, Hollister, had taken one of Everett's cigars, and the +three smoked in silence while the carriage bumped at a rapid pace over +the uneven streets that led through the suburbs of Chicago. Hart +wondered what the two men opposite him were thinking about. Hollister, +so he reflected, must know what was in the will. He had been the old +man's confidential business agent for a good many years, and was one of +the executors. Everett Wheeler, who was a lawyer with a large and very +highly paid practice, was another. + +Perhaps this second cousin of his was to get a good slice of the +property after all, though his uncle had never displayed any great +fondness for Everett. Yet the lawyer had always done the best that was +expected of him. He had entered a Chicago law office from the high +school in Michigan, preferring to skip the intermediate years of +college training which Powers Jackson had offered him, and he never +ceased referring to his success in his profession as partly due to the +fact he had "fooled no time away at college." So far as his business +went, which was to patch together crazy corporations, he had no +immediate use for a liberal education. He had no tastes whatsoever +outside of this business and a certain quiet interest in politics. His +dull white features, sharpened to a vulpine point at the nose and chin, +betrayed his temperament. He was a silent, cool-blooded, unpassionate +American man of affairs, and it would be safe to say that he would die +rich. Thus far he had not had enough emotion, apparently, to get +married. No! his cousin reflected, Everett was not a man after Powers +Jackson's heart! The old man was not cold, passionless.... + +Those two men opposite him knew what was the fact in this matter so +momentous to him. They smoked, wrapped in their own thoughts. + +"I wonder who was the joker who put up that monstrous Greek temple out +there in the cemetery?" Jackson finally observed, in a nervous desire +to say something. + +"You mean the family mausoleum?" Everett asked severely, removing his +cigar from his lips and spitting carefully out of the half-opened +window. "That was done by a fellow named Roly, and it was considered a +very fine piece of work. It was built the time aunt Frankie died." + +"It's a spooky sort of place to put a man into!" + +"I think the funeral was what your uncle would have liked," Hollister +remarked, as if to correct this irrelevant talk. "He hated to be +eccentric, and yet he despised pretentious ceremonies. Everything was +simple and dignified. The parson was good, too, in what he said. And +the old men turned out in great numbers. I was glad of that! But I +was surprised. It's nearly two years since he gave up the Works, and +memories are short between master and man." + +"That's a fact. But he knew every man Jack about the place in the old +days," Everett observed, removing his silk hat as if it were an +ornamental incumbrance. + +"Yes," said Hollister, taking up the theme. "I remember how he would +come into the front office on pay days, and stand behind the grating +while the men were signing off. He could call every one by a first +name. It was Pete and Dave and Jerry and Steve,--there wasn't so much +of that European garbage, then,--these Hungarians and Slavs." + +"But he was stiff with 'em in the strike, though," the lawyer put in, a +smile wrinkling his thin, pallid lips. "He fired every one who went +out with the union,--never'd let 'em back, no matter what they said or +did. Those there to-day were mostly the old ones that didn't strike." + +The two older men began to exchange stories about the dead man, of +things they had seen while they were working for him,--his tricks of +temper, whims of mind. Hollister spoke gently, almost tenderly, of the +one he had worked with, as of one whose faults were flaws in a great +stone. The lawyer spoke literally, impassively, as of some phenomenon +of nature which he had seen often and had thoroughly observed. + +Young Hart lit another cigarette, and as he listened to the stories he +thought of the girl's face just as he had seen it that day, utterly +moved and transfixed with a strange emotion of tender sorrow that was +half happiness. The expression puzzled him, and he ended by saying to +himself that she was religious, meaning by that word that she was moved +by certain feelings other than those which affected him or Everett or +his mother even. And this new thought of her made her more precious in +his eyes. He looked for her when they reached the sombre old house on +Ohio Street, but she had already gone home. + +As Hollister was leaving the house, he said to the young man:-- + +"Can you come over to Wheeler's office to-morrow about four? Judge +Phillips will be there, the other executor. We are to open the will. +They have suggested that I ask you to join us," he added hastily, with +an effort to be matter of fact. + +"All right, Hollister," the young man answered, with an equal effort to +appear unconcerned. "I'll be over!" + +But his heart thumped strangely. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +"Get all ready before you start," Powers Jackson had said, when his +nephew, after four years at Cornell and three years at a famous +technical school in the East, had suggested the propriety of finishing +his professional training in architecture by additional study in Paris. +"Get all ready,--then let us have results." + +He had taken his time to get ready. He had chosen to go to Cornell in +the first place rather than to a larger university, because some of the +boys of his high school class were going there. With us in America +such matters are often settled in this childish way. The reason why he +chose the profession of architecture was, apparently, scarcely less +frivolous. A "fraternity brother" at Cornell, just home from Paris, +fired the college boy's imagination for "the Quarter." But, once +started in the course of architecture at the technical school, he found +that he had stumbled into something which really interested him. For +the first time in his life he worked seriously. + +At the Beaux Arts he worked, also, though he did not forget the +amenities of life. The two years first talked of expanded into two and +a half, then rounded to a full three. Meanwhile the generous checks +from the office of the Bridge Works came with pleasant regularity. His +mother wrote, "Powers hopes that you are deriving benefit from your +studies in Paris." What the old man had said was, "How's Jackie doing +these days, Amelia?" And young Hart was "doing" well. There were many +benefits, not always orthodox, which the young American, established +cosily on the Rue de l'Université, was deriving from Paris. + +The day of preparation came to an end, however. During those last +weeks of his stay in Europe he was joined by his mother and Helen +Spellman. Powers Jackson had taken this occasion to send them both +abroad; Mrs. Spellman being too much of an invalid to take the journey, +Mrs. Amelia Hart had been very glad to have the girl's companionship. +Jackson met them in Naples. After he had kissed his mother and taken +her handbag, to which she was clinging in miserable suspicion of the +entire foreign world, he turned to the girl, whose presence he had been +conscious of all the time. Helen was not noticeably pretty or well +dressed; but she had an air of race, a fineness of feature, a certain +personal delicacy, to which the young man had long been unaccustomed. +Perhaps three years of student life in Paris had prepared him to think +very well of a young American woman. + +They had spent most of their time in Rome, where Mrs. Hart could be +made happy with many American comforts. She was much given to writing +letters to her friends; they formed a kind of journal wherein she +recorded her impressions of the places she visited and the facts she +culled from the guide-books and the _valets de place_ whom they +employed. She wrote a round, firm hand, and this was her style of +entry:-- + +"This morning with Helen and Jackson to the Palatine Hill. The +Palatine was one of the Seven Hills of Rome. It was anciently the home +of the Cæsars. That is, they had their palaces there, some remains of +which exist to this day.... It is a pretty sort of place now, where +there are stone benches, from which may be obtained a good view of the +Forum and the best ruins of Ancient Rome." + +Jackson liked to tease his mother about her literal method of +sight-seeing. In her way, also, Helen was laborious and conscientious, +trying to solve the complex impressions of the foreign world. The +young architect was content to wave his hand toward a mass of +picturesque ruins as they flitted past in a cab. "Somebody or other +Metellus put up that arch," he would remark gayly. "Good color, isn't +it?" The women would insist upon stopping the cab, and would get out. +Then, guide-book in hand, they would peer up at the gray remnant of an +ancient order of things. So with the Palatine,--Helen insisted upon +studying out on the plan the House of Livia, and puzzled much over the +exact situation of the Golden House of Nero, although Jackson assured +her that no remains of the huge palace could be identified. She had a +conscience about seeing as much as she could, and seeing it honestly, +justifying to herself the careless architect's flippancy on the ground +that he had been so long in Europe he knew what to avoid. + +While Mrs. Hart was laboriously filling her letters with incontestable +facts, the two young people went about alone, in that perfectly normal +and healthy manner which remains an everlasting puzzle to the European +eye. The architect took keen pleasure in teaching the girl to +recognize the beauty in a Palladian façade and the majestic grandiosity +of a Santa Maria degli Angeli. In matters of color and line the girl +was as sensitive as he, but he found that she lacked the masculine +sense of construction, the builder's instinct for proportion and plan. + +Their friendship was quite simple, untouched by any hectic excitement, +or even sentiment. The architect was twenty-seven years old, and he +had seen enough of Parisian manners to remove any superficial virtue +which might have survived his four years at Cornell. But this American +girl, the old friend of his family, his mother's companion--she seemed +to him merely the pleasantest being he had seen in months. + +So their six weeks in Italy had been very happy ones for all +three,--six golden weeks of May and early June, when the beautiful land +smiled at them from every field and wall. Each fresh scene in the +panorama of their little journeys was another joy, a new excitement +that brought a flush of heightened color to the girl's face. One of +their last days they spent at the little village of Ravello, on the +hilltop above Amalfi, and there in the clear twilight of a warm June +day, with gold-tipped clouds brooding over the Bay of Salerno, they +came for the first time upon the personal note. They were leaning over +the railing of the terrace in the Palumbo, listening to the bells in +the churches of Vetri below them. + +"Wouldn't this be good for always!" he murmured. + +He was touched with sentimental self-pity at the thought of leaving all +this,--the beauty, the wonder, the joy of Europe! In another short +month instead of these golden hours of full sensation there would be +Chicago, whose harsh picture a three years' absence had not softened. + +"I don't know," the girl replied, with a long sigh for remembered joy. +"One could not be as happy as this for months and years." + +"I'd like to try!" he said lightly. + +"No! Not you!" she retorted with sudden warmth. "What could a man do +here?" + +"There are a lot of fellows in Europe who manage to answer that +question somehow. Most of the men I knew in Paris don't expect to go +back yet, and not to Chicago anyway." + +Her lips compressed quickly. Evidently they were not the kind of men +she thought well of. + +"Why!" she stammered, words crowding tempestuously to her tongue. "How +could you stay, and not work out your own life, not make your own place +in the world like uncle Powers? How it would trouble him to hear you +say that!" + +She made him a trifle ashamed of his desire to keep out of the fight +any longer. Hers, he judged, was a militant, ambitious nature, and he +was quick to feel what she expected of him. + +After they had sat there a long time without speaking, she said gently, +as if she wished to be just to him:-- + +"It might be different, if one were an artist; but even then I should +think a man would want to carry back what he had received here to the +place he was born in,--shouldn't you?" + +"Well, perhaps," he admitted, "if the place weren't just--Chicago! It +wouldn't seem much use to carry this back there. The best thing for a +man would be to forget it," he concluded rather bitterly. + + +They never came back to this topic. Nevertheless those simple words +which the girl had spoken in that garden of Ravello became a tonic for +him at other moments of shrinking or regret. He felt what was in her +eyes a man's part. + + +They made the long voyage homewards through the Mediterranean, touching +at Gibraltar for a last, faint glimpse of romance. It was a placid +journey in a slow steamer, with a small company of dull, middle-aged +Americans, and the two young people were left much to themselves. In +the isolation of the sunny, windless sea, their acquaintance took on +imperceptibly a personal character. After the fashion of the egotistic +male, he told her, bit by bit, all that he knew about himself,--his +college days, his friends, and his work at the Beaux Arts. From the +past,--his past,--they slid to the future that lay before him on the +other shore of the Atlantic. He sketched for her in colored words the +ideals of his majestic art. Tucked up on deck those long, cloudless +nights, they reached the higher themes,--what a man could do, as +Richardson and Atwood had shown the glorious way, toward expressing the +character and spirit of a fresh race in brick and stone and steel! + +Such thoughts as these touched the girl's imagination, just as the +sweet fragments of a civilization finer than ours had stirred her heart +in Italy. All these ideas which the young man poured forth, she took +to be the architect's original possessions, not being familiar with the +froth of Paris studios, the wisdom of long _déjeuners_. And she was +doubly eager whenever he mentioned his plans for the future. For +something earnest and large was the first craving of her soul, +something that had in it service and beauty in life. + +At the time of the great exposition in Chicago she had had such matters +first brought to her attention. Powers Jackson, as one of the +directors of the enterprise, had entertained many of the artists and +distinguished men who came to the city, and at his dinner-table she had +heard men talk whose vital ideals were being worked into the beautiful +buildings beside the lake. Their words she had hoarded in her +schoolgirl's memory, and now in her sympathy for the young architect +she began to see what could be done with an awakened feeling for art, +for social life, to make our strong young cities memorable. This, she +imagined shyly, would be the work of the man beside her! + +He was handsome and strong, vigorously built, though inclined to +heaviness of body. His brown hair waved under his straw hat, and a +thick mustache turned stiffly upwards in the style of the German +Emperor, which was then just coming into fashion. This method of +wearing the mustache, and also a habit of dressing rather too well, +troubled the girl; for she knew that uncle Powers would at once note +such trivial aspects of his nephew. The keen old man might say +nothing, but he would think contemptuous thoughts. The young +architect's complexion was ruddy, healthily bronzed; his features were +regular and large, as a man's should be. Altogether he was a handsome, +alert, modern American. Too handsome, perhaps! She thought +apprehensively of the rough-looking, rude old man at home, his face +tanned and beaten, knobby and hard, like the gnarled stump of an oak! + +She was very anxious that the architect should make a good impression +on his uncle, not simply for his own sake, but for the lonely old man's +comfort. She felt that she knew Powers Jackson better than his nephew +did; knew what he liked and what he despised. She wanted him to love +this nephew, and several times she talked to Jackson about his uncle. +The young man listened with an amused smile, as if he had already a +good formula for the old man. + +"Mother can't get him out of that brick Mansard roost on Ohio Street, +where he has lived since the fire. All his friends have moved away +from the neighborhood. But he thinks the black-walnut rooms, the +stamped leather on the walls, and the rest of it, is the best going +yet. That buffet, as he calls it! It's early Victorian, a regular +_chef-d'oeuvre_ of ugliness. That house!" + +"It's always been his home," she protested, finding something trivial +in this comic emphasis on sideboards and bookcases. "He cares about +good things too. Lately he's taken to buying engravings. Mr. +Pemberton interested him in them. And I think he would like to buy +pictures, if he wasn't afraid of being cheated, of making a fool of +himself." + +"You'll make him out a patron of the fine arts!" + +Jackson laughed merrily at the picture of Powers Jackson as a +connoisseur in art. + +"Perhaps he will be yet!" she retorted stoutly. "At any rate, he is a +very dear old man." + +He would not have described his uncle Powers in the same simple words. +Still he had the kindest feelings toward him, mixed with a latent +anxiety as to what the old man might do about his allowance, now that +his school days had come definitely to a close.... + +Thus in the long hours of that voyage, with the sound of the gurgling, +dripping water all about them, soothed by the rhythm of pounding +engines, the man and the woman came to a sort of knowledge of each +other. At least there was created in the heart of each a vision of the +other. The girl's vision was glorified by the warmth of her +imagination, which transformed all her simple experiences. In her +heart, if she had looked there, she would have seen an image of youth +and power, very handsome, with great masculine hopes, and aspirations +after unwrought deeds. Unconsciously she had given to that image +something which she could never take back all the years of her life, +let her marry whom she might! + +And he could remember her, if hereafter he should come to love her, as +she was these last days. The shadow of the end of the romance was upon +her, and it left her subdued, pensive, but more lovely than ever +before. To the artist's eye in the architect her head was too large, +the brow not smooth enough, the hair two shades too dark, the full face +too broad. The blue eyes and the trembling, small mouth gave a certain +childishness to her expression that the young man could not understand. +It was only when she spoke that he was much moved; for her voice was +very sweet, uncertain in its accents, tremulous. She seemed to breathe +into commonplace words some revelation of herself.... + +On the morning of their arrival the lofty buildings of the great city +loomed through the mist. The architect said:-- + +"There are the hills of the New World! Here endeth the first chapter." + +"I cannot believe it has ended," she replied slowly. "Nothing ends!" + + +Powers Jackson and Mrs. Spellman met the travellers in New York. It +was just at the time that Jackson was negotiating with the promoters of +a large trust for the sale of his Bridge Works. This fact his nephew +did not learn until some months later, for the old man never talked +about his deeds and intentions. At any rate, he did sell the Works one +morning in the lobby of his hotel and for his own price, which was an +outrageous one, as the stockholders of the new trust came to know in +time to their chagrin. + +He shook hands with his sister, kissed Helen on the forehead, and +nodded to his nephew. + +"How's the Pope, Amelia?" he asked gravely. + +"You needn't ask me! Did you think, Powers, I'd be one to go over to +the Vatican and kiss that old man's hand? I hope I'm too good a +Christian to do that!" + +"Oh, don't be too hard on the poor feller," Jackson said, continuing +his joke. "I hoped you'd pay your respects to the Pope. Why, he's the +smartest one in the whole bunch over there, I guess!" + +He looked to Helen for sympathy. It should be said that Powers Jackson +regarded his sister Amelia as a fool, but that he never allowed himself +to take advantage of the fact except in such trifling ways as this. + +When the two men were alone in the private parlor at the hotel, the +uncle said:-- + +"So you've finished up now? You're all through over there?" + +"Yes, sir," Hart answered, not feeling quite at his ease with this calm +old man. "I guess I am ready to begin building, as soon as any one +will have me!" + +"I see there's plenty doing in your line, all over." + +"I am glad to hear that." + +The architect fidgeted before he could think what to say next. Then he +managed to express his sense of gratitude for the great opportunities +his uncle had given him in Paris. Jackson listened, but said nothing. +The architect was conscious that the old man had taken in with one +sweep of those sharp little eyes his complete appearance. He suspected +that the part in the middle of his brown hair, the pert lift to the +ends of his mustache, the soft stock about his neck, the lavender +colored silk shirt in which he had prepared to meet the pitiless glare +of the June sun in the city,--that all these items had been noted and +disapproved. He reflected somewhat resentfully that he was not obliged +to make a guy of himself to please his uncle. He found his uncle's +clothes very bad. Powers Jackson was a large man, and his clothes, +though made by one of the best tailors in Chicago, usually had a +draggled appearance, as if he had forgotten to take them off when he +went to bed. However, when the old man next spoke, he made no +reference to his nephew's attire. + +"I was talking to Wright about you the other day. Ever heard of him?" + +"Of Walker, Post, and Wright?" Hart asked, naming one of the best-known +firms of architects in the country. + +"Yes. They've been doing something for me lately. If you haven't made +any plans, you might start in their Chicago office. That'll teach you +the ropes over here." + +Nothing was said about an allowance or a continuation of those generous +and gratefully acknowledged checks which had made life at Cornell and +at Paris so joyous. And nothing more was ever said about them! +Jackson Hart had taken the position that his uncle had secured for him +in Wright's Chicago office, and within a fortnight of the day he landed +at New York he was making his daily pilgrimage to the twelfth floor of +the Maramanoc Building, where under the bulkheads worked a company of +young gentlemen in their shirt-sleeves. + +That was two years ago, and by this time he was eager for almost any +kind of change. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +The morning after the funeral Francis Jackson Hart resumed his work on +the plans of a large hotel that Walker, Post, and Wright were to build +in Denver. This was in all probability the last piece of work that he +should be called upon to do for that firm, and the thought was pleasant +to him. He had not spent an altogether happy two years in that office. +It was a large firm, with other offices in St. Paul and New York, and +work under construction in a dozen different states. Wright was the +only member of the firm who came often to Chicago; he dropped into the +office nearly every month, arriving from somewhere south or east, and +bound for somewhere north or west, with only a few days to spare. +During these brief visits he was always tremendously rushed--plans +under way in the office had to be looked over and criticised; the +construction in the immediate neighborhood examined; new business to be +discussed with the firm's clients, and much else. He was a tall, thin +man, with harassed, near-sighted eyes,--a gentleman well trained in his +profession and having good taste according to the standards of a +generation ago. But he had fallen upon a commercial age, and had not +been large enough to sway it. He made decent compromises between his +own taste and that of his clients, and took pride in the honest +construction of his buildings. + +Wright had hurt Hart's susceptibilities almost at the start, when he +remarked about a sketch that the young architect had made for a new +telephone exchange:-- + +"All you want, my boy, is the figure of a good fat woman flopping over +that door!" + +For the next few months Hart had been kept busy drawing spandrels. +From this he was promoted to designing stables for country houses of +rich clients. He resented the implied criticism of his judgment, and +he put Wright down as a mere Philistine, who had got all his training +in an American office. + +Now, he said to himself, as he took down his street coat and adjusted +his cuffs before going over to his cousin's office to hear the will, he +should leave Wright's "department store," and "show the old man" what +he thought of the kind of buildings the firm was putting up for rich +and common people. He, at least, would not be obliged to be mercenary. +His two years' experience in Chicago had taught him something about the +fierceness of the struggle to exist in one of the professions, +especially in a profession where there is an element of fine art. And +his appetite to succeed, to be some one of note in this hurly-burly of +Chicago, had grown very fast. For he had found himself less of a +person in his native city than he had thought it possible over in +Paris,--even with the help of his rich uncle, with whom he had +continued to live. + +So, as the elevator of the Dearborn Building bore him upwards that +afternoon, his heart beat exultantly: he was to hear in a few moments +the full measure of that advantage which he had been given over all the +toiling, sweating humanity here in the elevator, out there on the +street! By the right of fortunate birth he was to be spared the common +lot of man, to be placed high up on the long, long ladder of human +fate.... + +When he entered Everett Wheeler's private office, Hollister was talking +with Judge Phillips. The latter nodded pleasantly to the young man, +and gave him his hand. + +"How do you do, sir?" he asked, with emphatic gravity. + +The judge, who had not sat in a court for more than a generation, was a +vigorous, elderly man with a sweeping gray mustache. He was an old +resident of Chicago, and had made much money, some of it in Powers +Jackson's enterprises. + +Hollister nodded briskly to the architect, and motioned him to a seat. +Presently Everett came in from the safe where he had gone to get some +papers, and Hollister, who seemed to be spokesman for the executors, +clearing his throat, began:-- + +"Well, gentlemen, we all know what we are here for, I presume." + + +The young architect never remembered clearly how all the rest of it +came about. At first he wondered why old Hollister should open the +proceedings with such elaborate eulogies of the dead man. Hollister +kept saying that few men had understood the real man in Powers +Jackson,--the warm man's heart that beat beneath the rude and silent +manner. + +"I want to say," Hollister exclaimed in a burst of unwonted emotion, +"that it was more than mutual interest which allied the judge and me to +Mr. Jackson. It was admiration! Admiration for the man!" + +The judge punctuated this opinion with a grave nod. + +"Especially these latter years, when Mr. Jackson was searching for a +way in which he might most benefit the world with the fortune that he +had earned by his ability and hard work." + +The gray-bearded man ceased talking for a moment and looked at the two +younger men. Everett was paring his nails, very neatly, with the air +of detachment he assumed when he was engaged in taking a deposition. +The architect looked blankly mystified. + +"He wanted to help men," Hollister resumed less demonstratively. +"Especially workingmen, the kind of men he had come from and had known +all his life. He never forgot that he worked at the forge the first +five years he lived in Chicago. And no matter what the labor unions +say, or the cheap newspaper writers, there wasn't a man in this city +who cared for the best interests of laboring men more than Powers +Jackson." + +Across the judge's handsome face flitted the glimmer of a smile, as if +other memories, slightly contradictory, would intrude themselves on +this eulogy. Everett, having finished the cutting of his nails, was +examining his shoes. He might be thinking of the price of steel +billets in Liverpool, or he might be thinking that Hollister was an +ass,--no one could tell. + +"He took much advice; he consulted many men, among them the president +of a great Eastern university. And here in this document"--Hollister +took up the will--"he embodied the results,--his purpose!" + + +At this point in the architect's confused memory of the fateful scene +there was a red spot of consciousness. The man of affairs, looking +straight at him, seemingly, announced:-- + +"Powers Jackson left the bulk of his large fortune in trust with the +purpose of founding a great school for the children of workingmen!" + +There ensued a brief pause. Hart did not comprehend at once the full +significance of what had been said. But as the others made no remark, +he did not venture to ask questions, and so Hollister asked the lawyer +to read the will, clause by clause. + +It was a brief document, considering the importance of its contents. +There was an item, Jackson recalled afterward, leaving the old family +farm at Vernon Falls in Vermont to "my dear young friend, Helen Powers +Spellman, because she will love it for my sake as well as for itself." +And to this bequest was added a few thousand dollars as a maintenance +fund. + +He might have treated her more generously, it occurred to the architect +vaguely, valuing in his own mind the old place as naught. + +"To my nephew, Francis Jackson Hart, ten thousand dollars in the +following securities...." + +This he grasped immediately. So, that was his figure! He scarcely +noted the next clause, which gave to his mother the Ohio Street house +with a liberal income from the estate for her life. He waited for the +larger bequests which must come, and for the disposition of the +residue. Suddenly Hollister remarked with a little upward inflection +of satisfaction:-- + +"Now we are coming to the core of the apple!" + +Slowly, deliberately, the lawyer read on:-- + +"Being desirous that the larger part of whatever wealth I may die +possessed of may be made of immediate and wide benefit to mankind, I do +give and bequeath the residue of my estate to Judge Harrison Phillips, +Everett Wheeler, and Mark Kingsford Hollister, and such others as they +may associate with them, in trust, nevertheless, for the following +described purposes.... Said fund and its accumulations to be devoted +to the founding and maintenance of a school or institution for the +purpose of providing an education, industrial and technical, as said +trustees may deem best, for the children of workingmen, of the city of +Chicago." + +"That," exclaimed Hollister triumphantly, "is Powers Jackson's gift to +mankind!" + +There were a few more sentences to the will, elaborating slightly the +donor's design, providing for liberal payments to the executors for +their services, and reserving certain portions of the estate for +endowment purposes only. Yet, as a whole, the document was singularly +simple, almost bare in its disposition of a very large amount of money. +It reposed a great trust in the men selected to carry out the design, +in their will and intelligence. Doubtless the old man had taken +Hollister, at least, into his confidence, and had contented himself +with giving him verbal and general directions, knowing full well the +fate of elaborately conceived and legally specified bequests. The wise +old man seemed to have contented himself with outlining broadly, though +plainly enough, his large intention. + +"That's a pretty shaky piece of work, that instrument," Everett +observed, narrowing his eyes to a thin slit. "He didn't get me to draw +it up, let me tell you. It's queer the old man was willing to trust +his pile to such a loosely worded document." + +"Fortunately," Judge Phillips hastened to add, "in this case we may +hope that will make no difference." + +There was an awkward pause, and then the lawyer replied drawlingly:-- + +"No, I don't suppose there'll be any trouble. I don't see why there +should be any, unless Hart objects." + +Jackson felt dimly that here was his chance to protest, to object to +Everett's calm acceptance of the will. But a certain shame, or +diffidence, restrained him at the moment from showing these men that he +felt injured by his uncle's will. He said nothing, and Hollister began +to talk of the projected school. It was to be something new, the +architect gathered, not exactly like any other attempt in education in +our country, and it would take time to perfect the details of the plan. +There was no need for haste. + +"We must build for generations when we do start," Hollister said. "And +the other trustees agree with me that this is not the most opportune +time for converting the estate into ready money." + +"It will pretty nearly double the next five years," the judge observed +authoritatively. + +"At the present, as closely as we can estimate it, there is available +for the purposes of the trust a little over three millions of dollars," +Hollister stated. + +Over three millions! Jackson Hart started in his chair. He had had no +idea that his uncle was worth anything like that amount. And these +shrewd men thought it would probably double during the next five years! +Well, so far as he was concerned it might be three cents. Possibly +Everett would get a few dollars out of it as trustee. He had already +shared in some of the old man's plums, Hart reflected bitterly. When +the trustees began to discuss among themselves some detail of the +management of the real estate involved, the young architect made an +excuse of a business engagement and slipped away. Just as he reached +the door, Everett called out:-- + +"We'll send the will over for probate to-morrow. If there's no hitch, +the legacies will be paid at once. I'll be over to see your mother +very soon and arrange for the payment of her annuity." + +Jackson nodded. He did not like to trust his voice. He knew that it +was very dry. Somehow he found himself in the elevator herded in a +cage of office boys and clerks on their way home, sweating and dirty +from a long day's work. At the street level he bought a newspaper, and +the first thing that caught his eye in its damp folds were the +headlines:-- + + JACKSON'S MILLIONS GO TO EDUCATION + + THE STEEL MAGNATE'S MONEY WILL FOUND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL + + +Hart crumpled up the sheet and threw it into the gutter. The first +intelligible feeling that he had over his situation was a sort of shame +that his uncle should have held him so cheap. For so he interpreted +the gift of ten thousand dollars! And he began, unconsciously, to try +in his mind the case between himself and his uncle. He had always been +led to believe that he was the most favored of all the old man's +dependents. Surely he had been treated like a son, and he was not +aware that he had ever been ungrateful or unworthy. Now, without +having committed any piece of public folly, he was made a thing of pity +and contempt before his friends! + +He resented the old man's kindness, now that he knew where it ended. +Very swiftly he began to realize what it would mean to him to be +without this fortune on which he had so confidently calculated. He had +made up his mind to move to New York, where some of his friends had +started prosperously and had invited him to join them. And there was +Helen, whom he had come to love in the past year. Marriage was now, +apparently, out of the question for him, unless he could earn more +money than Wright thought he was worth. For Helen no more than he had +been favored by his uncle. Even Helen, whom the old man had made so +much of, had been left with little more than a stony farm! ... + +Thus he ploughed his way down the murky street in the direction of the +north side bridge. The gloom of a foggy spring evening was added to +the smoke and grime of the careless city. The architect felt dirty and +uncomfortable, and he knew now that he was condemned to struggle on in +this unlovely metropolis, where even the baked meats of life were flung +at one ungarnished. + +Two solid streams of black-dressed humanity were pressing northward +over the narrow footpaths of the State Street bridge. Some unit in the +throng nudged the architect's elbow. + +"Hello, Jack Hart!" a man yelped at him, scowling from under his black +pot hat. "Going my way?" + +Jackson grumbled a short assent. He did not care to meet Sayre Coburn +at this juncture in his life. Coburn had been a half-starved medical +student at Cornell, working his way as a janitor in the chemical +laboratory. He had been obliged to drop out before the struggle was +quite over, and had gone somewhere else to finish his medical work. +Lately he had landed in Chicago and opened an office without knowing a +soul in the city beyond the architect and a few other Cornell men, whom +he had not sought out. + +Hart knew that the doctor walked to save car fare, and subsisted on +meal tickets at indifferent restaurants. When he had met the man +before he had been inclined to patronize him. Now he looked at the +dirty collar, the frayed and baggy trousers, the wolfish hunch to the +shoulders, and he knew instinctively that these marks came from the +fight in its elementary form,--from that beast-tussle to snatch a +dollar that some other man wants to get from you! + +That same hard game, to which his uncle had just condemned him, gave +Coburn his bad manners, his hit-you-in-the-face style of address, his +vulgar, yelping speech. He suspected that Coburn had gone without +clothes and tobacco to feed a lot of guinea-pigs and rabbits on which +he was making experiments. But Dr. Coburn told you all that in his +harsh, boring voice, just as he told you that your right shoulder was +dragging, or your left leg was short, or any other disagreeable fact. + +"So the old man's money goes to start a school?" Coburn asked, his firm +lips wreathing into a slight grin. "That rather cuts you out, don't +it? Or, maybe, you and he had some kind of a deal so that all the +money don't have to be assessed for inheritance taxes? That's the +usual way nowadays." + +"There's no arrangement," Hart answered shortly. "I had no claim on my +uncle's money." + +The smiling doctor looked at him sideways for a moment, examining the +man drolly, without malice. + +"Well, you wouldn't have turned it down, if it had been passed up to +you on a silver dish? Hey? God, I'd like to get a show at some loose +cash. Then I could build a first-class laboratory and keep all the +animals I want, instead of slopping around here selling pills and guff +to old women! But these philanthropic millionnaires don't seem to +favor medicine much." + +He thrust out his heavy under lip at the world in a brutal, defiant +manner, and swung his little black bag as though he would like to brain +some rich passer-by. His was a handsome face, with firm, straight +lines, a thick black mustache, and clear eyes, deep set. But it was a +face torn and macerated by the hunger of unappeased desires,--unselfish +and honorable desires, however; a face that thinly covered a fuming +crater beneath. When life treated this man rudely, he would fight +back, and he would win against odds. But as the architect saw him, he +was a tough, unlovely specimen. + +"I suppose any one would like to have money," Hart answered vaguely. +Then feeling that the doctor's company was intolerable, he turned down +a side street, calling out, "So long, Coburn." + +The doctor's face betrayed a not wholly sympathetic amusement when his +companion left him in this abrupt manner. + + +When Jackson entered the house, his uncle's old home, his mother was +sitting by the library table reading, just as she had sat and read at +this hour for the past twenty years. Powers Jackson had carefully made +such provision for her as would enable her to continue this habit as +long as she might live. She called to her son:-- + +"You're late, son. Supper's on the table." + +"Don't wait for me," he answered dully, going upstairs to his room. + +When he joined his mother at the supper-table, his mustache was brushed +upwards in a confident wave, and his face, though serious, was not +blackened by soot and care. + +"Did you see Everett?" Mrs. Hart asked suggestively. + +Jackson told her in a few words the event of the afternoon, recounting +the chief provisions of the will as he remembered them. For some +moments she said nothing. Then she remarked, with a note of annoyance +in her voice:-- + +"Powers was always bound I sh'd never leave this house except to follow +him to Rose Hill. And he's fixed it so now I can't! I could never +make him see how sooty it was here. We have to wash the curtains and +things once a fortnight, and then they ain't fit to be seen half the +time." + +Her son, who thought that he had his own grievances against his uncle, +made no reply to this complaint. Before they had finished their meal, +Mrs. Hart added:-- + +"He might have done more for you, too, seeing what a sight of money he +left." + +"Yes, he might have done it! But you see he didn't choose to. And I +guess the best thing we can do under the circumstances is to say as +little as possible about the will. That is, unless we decide to fight +it." + +He threw this out tentatively. It had not occurred to him to contest +the will until that moment. Then he thought suddenly, "Why should I +stand it?" + +But Mrs. Hart, who had never opposed her brother in all her life, +exclaimed:-- + +"You couldn't do that, Jackson! I am sure Powers wouldn't like it." + +"Probably not," the young man replied ironically. "But it isn't his +money any longer!" + +It occurred to him soon, however, that by this act he would endanger +his mother's comfortable inheritance, besides estranging his cousin +Everett and all the old man's friends. To contest the will would be a +risk and, moreover, would be ungrateful, petty. It was a matter at any +rate upon which he should have to take the best of advice. When he +spoke again at the end of their supper, he said impartially:-- + +"I am glad you are comfortably looked out for, though I hope I should +always be able to give you a home, anyway. And we must remember that +uncle gave me my education and my three years in Paris, and I suppose +that after that he thought ten thousand dollars was all that I was +worth,--or could take care of." + +He said this, standing in front of the heavy black-walnut sideboard +which he abhorred, while he lit a cigarette. As he spoke he felt that +he was taking his injury in a manly way, although he still reserved to +himself the right to seek relief from the courts. + +And in the deeper reaches of his being there lay a bitter sense of +resentment, a desire to make the world pay him in some manner for his +disappointment. If he had to, he would show people that he could make +his own way; that he was more than the weakling his uncle had +contemptuously overlooked in the disposal of his property. He should +rise in his profession, make money, and prove to the world that he +could swim without Powers Jackson's millions. + +Oddly enough, as he stood there smoking, his eyes narrowed, his +handsome face hardened into something like the stocky doctor's bull-dog +expression. The rough, brute man in him thrust itself to the surface! + +"What kind of a school are they going to start with all that money?" +Mrs. Hart asked, as she seated herself for the evening. + +"Oh, something technical. For sons of mechanics, a kind of mechanics' +institute, I should say." + +He thought of some of the old man's caustic remarks about charities, +and added:-- + +"Wanted to make good before he quit, I suppose?" + +"Will you have to stay on with that firm?" Mrs. Hart asked, taking up +Lanciani's "Pagan and Christian Rome." + +"I suppose I'll have to for a time," answered Jackson, gloomily.... + + +Thus these two accepted the dead man's will. Powers Jackson had come +to his decision after long deliberation, judging that toward all who +might have claims of any kind upon him he had acted justly and +generously. He had studied these people about him for a long time. +With Everett, who was only distantly related to him, he had acquitted +himself years before, when he had put it in the young man's way to make +money in his profession, to kill his prey for himself. Jackson, he +deemed, would get most out of the fight of life by making the struggle, +as he had made it himself, unaided. As for Helen, he had given the +girl what was most intimately his, and what would do her the least harm +by attracting to her the attention of the unscrupulous world. There +remained what might be called his general account with the world, and +at the end he had sought to settle this, the largest of all. + +Powers Jackson had not been a good man, as has been hinted, but that he +took his responsibilities to heart and struggled to meet them there can +be no doubt. Whether or not he had chosen the best way to settle this +account with the world, by trying to help those to live who were +unfavored by birth, cannot be easily answered. Conceiving it to be his +inalienable right to do with his money what he would, after death as in +life, he had tried to do something large and wise with it. Thus far, +he had succeeded in embittering his nephew. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +The next morning Jackson Hart was once more bending over the large +sheets of the plans for the Denver hotel. Now that he knew his fate, +the draughting-room under the great skylights of the Maramanoc Building +seemed like a prison indeed. The men in the office, he felt sure, had +read all about the will, and had had their say upon his private affairs +before he had come in. He could tell that from the additional +nonchalance in the manner of the head draughtsman, Cook, when he nodded +to him on his way to the cubby-hole where he worked. Early in the +afternoon a welcome interruption came to him in the shape of an urgent +call from the electricians working on the Canostota apartment house on +the South Side. The head of the office asked Hart to go to the +Canostota and straighten the men out, as Harmon, their engineer, was at +home ill. + +As Jackson crossed the street to take the elevated train he met his +cousin. They walked together to the station, and as Wheeler was +turning away, the architect broke out:-- + +"I've been thinking over uncle's will. I can't say I think it was +fair,--to treat me like that after--after all these years." + +The lawyer smiled coldly. + +"I didn't get much, either," he remarked. + +"Well, that don't make it any better; besides, you have had as good as +money from him long ago. Your position and mine aren't just the same." + +"No, that's so," the lawyer admitted. "But what are you going to do +about it?" + +"I don't know yet. I want to think it over. How long"--he hesitated +before finishing his thought. + +"How long have you to give notice you want to contest? About three +weeks," Wheeler replied coolly. "Of course you know that if you fight +you'll put your mother's legacy in danger. And I rather guess +Hollister and the judge wouldn't compromise." + +"And you?" + +Wheeler shrugged his shoulders. + +"Oh, I suppose I should stick with the others." + +Then Wheeler nodded and was off down the street. He did not appear to +be surprised or disturbed by what his cousin had told him. Hart, +pondering the matter in perplexity, continued on his way to the +Canostota. There he found the foreman for the electrical contractor, +and spent a busy hour explaining to the man the intricacies of the +office blue prints. Then the steam-fitter got hold of him, and it was +nearly five o'clock before he had time to think of himself or his own +affairs. As he emerged from the basement by a hole left in the floor +for the plumbers and steam-fitters to run their pipes through, he +noticed a space where a section of the fireproof partition had been +accidentally knocked out. Through this hole he could see one of the +steel I-beams that supported the flooring above, where it had been +drilled to admit the passing of a steam pipe. Something unusual in the +appearance of the metal caught his eye, and he paused where he was, +halfway out of the basement, to look at it again. The I-beam seemed +unaccountably thin and slight. He felt in his pocket for a small rule +that he usually carried with him. He was not quite familiar, even yet, +with the material side of building in America; but he knew in a general +way the weights and thicknesses of steel beams that were ordinarily +specified in Wright's office for buildings of this size. + +"How's this, Davidson?" he asked the steam-fitter, who was close at his +heels. "Isn't that a pretty light fifteen-inch I-beam?" + +The workman looked absolutely blank. + +"I dunno. I expect it's what's called for." + +Even if the man had known that something was wrong about the steel, he +would have said nothing. It was silly to ask a subcontractor to give +evidence damaging to his employer. The architect stooped and asked the +man to hand him his calipers. As he was trying to measure the section +of steel, he saw a man's face looking down at him from the floor above. +Presently a burly form appeared in the opening, and Jackson recognized +Graves, who was the general contractor for the building. + +"We haven't begun to patch up the tile yet," the contractor observed, +nodding to the architect. "We thought we'd leave it open here and +there until Mr. Harmon could get around and look into things. I'm +expecting Mr. Wright will be out here the first of the week, too." + +The contractor talked slowly, without taking his eyes from Hart. He +was a large, full-bearded man, with a manner self-confident or +assuming, as one chose to take it. Hart was always at a loss how to +treat a man like Graves,--whether as a kind of upper workman to be +ordered about, or as a social equal. + +"Is that so?" he asked in a non-committal tone. "Mr. Harmon hasn't +been out here much of late?" + +"No, sir. It must be three weeks or more since Mr. Harmon was here +last. He's been sick that long, ain't he?" + +The steam-fitter had slipped away. Hart had it on his lips to ask the +contractor to show him the specifications for the steel work, but he +was not sure that this was the proper method of procedure. Graves kept +his cool gray eyes fastened on the young architect, while he said:-- + +"That's why I've been keeping things back, so as Mr. Wright could +satisfy himself that everything was all right. A terribly particular +man, that Mr. Wright. If you can please him!" + +He was studying the young man before him, and very ably supplying +answers to the architect's doubts before he could express them. The +contractor did not pause to give Hart time to think, but kept his +stream of slow, confident words flowing over the architect. + +"You fellows give us a lot of bother. Now take that tile. Mr. Wright +specifies Caper's A1, which happens to be out of the market just now. +To please him I sent to Cleveland and Buffalo for some odds and ends +they had down there. But there are a dozen makes just as good!" + +He spoke like a man who did always a little more than his duty. +Although the architect was conscious of the skilful manner in which his +attention was being switched from the steel beams, he felt inclined to +trust the man and judged his suspicions to be ill-timed. + +Graves was not one of the larger contractors employed on the firm's +buildings. He had worked up from small beginnings as a master mason, +and Wright, having used him on several little commissions, had always +found him eager to do his best. This was the first job of any +considerable size that Graves had done for the firm, and he had got +this by under-bidding considerably all the other general contractors +who had been invited to bid on the work. These facts Hart did not +happen to know. + +"Are you going north, Mr. Hart?" Graves asked, as they turned to the +street entrance. "My team is just outside. Shall be pleased to give +you a lift." + +Speaking thus he ushered the architect from the Canostota where the +dusk was already falling. The building rose sheer and massive, six +stories above their heads, with rows of unglassed windows like +sightless eyes. Jackson looked up at it critically, admitting to +himself frankly Wright's ability and restrained taste. This apartment +building stood out from its vulgar neighbors with a kind of +aristocratic distinction that called the passer-by to admire its frugal +plainness. + +The contractor's horse was a nervous, fast little beast. The light +runabout whirled into the broad avenue of Grand Boulevard, and there +Graves let the animal out for a couple of blocks. A thin smile of +satisfaction wrinkled the contractor's bearded lips. Then he pulled on +the reins, and turned in his seat to face the architect. + +"I'm glad of this chance to get acquainted with you, Mr. Hart," he +began pleasantly. "I have been thinking lately that we might be of +some use to each other." + +He paused to let his words sink into his companion's mind. Then he +resumed in a reflective manner:-- + +"I ain't content to build just for other folks. I want to put up +something on my own account. Oh, nothing like as fine as that +Canostota, but something pretty and attractive, and a building that +will pay good. I've just the lot for it, out south alongside +Washington Park. It's a peach! A corner and two hundred feet. Say! +Why won't you come out right now and have a look at it? Can you spare +the time? Good." + +The little runabout whisked around, and they went speeding south over +the hard boulevard. + +"Now's about the time to build. I've owned the property ever since the +slump in real estate right after the fair. Well, I want an architect +on my own account! I suppose I could go to one of those Jews who sell +their dinky little blue prints by the yard. Most of the flat buildings +hereabouts come that way. But I want something swell. That's going to +be a fine section of the city soon, and looks count in a building, as +elsewhere." + +Hart laughed at this cordial testimony to his art. + +"There's your boss, Wright. But he's too high-toned for me,--wouldn't +look at anything that toted up less than the six figures. And I guess +he don't do much designing himself. He leaves that to you young +fellows, don't he?" + +Hart could see, now, the idea that was in the contractor's mind, and +his interest grew. They pulled up near the south corner of the Park, +beside some vacant land. It was, as Graves said, a very favorable spot +for a showy apartment building. + +"I want something real handsome," the contractor continued. "It'll be +a high-priced building. And I think you are the man to do it." + +Graves brought this out like a shot. + +"Why, I should like to think of it," the architect began +conventionally, not sure what he ought to say. + +"Yes, you're the man. I saw the plans for that Aurora church one day +while I was waiting to talk with Mr. Wright, and I said to myself then, +'There's the man to draw my plans when I get ready to build. The +feller that designed that church has got something out of the ordinary +in him! He's got style!'" + +Praise, even from the mob, is honey to the artist. Jackson +instinctively thought better of the self-confident contractor, and +decided that he was a bluff, honest man,--common, but well meaning. + +"Well, what do you say, Mr. Hart?" + + +It ended with Hart's practically agreeing to prepare a preliminary +sketch. When it came to the matter of business, the young architect +found that, notwithstanding the contractor's high consideration of his +talent, he was willing to offer only the very lowest terms for his +work. He told the contractor, however, that he would consider his +offer, remarking that he should have to leave Wright's office before +undertaking the commission. + +"But," he said with a sudden rush of will, "I was considering starting +for myself very soon, anyway." + +It was not until after the contractor had dropped him at his club in +the down-town district that he remembered the steel beams in the +Canostota. Then it occurred to him that possibly, had it not been for +the accident which had brought Graves to that part of the building just +as he was on his knees trying to measure the thickness of the metal, +the contractor might not have discovered his great talent. As he +entered the club washroom, the disagreeable thought came to him that, +if the I-beams were not right, Graves had rather cleverly closed his +mouth about the Canostota. In agreeing to do a piece of work for +Wright's contractor, he had placed himself where he could not easily +get that contractor into trouble with his present employer. + +As he washed his hands, scrubbing them as if they had been pieces of +wood in order to remove the afternoon's dirt, he felt that there was +more than one kind of grime in the city. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +There were very few men to be found in the club at this hour. The +dingy library, buzzing like a beehive at noon with young men, was empty +now except for a stranger who was whiling away his time before a dinner +engagement. Most of the men that the architect met at this club were, +like himself, younger members of the professions, struggling upward in +the crowded ranks of law, medicine, architecture. Others were employed +in brokers' offices, or engaged in general business. Some of them had +been his classmates in Cornell, or in the technological school, and +these had welcomed him with a little dinner on his return from Paris. + +After that cheerful reunion he had seen less of these old friends than +he had hoped to when he had contemplated Chicago from his Paris +apartment. Perhaps there had been something of envy among them for +Jackson Hart. Things had seemed very pleasantly shaped for him, and +Chicago is yet a community that resents special favors. + +Every one was driving himself at top speed. At noon the men fell +together about the same table in the grill-room,--worried, fagged, +preoccupied. As soon as the day's work was over, their natural +instinct was to flee from the dirt and noise of the business street, +where the club was situated, to the cleaner quarters north or south, or +to the semi-rural suburbs. Thus the centrifugal force of the city was +irresistible. + +To-night there were a number of young men in the card-room, sitting +over a game of poker, which, judging from the ash-trays on the table, +had been in progress since luncheon. Several other men, with hats on +and coats over their arms, were standing about the table, looking on. + +"Well, Jackie, my boy!" one of the players called out, "where have you +been hiding yourself this week?" + +Ben Harris, the man who hailed the architect, had apparently been +drinking a good deal. The other men at the table called out sharply, +"Shut up, Ben. Play!" + +But the voluble Harris, whose drink had made him more than usually +impudent, remarked further:-- + +"Say, Jack! ain't you learned yet that we don't pattern after the +German Emperor here in Chicago? Better comb out your mustache, or +they'll be taking you for some foreign guy." + +Hart merely turned his back on Harris, and listened with exaggerated +interest to what a large, heavy man, with a boy's smooth face, was +saying:-- + +"He was of no special 'count in college,--a kind of second-rate +hustler, you know. But, my heavens! Since he struck this town, he's +got in his work. I don't believe he knows enough law to last him over +night. But he knows how to make the right men think he does. He +started in to work for those Selinas Mills people,--damage suits and +collecting. Here in less than five years he's drawing the papers for +the consolidation of all the paper-mills in the country!" + +"Who's that, Billy?" Hart asked. + +"Leverett, Joe Leverett. He was Yale '89, and at the law school with +me." + +"He must have the right stuff in him, all the same," commented one man. + +"I don't know about that!" the first speaker retorted. "Some kind of +stuff, of course. But I said he was no lawyer, and never will be, and +I repeat it. And what's more, half the men who are earning the big +money in law here in Chicago don't know enough law to try a case +properly." + +"That's so," assented one man. + +"Same thing in medicine." + +"Oh, it's the same all over." + +The men about the card-table launched out into a heated discussion of +the one great topic of modern life--Success. The game of poker finally +closed, and the players joined in the conversation. Fresh drinks were +ordered, and cigars were passed about. The theme caught the man most +eager to go home, and fired the brain most fagged. + +"The pity of it, too," said the large man called Billy, dominating the +room with his deep voice and deliberate speech,--"the pity of it is +that it ruins the professions. You can see it right here in Chicago. +Who cares for fine professional work, if it don't bring in the stuff? +Yes, look at our courts! look at our doctors! And look at our +buildings. It's money every time. The professions have been +commercialized." + +"Oh, Billy!" exclaimed Ben Harris. "Is this a commencement oration you +are giving us?" + +A quiet voice broke in from behind the circle:-- + +"There's much in what you say, Mr. Blount. Time has been when it meant +something of honor for a man to be a member of one of the learned +professions. Men were content to take part of their pay in honor and +respect from the community. There's no denying that's all changed now. +We measure everything by one yardstick, and that is money. So the able +lawyer and the able doctor have joined the race with the mob for the +dollars. But"--his eye seemed to rest on the young architect, who was +listening attentively--"that state of affairs can't go on. When we +shake down in this modern world of ours, and have got used to our +wealth, and have made the right adjustment between capital and +labor,--the professions, the learned professions, will be elevated once +more. Men are so made that they want to respect something. And in the +long run they will respect learning, ideas, and devotion to the public +welfare." + +The speaker's eye seemed to challenge the young architect, who listened +attentively, without thorough conviction. Something in the older man +antagonized Jackson's mood. It was easy enough for a man like +Pemberton with an assured position and comfortable means to take lofty +views! + +"That's all right, Pemberton," Harris retorted. "That's first-class +talk. But I guess I see about as much of human nature in my business +as any man, and I tell you, it's only human nature to get what you can +out of the game. What men respect in this town is money,--first, last, +and all the time. So it's only natural for a man, whether he is a +lawyer or anything else, to do as the other Romans do." + +Harris brought his bony, lined hand down on the card-table with a +thump, and leaned forward, thrusting out his long, unshaven chin at the +older man who had spoken. His black hair, which was thin above the +temples and across the middle of his head, was rumpled, his collar +bent, and his cuffs blackened about the edges. Hart had known him as a +boy twelve years before at the South Side High School. Thence he had +gone to a state university where four years had made little impression, +at least externally, on his raw character, and then he had entered a +broker's office, and had made money on the Board of Trade. Lately it +had been reported that he was losing money in wheat. + +"Yes, sir," he snarled on, having suppressed the others for the moment. +"It don't make much difference, either, how you get your money so far +as I can see. Whether you do a man in a corner in wheat, or run a pool +room. All is, if you want to be in the game, you must have the price +of admission about you. And the rest is talk for the ladies and the +young." + +Pemberton replied in a severe tone:-- + +"That is easy to say and easy to believe. But when I think of the +magnificent gift to the public just made by one of these very men whom +you would consider a mere money-grabber, I confess I am obliged to +doubt your easy analysis of our modern life!" + +Pemberton spoke with a kind of authority. He was one of the older men +of the club, much respected in the city, and perfectly fearless. But +the broker, also, feared no man's opinion. + +"Gifts to education!" sneered Ben Harris. "That's what they do to show +off when they're through with their goods. Anyway, there's too much +education going around. It don't count. The only thing that counts, +to-day, here, now, is money. Can you make it or steal it or--inherit +it!" + +He looked across the room at Jackson Hart and laughed. The architect +disliked this vulgar reference to his own situation, but, on the whole, +he was much more inclined to agree with the broker than he would have +been a few days earlier. + +"I am sorry that such ideas should be expressed inside this club," +Pemberton answered gravely. "If there is one place in this city where +the old ideals of the professions should be reverenced, where men +should deny that cheap philosophy of the street, by their acts as well +as by their words, it should be here in this club." + +Some of the others in the group nodded their approval of this speech. +They said nothing, however; for the conversation had reached a point of +delicacy that made men hesitate to say what they thought. Pemberton +turned on his heel and walked away. The irrepressible Harris called +after him belligerently:-- + +"Oh, I don't know about that, now, Mr. Pemberton. It takes all kinds +of men to make a club, you know." + +As the little group broke up, Harris linked his arm in Hart's. + +"I've got something to say to you, Jackie," he said boisterously. +"We'll order dinner, if you are free, and I'll put you up to something +that's better than old Pemberton's talk. It just occurred to me while +we were gassing here." + +The young architect did not quite like Harris's style, but he had +already planned to dine at the club, and they went upstairs to the +dining-room together. He was curious to hear what the broker might +have to suggest to him. + +Hart had agreed with Pemberton's ideas, naturally enough, in the +abstract. But in the concrete, the force of circumstances, here in +this roaring city where he found himself caught, was fast preparing him +to accept the Harris view. Like most men of his class he was neither +an idealist nor a weakling: he was merely a young man, still making up +his character as he went along, and taking color more or less from the +landscape he found himself in. + +His aspirations for art, if not fine, were sufficiently earnest and +sincere. He had always thought of himself as luckily fortuned, so that +he could devote himself to getting real distinction in his profession. +So he had planned his life in Paris. Now, brought back from that +pleasant world into this stern city, with all its striving, apparently, +centred upon the one business of making money, then deprived by what +seemed to him a harsh and unfair freak of fortune of all his pleasant +expectations, he was trying to read the face of Destiny. And there he +seemed to find written what this gritty broker had harshly expressed. +There was, to be sure, another road to fortune, which had not been +mentioned, and that was to make a rich marriage. This road had been +followed with signal success by a number of his acquaintances: it was +one of the well-recognized methods of attaining that point of vantage +which he had hoped to inherit,--to win one of the daughters of wealth! +And since his return from Europe the young architect had had his +opportunities in the society where he had been welcomed. But apart +from his growing love for Helen Spellman, he was too sturdy a man to +like this easy method of advancement. He turned from the idea with +instinctive repugnance, and an honest feeling of contempt for the men +who in that way had sneaked into fortune. + +"Say, you've got a good friend in Mrs. Will Phillips," Harris began +bluntly when they were seated opposite each other. + +"Oh, Mrs. Phillips! I used to see something of her in Paris," Jackson +acknowledged indifferently. + +He remembered that he had not followed the widow's invitation to call +upon her, all thought of her having been driven out of his mind by the +happenings of the last few days. + +"I rather think she would like to see more of you in Chicago!" the +broker laughed back. + +"How do you know?" Hart asked, wondering where Harris's path crossed +that of the gay Mrs. Phillips. + +"Oh, I know all right. She's a good customer of ours. I've been +talking to her half the afternoon about things." + +"Oh!" Jackson exclaimed, not much interested in the subject. + +The broker's next remark had nothing to do with Mrs. Phillips. + +"You fellows don't make much money building houses. Ain't that so? +You need other jobs. Well, I am going to give you a pointer." + +He stopped mysteriously, and then began again:-- + +"I happen to know that the C. R. and N. Road is going to put a lot of +money into improvements this summer. Among other things they're +getting ready to build new stations all along the north shore +line,--you know, up through the suburbs,--Forest Park, Shoreham, and so +on. They've got a lot of swell patronage out that way, and they are +making ready for more." + +Hart listened to the broker with renewed interest. He wondered how +Harris should happen to know this news ahead of the general public, and +he began to see the connection it might have with his own fortune. + +"That's where they are going to put a lot of their surplus earnings. +Now, those stations must be the top of the style,--real buildings, not +sheds. And I don't think they have any architect yet." + +"Well!" the architect remarked cynically. "The president or one of the +vice-presidents will have a son, or nephew, or some one to work in. +Or, perhaps, they may have a competitive trial for the plans." + +"Perhaps they will, and perhaps they won't," Harris answered knowingly. +"The man who will decide all that is their first +vice-president,--Raymond, Colonel Stevens P. Raymond,--know him?" + +Hart shook his head. + +"Well, Mrs. Phillips does. He lives out in Forest Park, where she's +thinking of building a big house." + +"Is Mrs. Phillips thinking of building in Forest Park?" the architect +asked quickly. + +Harris looked at him in a bored manner. + +"Why, I thought you were going to draw the plans!" + +"She asked me to come to see her," Hart admitted. "But that was all. +I thought it was just a social matter." + +"Well, if a rich and good-looking woman asked me to call on her, I +shouldn't take all year about making up my mind!" + +Jackson could not help thinking that it would be more embarrassing to +call on the widow now than if he had not had this talk with the broker. +His relations with Mrs. Phillips in Paris had been pleasant, unalloyed +with business. He remembered how he had rather patronized the +ambitious young woman, who had desired to meet artists, to go to their +studios, and to give little dinners where every one talked French but +her stupid husband. + +"The widow Phillips thinks a lot of your ability, Jackie, and old +S.P.R. thinks a lot of the widow. Now do you see?" + +The architect laughed nervously. He could see plainly enough what was +meant, but he did not like it altogether. + +"She can do what she likes with the old man. The job is as good as +yours, if you work it properly. I've given you the tip straight ahead +of the whole field. Not a soul knows that the C. R. and N. is going in +for this kind of thing." + +"It would be a big chance," the architect replied. "It was good of you +to think of me, Ben." + +"That's all right. It popped into my head when that ass Pemberton +began his talk about your uncle's gift to the public. I must say, +Jack, it seemed to me a dirty trick of the old man to cut you out the +way he did. Are you going to fight the will, or is it so fixed that +you can't?" + +"I don't know, yet, what I shall do about it." + +"To bring a fellow up as he did you, and then knock on him at the +end,--it's just low down!" + +That was the view Jackson Hart was more and more inclined to take of +his uncle's will, and he warmed to the coarse, outspoken broker, who +had shown him real friendliness when he was no longer in a position to +be of importance to any one. Harris seemed to him to be warm-blooded +and human. The young architect was beginning to feel that this was not +a world for delicacy of motive and refinement. When he suggested +diffidently that some large firm of architects would probably be chosen +by the C. R. and N. people, Harris said:-- + +"Rats! Raymond won't hunt round for references, beyond what Mrs. +Phillips will give him. You see her as quick as you can and tell her +you want the chance." + +The Opportunity which Harris had suggested would be given to him by a +woman. Yet, however much he might dislike to go to a woman for such +help, the chance began to loom large in his imagination. Here was +something that even Wright would be glad to have. He saw himself in +his own office, having two large commissions to start with, and +possibly a third,--Mrs. Phillips's new house in Forest Park! + +Perhaps Wright did know, after all, about the C. R. and N. matter. +Hart's fighting blood rose: he would do his best to snatch this good +thing from him, or from any other architect! And to do it he would +take the readiest means at hand. He forgot his contempt for that +American habit of pull which he had much deplored in studio +discussions. All that had been theory; this was personal and +practical. When Harris had to leave, after coffee, the architect shook +him warmly by the hand and thanked him again for his friendliness. + +Within the day Fortune had smiled upon him twice. Neither time, to be +sure, was the way to her favor quite what he would have chosen if he +could have chosen. But one must not discriminate too nicely, the young +man was beginning to feel, when one picks up the cards to play.... + +Below, from the busy street, rose the piercing note of the +city,--rattle, roar, and clang,--scarcely less shrill at eight of an +evening than at noon. From the bulk-heads on the roof of the next +building soared a drab-colored cloud of steam, eddying upwards even to +the open windows of the club dining-room. The noise, the smell, the +reek of the city touched the man, folded him in, swayed him like a +subtle opiate. The thirst of the terrible game of living, the desire +of things, the brute love of triumph, filled his veins. Old Powers +Jackson, contemptuously putting him to one side, had unconsciously +worked this state of mind in him. He, Jackson Hart, would show the +world that he could fight for himself, could snatch the prize that +every one was fighting for, the supreme prize of man's life to-day--a +little pot of gold! + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +"How did young Mr. Hart take the will?" Mrs. Phillips asked her +brother-in-law the first time she saw him after the funeral. + +"Why, all right, I guess," the judge answered slowly. "Why shouldn't +he?" + +"I hoped he would fight it," the widow replied, eying the judge calmly. + +"I believe he isn't that much of a fool. Just because Powers looked +after his mother, and fed him all these years, and gave him an +expensive education,--why should he be obliged to leave the chap all +his money, if he didn't want to?" + +Mrs. Phillips avoided a direct reply, and continued to announce her +opinions,--a method of conversation which she knew was highly +irritating to the judge. + +"Philanthropy! What's the use of such philanthropy? The city has +enough schools. It's all foolishness to give your money to other +people to eat up!" + +"That is a matter of feeling," Judge Phillips answered dryly. "I +shouldn't expect you to feel as Powers did about such things." + +Harrison Phillips had few illusions concerning his sister-in-law, and +she knew it. Years before they had reached the point where they +dispensed with polite subterfuges and usually confined their social +intercourse to the superficial surface of conversation. He had known +her ever since she came to Chicago from a little Illinois town to study +music. Indeed, he had first introduced his younger brother to her, he +remembered unhappily. She was Louise Faunce, then,--a keen, brown-eyed +country girl of eighteen. When Will Phillips wanted to marry her, the +judge had already felt the pretty girl's little claws, and had been +foolish enough to warn his brother of his fate. Will Phillips was a +dull young man, and had poor health. The older brother knew that Will +was being married for his money,--a considerable fortune for a girl +from Ottumwa, Illinois. + +And the marriage had not been a happy one. The last years of his life +Will Phillips had taken to drinking. The judge felt that the wife had +driven his brother to his sodden end, and he hated her for it, with a +proper and legal hatred. Six months before his end Will Phillips had +come home from Europe, leaving his two children in Paris with his wife, +apparently for an indefinite separation. Why the widow had chosen to +return to Chicago after her husband's death was a mystery to the judge, +who never gave Louise Phillips credit for half her character. For she +was shrewd enough to perceive that neither she nor her children could +have any permanent position in the world outside of Chicago. And she +had no mind to sacrifice the social position that her husband's family +and friends had made for her. + +She told her brother-in-law on her return that she had found Europe an +unsuitable place in which to bring up the children, and proposed before +long to build a new house, perhaps in Forest Park,--one of the older +and more desirable suburbs to the north of the city. + +"I must make a home for my children among their father's friends," she +said to the judge with perfect propriety. "Venetia, especially, should +have the right background now that she is becoming a young woman." + +Venetia--so named in one of the rare accesses of sentiment which came +to Mrs. Phillips, as to all mortals, because it was to Venice that she +had first been taken as a young bride--was now sixteen years old. Her +brother Stanwood, a year younger, had been placed in a fashionable +Eastern school, where he was preparing for Yale, and ultimately for the +"career of diplomacy," as his mother called it. + +The judge, who was trustee for his brother's children, had called this +Sunday afternoon to discuss the project of the new house with his +sister-in-law. She had notified him that she should need presently a +considerable sum of money, and expected to take a part of it, at least, +from the children's inheritance. About this money matter they had come +to a warm difference of opinion, which Mrs. Phillips had put aside +momentarily to discuss the Jackson will. + + +"If you will wait," she remarked, having exhausted her opinion about +philanthropy and Powers Jackson's will, "you might see my architect. I +have asked Mr. Hart to call this afternoon." + +"I don't pine to see him," the old man retorted testily. "So you have +gone that far?" + +"Yes! There isn't the slightest use of being disagreeable about it, +you see. Nothing that you can say will change my mind. It never has. +You would like to keep me from spending the money. But you can't +without a row, a scandal. Besides, I know it will be a good investment +for both the children." + +"You were always pretty keen for a good investment!" + +"You mean by that sarcasm that you think I was sharp when I married +your brother, because I had nothing but my good looks. They were +certainly worth as much as a husband--who--drank himself--to death." + +"We won't go into that, please," the judge said, his bright blue eyes +glittering. "I hope, Louise, to live to see the day when you get what +you deserve,--just how I don't know." + +"Thank you, Harrison," Mrs. Phillips replied unperturbed. "We all do +get what we deserve, sooner or later, don't we?" + +"Sometimes I give up hope!" the old man exclaimed irascibly. + +"There's my young man now!" she observed, looking out of the window. +"If you want to know just what extravagances I am going into, you had +better wait." + +"I'll know soon enough! Where's Ven? I want to see her." + +"She should be out riding with John." + + +Mrs. Phillips rose from her deep chair to greet the architect. All at +once her face and manner seemed to lose the hard, cold surface that she +had presented to the judge, the surface of a middle-aged, shrewd woman. +Suddenly she expanded, opened herself graciously to the young man. + +The old gentleman stalked out of the drawing-room, with a curt nod and +a grunt for Hart. The architect looked to the widow for an explanation +of the stormy atmosphere, but, ignoring the judge, she smiled all the +warmer welcome to her visitor. + +"So good of you to answer my note promptly," she murmured. "For I know +how busy you are!" + +"I had already promised myself the pleasure for to-day," Jackson +replied quickly, using a phrase he had thought up on his way into the +room. + +And as he looked at her resting in her deep chair, he realized that it +was a distinct pleasure to be there. He felt that here in Chicago even +in the ugly drawing-room of the old-fashioned house Mrs. Will Phillips +was much more of a person than she had been in Paris. Still, here as +there, the woman in her was the first and last fact. She was +thirty-seven, and in the very best of health. To one who did not lay +exclusive emphasis on mere youth, the first bloom of the fruit, she was +much more beautiful than when, as a raw girl from Ottumwa, she had +married Willie Phillips. Sensitive, nervous, in the full tide of her +physical life, she had what is euphemistically called to-day +temperament. To this instinctive side of the woman, the handsome, +strong young man had always appealed. + +It is also true that she was clever, and had learned with great +rapidity how to cover up the holes of a wretched education. At first, +however, a man could think of but one thing in the presence of Mrs. +Phillips: "You are a woman, and a very inviting one!" + +Doubtless she meant that men should think that, and nothing more, at +first. Those who had come through the fire, to whom she was cold and +hard, like an inferior gem, might say later with the judge:-- + +"Louise flings her sex at you from the first smile. If you feel that +sort of thing, the only thing to do is to run." + +Jackson Hart had not yet reached this point of human experience. +Nevertheless, he was but dimly aware that the woman opposite him +troubled his mind, preoccupied as it happened to be with business, like +a too pronounced perfume. Here, in the hard atmosphere of an American +city, he was not inclined to remember the sentimentalities of his Paris +days and was more interested in the widow's prospective house than in +her personal charms. Accordingly, Mrs. Phillips, with quick +perception, soon dropped the reminiscential tone that she had been +inclined to take at first. She came promptly to business:-- + +"Could you consider a small commission, Mr. Hart?" she asked with +apparent hesitation. + +The architect would have undertaken to build a doll's house. +Nevertheless, his heart sank at the word "small." + +"I so much want your advice, at any rate. I value your taste so +highly. You taught me how to look at things over there. And we should +agree, I am sure!" + +Then she unfolded more plainly her purpose of building in Forest Park. +She had thought of something Tudor. (She had been visiting at a Tudor +house in the East.) But the architect, without debating the point, +sketched on the back of an envelope the outline of an old French +château,--a toy study in part of the famous château at Chenonceaux. + +"What a lovely roof!" Mrs. Phillips exclaimed responsively. "And how +the thing grows under your hand! It seems as though you must have had +just what I wanted in mind." She leaned over the little piece of +paper, fascinated by the architect's facility. + +As he drew in the façade, he noticed that the widow had very lovely +hair, of a tone rarely found in America, between brown and +black,--dusky. Then he remembered that he had made the same +observation before in Paris. The arch of her neck, which was strong +and full, was also excellent. And her skin was of a perfect pallor. + +By the time he had made these observations and finished his rough +little sketch, the Tudor period had been forgotten, and the question of +the commission had been really decided. There remained to be debated +the matter of cost. After one or two tactful feints the architect was +forced to ask bluntly what the widow expected to spend on the house. +At the mention of money Mrs. Phillips's brows contracted slightly. A +trace of hardness, like fine enamel, settled on her features. + +"What could you build it for?" she demanded brusquely. + +"Why, on a thing like this you can spend what you like," he stammered. +"Of course a house in Forest Park ought to be of a certain kind,--to be +a good investment," he added politely. + +"Of course. Would twenty-five thousand dollars be enough?" + +The architect felt relieved on hearing the size of the figure, but he +had had time to realize that this agreeable client might be close in +money matters. It would be well to have her mind keyed to a liberal +figure at the start, and he said boldly:-- + +"You could do a good deal for that. But not a place like this,--such a +one as you ought to have, Mrs. Phillips," he added, appealing to her +vanity. + +Once he had called her Louise, and they both were conscious of the +fact. Nevertheless, she eyed him keenly. She was quite well aware +that he wanted to get all the freedom to develop his sketch that a good +sum of money would give, and also had in mind the size of his fee, +which would be a percentage of the cost. But this consideration did +not offend her. In this struggle, mental and polite, over the common +topic of money, she expected him to assert himself. + +"It's no use being small in such matters," she conceded at length, +having reflected on the profits of certain dealings with Ben Harris's +firm. "Let us say fifty thousand!" + +"That's much more possible!" the architect replied buoyantly, with a +vague idea already forming that his sketches might call for a house +that would cost seventy or seventy-five thousand dollars to complete. + +The money matter out of the way, the widow relapsed into her friendly +manner. + +"I hope you can begin right away! I am so anxious to get out of this +old barn, and I want to unpack all the treasures I bought in Europe the +last time." + +Judge Phillips would have shuddered to hear his brother's large brick +house, encircled in Chicago fashion by a neat strip of grass, referred +to as a "barn." And the architect, on his side, knowing something of +Louise Phillips's indiscriminate taste in antiquities, was resolved to +cull the "treasures" before they found a place in his edifice. + +"Why, I'll begin on some sketches right away. If they please you, I +could do the plans at once--just as soon as I get my own office," he +added honestly. "You know I have been working for Walker, Post, and +Wright. But I am going to leave them very soon." + +"I am glad to hear that," Mrs. Phillips replied sympathetically. "It +ought to have been so different. I think that will was disgraceful! I +hope you can break it." + +"I don't know that I shall try," he answered hastily, startled at the +widow's cool comment on his uncle's purposes. + +"Well, you know best, I suppose. But _I_ should think a long time +before I let them build that school." + +"At any rate, it looks now as if I should want all the work I can get," +he answered, looking into her eyes, and thinking of what Harris had +told him of the G. R. and N. job. He had it on his lips to add, "Can't +you say a word for me to your friend Colonel Raymond?" But he could +not bring himself easily to the point of asking outright for business +favors at a woman's hand. While he hesitated, not finding a phrase +sufficiently delicate to express the idea, she happily saved him from +the crudity of open speech. + +"Perhaps I can help you in certain ways. There's something-- Well, we +won't begin on that to-day. But you can rest assured that I am your +friend, can't you?" + +They understood each other thus easily. He knew that she was well +aware of what was in his mind, and was disposed to help him to the full +extent of her woman's power. In his struggle for money and +place,--things that she appreciated,--she would be an able friend. + +Having come to a complete agreement on a number of matters, in the +manner of a man and a woman, they began to talk of Paris and of other +days. Outside in the hall there was the sound of steps, and a +laughing, vigorous girl's voice. The architect could see a thin, tall +girl, as she threw her arms about Judge Phillips's plump neck and +pulled his head to a level with her mouth. He noticed that Mrs. +Phillips was also watching this scene with stealthy eyes. When the +door had closed upon the judge, she called:-- + +"Venetia, will you come here, dear! I want you to meet Mr. Hart. You +remember Mr. Hart?" + +The girl crossed the drawing-room slowly, the fire in her strangely +extinguished at the sound of her mother's voice. She gave a bony +little hand to the architect, and nodded her head, like a rebellious +trick dog. Then she drew away from the two and stood beside the +window, waiting for the next order. + +She was dark like her mother, but her features lacked the widow's +pleasant curves. They were firm and square, and a pair of dark eyes +looked out moodily from under heavy eyebrows. The short red lips were +full and curved, while the mother's lips were dangerously thin and +straight. As the architect looked at the girl, standing tall and erect +in the light from the western window, he felt that she was destined to +be of some importance. It was also plain enough that she and her +mother were not sympathetic. When the widow spoke, the daughter seemed +to listen with the terrible criticism of youth lurking in her eyes. + +A close observer would have seen, also, that the girl had in her a +capacity for passion that the mother altogether lacked. The woman was +mildly sensuous and physical in mood, but totally without the strong +emotions of the girl that might sweep her to any act, mindless of fate. +When the clash came between the two, as it was likely to come before +long, the mother would be the one to retreat. + +"Have you had your ride, dear?" Mrs. Phillips asked in soothing tones, +carefully prepared for the public. + +"No, mamma. Uncle Harry was here, you know." + +"I am sorry not to have you take your ride every day, no matter what +happens," the mother continued, as if she had not heard the girl's +excuse. + +"I had rather see uncle Harry. Besides, Frolic went lame yesterday." + +"You can always take my horse," Mrs. Phillips persisted, her eyebrows +contracting as they had over the money question. + +A look of what some day might become contempt shadowed the girl's face. +She bowed to the architect in her stiff way which made him understand +that it was no recommendation to her favor to be her mother's friend, +and walked across the room with a dignity beyond the older woman's +power. + +"She is at the difficult age," the mother murmured. + +"She is growing beautiful!" Jackson exclaimed. + +"I hope so," Mrs. Phillips answered composedly. "When can you let me +see the sketches?" + +"In two or three days." + +"Won't you dine with us next Wednesday, then?" + +She seemed to have arranged every detail of the transaction with +accuracy and care. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +The Spellmans lived on the other side of the city from Mrs. Phillips, +on Maple Street, very near the lake. Their little stone-front, +Gothic-faced house was pretty nearly all the tangible property that Mr. +Spellman had to leave to his widow and child when he died, sixteen +years before. There had been also his small interest in Jackson's +Bridge Works, an interest which at the time was largely speculative, +but which had enabled Powers Jackson to pay the widow a liberal income +without hurting her pride. + +The house had remained very much what it had been during Mr. Spellman's +lifetime, its bright Brussels carpets and black-walnut furniture having +taken on the respectability of age and use. Here, in this homely eddy +of the great city, mother and daughter were seated reading after their +early dinner, as was their custom. Helen, having shown no aptitude for +society, after one or two seasons of playing the wall-flower at the +modest parties of their acquaintance, had resolutely sought her own +interests in life. One of these was a very earnest attempt to get that +vague thing called an education. Just at present, this consisted of +much reading of a sociological character suggested by a course of +university lectures which she had followed during the winter. + +Mrs. Spellman, who had been turning the leaves of a magazine, finally +looked up from its pages and asked, "Have you seen Jackson since the +funeral?" + +Helen dropped her book into her lap and looked at her mother with +startled eyes. + +"No, mother. I suppose he is very busy just now." + +She spoke as if she had already asked herself this question a number of +times, and answered it in the same way without satisfaction. + +"I wonder what he means to do about the will," Mrs. Spellman continued. +"It must have been a great disappointment to him. I wonder if he had +any idea how it would be?" + +"What makes you think he is disappointed?" the girl asked literally. + +"Why, I saw Everett this morning, and he told me he thought his cousin +might contest the will. He said Jackson was feeling very sore. It +would be such a pity if there were any trouble over Powers's will!" + +Helen shut the book in her lap and laid it on the table very firmly. + +"How can Everett say such things! You know, mother, Jackson would +never think of doing anything so--mean--so ungrateful!" + +"Some people might consider that he was justified. And it is a very +large sum of money. If he had expectations of--" + +"Just because uncle Powers was always so kind to him!" the girl +interrupted hotly. "Was that any reason why he should leave him a lot +of his money?" + +"My dear, most people would think it was a sufficient reason for +leaving him more than he did." + +"Then most people are very self-interested! Everett Wheeler might +expect it. But Jackson has something better in life to do than worry +over not getting his uncle's money." + +Mrs. Spellman, who had known Jackson since he was a child, smiled +wisely, but made no reply. + +"What good would the money be to him? Why should he want more than he +has,--the chance to do splendid things, to work for something better +than money? That's the worst about men like Everett,--they think of +nothing but money, money, from morning to night. He doesn't believe +that a man can care for any other thing." + +"Poor Everett!" her mother remarked with quiet irony. "He isn't +thinking of contesting the will, however." + +"Nor is Jackson, I am sure!" the girl answered positively. + +She rose from her chair by the lamp, and walked to and fro in the room. +When she stood she was a tall woman, almost large, showing the growth +that the New England stock can develop in a favorable environment. +While she read, her features had been quite dull, but they were fired +now with feeling, and the deep eyes burned. + +Mrs. Spellman, whose thoughts had travelled rapidly, asked suddenly +with apparent irrelevancy:-- + +"How would you like to spend a year in Europe?" + +"Why should we?" the girl demanded quickly, pausing opposite her +mother. "What makes you say that?" + +"There isn't much to keep us here," Mrs. Spellman explained. "You +enjoyed your trip so much, and I am stronger now. We needn't travel, +you know." + +The girl turned away her face, as she answered evasively, "But why +should we go away? I don't want to leave Chicago." + +She divined that her mother was thinking of what had occurred to her +many times, as these last days had gone by without their seeing the +young architect. Possibly, now that he knew himself to be without +fortune, he wished to show her plainly that there could be no question +of marriage between them. She rejected the idea haughtily, and +resented her mother's acceptance of it which was implied in her +suggestion. And even if it were so, she was not the one to admit to +herself the wound. It would be no pleasure for her to go away. + +Could it be true that he was thinking of fighting the will? Her heart +scorned the suggestion, for there was in her one immense capacity, one +fiery power, and that was the instinct to transform all that she knew +and felt into something finer than it actually was. Her eyes were +blind to the sordid lines in the picture; her ears deaf to the +discordant notes. In that long passage home through the Mediterranean +and across the Atlantic her soul had given itself unknown to herself to +this man, and she could not admit the slightest disloyalty to her +conception of him! + +She returned to her chair, resolutely picked up her book, and turned +the pages with a methodical, unseeing regularity. As the clock tinkled +off nine strokes, Mrs. Spellman rose, kissed the girl, silently +pressing her fingers on the light folds of her hair, and went upstairs. +Another half hour went by; then, as the clock neared ten, the doorbell +rang. Helen, recollecting that the servants had probably left the +kitchen, put down her book and stepped into the hall. She waited a +moment there, but when the bell rang a second time she went resolutely +to the door and opened it. + +"Oh!" she exclaimed. "Jackson! I thought it might be a tramp." + +"Well, perhaps you aren't so far wrong," the architect answered with a +laugh. "I've been walking miles. Is it too late to come in?" + +For answer she held the door wide open. + +"I have been dining with Mrs. Phillips; she has asked me to draw some +plans for her," Jackson explained. "As I came by the house, I thought +I would tell you and your mother about it." + +"Mother has gone upstairs, but come in. You know I always read late. +And I am so glad to hear about the plans." + +The strong night wind brushed boisterously through the open door, +ruffling the girl's loosely coiled hair. She put her hands to her head +to tighten the hairpins here and there. If the man could have read +colors in the dark hall, he would have seen that Helen's face, usually +too pale, had flushed. His ears were quick enough to detect the +tremulous note in her voice, the touch of surprise and sudden feeling. +It answered something electric in himself, something that had driven +him to her across the city straightway from Mrs. Phillips's house! + +He followed her into the circle of lamplight, and sat down heavily in +the chair that she had been occupying. + +"What's this thing you are reading?" he asked in his usual tone of +authority, picking up the bulky volume beneath the lamp. "Hobson's +'Social Problem.' Where did you get hold of that? It's pretty heavy +reading, isn't it?" + +His tolerantly amused tone indicated the value he put on women's +efforts to struggle with abstract ideas. + +"Professor Sturges recommended it in his last lecture. It isn't +hard--only it makes me feel so ignorant!" + +"Um," he commented, turning over the leaves critically. + +"But tell me about Mrs. Phillips and the house." + +There was an awkward constraint between them, not that the hour or the +circumstance of their being alone made them self-conscious. There was +nothing unusual in his being there late like this, after Mrs. Spellman +had gone upstairs. But to-night there was in the air the consciousness +that many things had happened since they had been together alone: the +old man's death, the funeral, the will,--most of all the will! + +He told her of the new house in Forest Park. It had been decided upon +that evening, his preliminary sketches having been received +enthusiastically. But he lacked all interest in it. He was thinking +how the past week had changed everything in his life, and most of all +his relation with this girl. Because of that he had not been to see +her before, and he felt uncertain of himself in being here now. + +"Mother and I have just been speaking of you. We haven't seen you +since the funeral, you know," Helen remarked, saying simply what was in +her mind. + +Her words carried no reproach. Yet at once he felt that he was put on +the defensive; it was not easy to explain why he had avoided the Maple +Street house. + +"A lot has happened lately," he replied vaguely. "Things have changed +pretty completely for me!" + +A tone of bitterness crept into his voice in spite of himself. He +wanted sympathy; for that, in part, he had come to her to-night. At +the same time he felt that it was a weak thing to do, that he should +have gone almost anywhere but to her. + +"It takes a man a few days to catch his breath," he continued, "when he +finds he's been cut off with a shilling, as they say in the play." + +Her eyes dropped from his face, and her hands began to move restlessly +over the folds of her skirt. + +"I've had a lot to think about--to look at the future in a new way. +There's no hope now of my leaving this place, thanks to uncle!" + +"Oh!" she exclaimed in a low voice. The coldness of her tone was not +lost upon the man. He saw quickly that it would not do to admit to her +that he even contemplated contesting his uncle's will. She was not +sympathetic in the manner of Mrs. Phillips! + +"Of course," he hastened to add magnanimously, "uncle had a perfect +right to do as he liked. It was his money. But what could he have had +against me?" + +"Why, nothing, I am sure!" she answered quickly. + +"It looks, though, as if he had!" + +"Why?" she stammered, trying to adjust herself to his level of thought. +"Perhaps he thought it was better so--better for you," she suggested +gently. "He used to say that the men of his time had more in their +lives than men have nowadays, because they had to rely on themselves to +make all the fight from the beginning. Nowadays so many young men +inherit capital and position. He thought there were two great gifts in +life,--health and education. When a man had those, he could go out to +meet the future bravely without any other help." + +"Yes, I have heard him say all that," he hastened to admit. "But the +world isn't running on just the same lines it was when uncle Powers was +working at the forge. It's a longer road up these days." + +"Is it?" the girl asked vaguely. Then they were silent once more. + +There was nothing of reproof in her words, yet he felt keenly the +difference in the atmosphere of this faded little Maple Street house +from the world he had been living in of late. He had told himself for +the last week that now he could not marry this woman, that a great and +perfectly obvious barrier had been raised between them by his +disinheritance. It had all been so clear to him from the first that he +had not questioned the idea. This sacrifice of his love seemed to him +the greatest that his uncle had forced upon him, and as the days had +gone by he had thought incessantly how he might avoid it, how he might +obtain some part at least of that vanishing fortune. + +This very evening he had had more talk about the will with the clever +Mrs. Phillips, and he had come away from her almost resolved to contest +the instrument. On the morrow he would notify his cousin, consult a +lawyer, and take the preliminary steps. On the very heels of that +decision there had come an irresistible desire to see this other +woman,--the longing for the antithesis which so often besets the +uncertain human will. Nothing was more unlike Mrs. Phillips in his +horizon than this direct, inexperienced girl, full of pure enthusiasms! + +Now Helen had made him feel very surely that nothing would remove him +farther from her than the act he was contemplating in order to obtain +her. If she but knew his intention, she might scorn him forever! He +had lost her somehow, either way, he kept saying to himself, as he sat +there trying to think calmly, to feel less. And straightway he put +another black mark against his uncle's memory! + +He had never cared to be near her so much as now. Every soreness and +weakness of his spirit seemed to call out for her strong, capable hand. +Even the sensuous Mrs. Phillips, by some subtle crossing of the +psychological wires, had driven him back to this plain girl, with the +honest eyes and unimpassioned bosom. So also had the slippery +contractor and the shrewd men at his club. In fact, his world had +conspired to set him down here, before the one who alone knew nothing +of its logic! + +"You haven't said anything about the school," Helen remarked after a +time. "Aren't you glad!" she exclaimed, in the need of her spirit to +know him to be as generous as she thought him. "It was so big, so +large-hearted of him! Especially after all the bitter things the +papers had said about him,--to give pretty nearly everything he had +made, the whole work of his life, to help the working people--the very +ones who had so often misunderstood him and tried to hurt him. He was +great enough to forget the strikes and the riots, and their shooting at +him! He forgave them. He saw why they erred, and he wanted to lift +them out of their hate and their ignorance. He wanted to make their +lives happier and better! Weren't you glad? Wasn't it a splendid +answer to his enemies!" + +Thus she idealized Powers Jackson, that hoary old he-wolf of the +prairies! Strength and tenderness and generosity she saw in him and +nothing else, and she loved him as she might have loved her father, +unquestioningly. In his somewhat loose attempt to return to the world +a part of the wealth he had got from it perhaps he had justified the +girl's vision of him. Fierce and harsh as he had appeared to others, +was he not at the end hers rather than the world's? + +The warmth of her feeling lent her quiet face glow and beauty. She had +spoken fast, but in a distinct, low voice, which had a note of appeal +in it, coming from her desire to rouse the man. For the moment she +succeeded. He was ashamed to seem unworthy in her eyes, to harbor base +thoughts. + +"Why, yes," he admitted; "as you put it, it seems fine. But I don't +feel sure that I admire an old man's philanthropies, altogether. He +doesn't want the money any longer,--that's a sure thing! So he chucks +it into some big scheme or other that's likely to bring him a lot of +fame. Uncle Powers was sharp enough in gathering his dollars, and in +keeping 'em too so long as he"-- + +"Oh! How can you say that? Don't!" the girl implored, looking at him +with troubled eyes. + +If she had had much experience of men and things,--if she had had the +habit of mean interpretation,--she would have understood the +architect's perplexity long before this. But added to her inexperience +was her persistent need of soul to see those she loved large and +generous. + +"Well," Hart resumed, more guardedly, "I didn't mean any disrespect to +the old man. It's only the oldest law of life that he lived up to. +And I guess he meant to have me learn that law as fast as I can. +You've got to fight for what you want in this world, and fight hard, +and fight all the time. And there isn't much room for sentiment and +fine ideas and philanthropy until you are old, and have earned your +pile, and done your neighbor out of his in the process!" + +She was silent, and he continued, willing to let her see some of the +harder, baser reaches of his mind:-- + +"It's just the same way with art. It's only good when it succeeds. It +doesn't live unless it can succeed in pleasing people, in making money. +I see that now! Chicago has taught me that much in two years. I'm +going to open my own shop as soon as I can and look for trade. That's +what uncle wanted me to do. If I get some big commissions, and put up +a lot of skyscrapers or mills, why, I shall have won out. What does +any one care for the kind of work you do? It's the price it brings +every time!" + +"Don't say that! Please, please don't talk that way, so bitterly." + +There was real pain in her voice, and her eyes were filmed with +incipient tears. He leaned forward in his low chair and asked +impetuously: "Why do you say that? Why do you care what I say?" + +Her lips trembled; she looked at him piteously for a moment, as if to +beg him not to force her to confess more openly how he had hurt her, +how much she could be hurt by seeing in him the least touch of +baseness. She rose, without knowing what she did, in an unconscious +instinct for flight. She twisted her hands nervously, facing him, as +he rose, too, with her misty, honest eyes. + +"Tell me!" he whispered. "Do you care?" + +"Don't," she moaned inarticulately, seeking in her whirling brain for +some defence against the man. + +They hung there, like this, for the space of several seconds, their +hearts beating furiously, caught in a sudden wave of emotion, which +drew them inexorably closer, against their reason; which mastered their +natures without regard for their feeble human wills.... + +He drew her to him and kissed her. She murmured in the same weak, +defenceless tone as before,--"Don't, not yet." + +But she gave herself quite unreservedly to his strong arms. She gave +herself with all the perfect self-forgetfulness of an absolutely pure +woman who loves and is glad. The little thoughts of self were +forgotten, the preconceptions of her training. She was glad to give, +to give all, in the joy of giving to him! + + +The man, having thus done what his reason had counselled him for the +past week not to do, what he would have said an hour before was +impossible for him to do, came out of the great whelming wave of +feeling, and found himself alone upon the dark street under the +tranquil canopy of the city smoke. His whole being was at rest after +the purification of strong passion, at rest and at peace, with that +wonderful sense of poise, of rightness about one's self, which comes +when passion is perfect and touches the whole soul. For the fret about +his affairs and his uncle's will, in which he had lived for the past +week, had vanished with the touch of the girl's lips. + +He knew that he had committed himself to a very difficult future by +engaging himself to a poor woman and struggling upwards in real +poverty, instead of taking the decencies of a comfortable bachelorhood. +But there was something inspiring in what had happened, something +strangely electrifying to his nerves. He had stooped and caught the +masculine burden of life, but he felt his feet a-tingle for the road +before him. And, best of all, there was a new reverence in his heart +for that unknown woman who had kissed him and taken him to her--for +always. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +"Hello, Jackie!" + +Such familiarity of address on the part of Wright's head draughtsman +had long annoyed Hart, but this morning, instead of nodding curtly, he +replied briskly,-- + +"Hello, Cookie!" + +The draughtsman winked at his neighbor and thrust out an elbow at a +derisive angle, as he bent himself over the linen plan he was carefully +inking in. The man next to him snickered, and the stenographer just +outside the door smiled. An office joke was in the air. + +"Mr. Hart looks as though somethin' good had happened to him," the +stenographer remarked in a mincing tone. "Perhaps some more of his +folks have died and remembered him in their wills." + +But Cook dismissed the subject by calling out to one of the men, "Say, +Ed, come over here and tell me what you were trying to do with this old +hencoop." + +He might take privileges with the august F. Jackson Hart, whose foreign +training had rather oppressed the office force at times, but he would +not allow Gracie Bellows, the stenographer, to "mix" in his joke. + +Cook was a spare, black-haired little man, with beady brown eyes, like +a squirrel's. He was a pure product of Wright's Chicago office, having +worked his way from a boy's position to the practical headship of the +force. Although he permitted himself his little fling at Hart, he was +really the young architect's warmest admirer, approving even those +magnificent palaces of the French Renaissance type which the Beaux Arts +man put forth during the first months of his connection with the firm. + +The little draughtsman, who was as sharp as one of his own India ink +lines, could see that Hart had something on his mind this morning, and +he was curious, in all friendliness, to find out what it was. But +Jackson did not emerge from his little box of an office for several +hours. Then he sauntered by Cook's table, pausing to look out of the +window while he abstractedly lighted a cigarette. Presently the +stenographer came up to him and said:-- + +"Mr. Graves is out there and wants to see you particular, Mr. Hart. +Shall I show him into your office?" + +"Ask him to wait," the young architect ordered. + +After he had smoked and stared for a few moments longer he turned to +Cook. + +"What did we specify those I-beams for the Canostota? Were they +forty-twos or sixties?" + +Without raising his hand from the minute lines of the linen sheet, the +draughtsman grunted:-- + +"Don't remember just what. Weren't forty-twos. Nothing less than +sixties ever got out of this office, I guess. May be eighties. What's +the matter?" + +"Um," the architect reflected, knocking his cigarette against the +table. "It makes a difference in the sizes what make they are, doesn't +it?" + +"It don't make any difference about the weights!" And the draughtsman +turned to his linen sheet with a shrug of the shoulders that said, "You +ought to know that much by this time!" + +The architect continued to stare out of the murky window. + +"When is Harmon coming back?" + +"Ed lives out his way, and he says it's a long-term typhoid. You can't +tell when he'll be back." + +"Has the old man wired anything new about his plans?" + +"You'll have to ask Miss Bellows. I haven't heard anything." + +"He said he'd be here next Wednesday or Thursday at the latest, didn't +he?" + +The draughtsman stared hard at Hart, wondering what was in the man's +mind. But he made no answer to the last remark, and presently the +architect sauntered to the next window. + +As Jackson well knew, Graves was waiting to close that arrangement +which he had proposed for building an apartment house. The architect +had intended to look up the Canostota specifications before he went +further with Graves, but he had been distracted by other matters, and +had thought nothing more about the troublesome I-beams until this +morning. + +Jackson Hart was not given to undue speculation over matters of +conduct. He had a serviceable code of business morals, which hitherto +had met all the demands of his experience. He called this code +"professional etiquette." In this case he was not clear how the code +should be applied. The Canostota was not his affair. It was only by +the merest accident that he had been sent there that day to supervise +the electricians, and had seen that drill-hole, which had led him to +question the thickness of the I-beams, and he might very well have been +mistaken about them. If there were anything wrong with them, at any +rate, it was Wright's business to see that the contractor was properly +watched when the steel work was being run through the mill. And he did +not feel any special sense of obligation toward his employer, who had +never displayed any great confidence in him. + +He wanted the contractor's commission now more than ever, with his +engagement to Helen freshly pricking him to look for bread and butter; +wanted it all the more because any thought of fighting his uncle's will +had gone when Helen had accepted him. It was now clearly his business +to provide for his future as vigorously as he could.... + +When he rang for the stenographer and told her to show Graves into his +office, he had made up his mind. Closing his door, he turned and +looked into the contractor's heavy face with an air of alert +determination. He was about to play his own game for the first time, +and he felt the man's excitement of it! + +The two remained shut up in the architect's cubby-hole for over an +hour. When Cook had returned from the restaurant in the basement where +he lunched, and the other men had taken their hats and coats from the +lockers, Hart stepped out of his office and walked across the room to +Cook's table. He spread before the draughtsman a fresh sepia sketch, +the water scarcely dried on it. It was the front elevation for a +house, such a one as is described impressively in the newspapers as +"Mr. So-and-So's handsome country residence." + +"Now, that's what I call a peach!" Cook whistled through his closed +teeth, squinting at the sketch admiringly. "Nothing like that +residence has come out of this office for a good long time. The old +man don't favor houses as a rule. They're too fussy. Is this for some +magnate?" + +"This isn't done for the firm," Jackson answered quickly. + +"Oh!" Cook received the news with evident disappointment. "Just a +fancy sketch?" + +"Not for a minute! This is my own business. It's for a Mrs. +Phillips--her country house at Forest Park." + +Cook looked again at the elevation of the large house with admiring +eyes. If he had ever penetrated beyond the confines of Cook County in +the state of Illinois, he might have wondered less at Hart's creation. +But he was not familiar with the Loire châteaux, even in photographs, +for Wright's tastes happened to be early English. + +"So you're going to shake us?" Cook asked regretfully. + +"Just as soon as I can have a word with Mr. Wright. This isn't the +only job I have on hand." + +"Is that so? Well, you're in luck, sure enough." + +"Don't you want to come in?" Hart asked abruptly. "I shall want a good +practical man. How would you like to run the new office?" + +Cook's manner froze unexpectedly into caution. + +"Oh, I don't know. It's pretty good up here looking after Wright's +business." + +Hart picked up his sketch and turned away. + +"I thought you might like the chance. Some of the men I knew in Paris +may join me a little later, and I shan't have much trouble in making up +a good team." + +Then he went out to his luncheon, and when he returned, he shut himself +up in his box, stalking by Cook's desk without a word. When he came +forth again the day's work was over, and the office force had left. +Cook was still dawdling over his table. + +"Say, Hart!" he called out to the architect. "I don't want you to have +the wrong idea about my refusing that offer of yours. I don't mind +letting you know that I ain't fixed like most of the boys. I've got a +family to look after, my mother and sister and two kid brothers. It +isn't easy for us to pull along on my pay, and I can't afford to take +any chances." + +"Who's asking you to take chances, Cookie?" Hart answered, mollified at +once. "Perhaps you might do pretty well by yourself." + +"You see," Cook explained further, "my sister's being educated to +teach, but she's got two years more at the Normal. And Will's just +begun high school. Ed's the only earner besides myself in the whole +bunch, and what he gets don't count." + +Thereupon the architect sat down on the edge of the draughting-table in +friendly fashion and talked freely of his plans. He hinted at the work +for Graves and at his hopes of a large commission from some railroad. + +"I have ten thousand dollars in the bank, anyway. That will keep the +office going some time. And I don't mind telling you that I have +something at stake, too," he added in a burst of confidence. "I am +going to be married." + +Cook grinned sympathetically over the news. It pleased him vastly to +be told of Hart's engagement in this confidential way. After some +further talk the matter of the new office was arranged between them +then and there. Cook agreed to look into a building that had just +pushed its head among the skyscrapers near the Maramanoc, to see if +there was anything left in the top story that would answer their +purposes. As they were leaving the office, Hart stopped, exclaiming +suddenly:-- + +"I've got to telephone! Don't wait." + +"That's always the way," the draughtsman replied. "You'll be +telephoning most of the time, now, I expect!" + +The architect did not telephone to Helen Spellman, however. He called +up his cousin's office to tell Wheeler that he had concluded not to +contest the will. + +"And, Everett," he said frankly, "I guess I have made rather an ass of +myself, telling you I was going to kick up a row. I hope you won't say +anything about it." + +The lawyer accepted the information without remark, and hung up his +telephone. He may have wondered what had brought about this change of +heart in his cousin, but later, when the news of the engagement reached +him, he understood. For he knew Helen in a way better than her lover +did,--knew her as one knows the desired and unattainable. + + +A few days later Wright reached the office, and Hart told him of his +plan to start for himself, asking for an early release because +important business was waiting for his entire attention. Wright had +arrived only that morning; he was seated before his broad desk, which +was covered to the depth of several inches with blue prints, +type-written specifications, and unopened mail. He had been wrestling +with contractors and clients every minute since he had entered the +office, and it was now late in the afternoon. + +"So you are going to try it for yourself?" he commented, a new wrinkle +gathering on his clouded brow. It occurred to him that Hart might be +merely hinting politely for an advance in salary, but he dismissed the +suspicion. "Have you had enough experience?" he asked bluntly. + +"I'll be likely to get some more before long!" Hart replied, irritated +by the remark. + +"I mean of the actual conditions under which we have to build out +here,--the contractors, the labor market, and so on? Of course you can +leave at once if you wish to. I shouldn't want to stand in your light +in any way. It is rather a bad time with Harmon home sick. But we can +manage somehow, draw on the St. Paul office if necessary." + +Jackson murmured his regret for the inconvenience of his departure at +this juncture, and Wright said nothing more for a few minutes. He +remembered now that some one had told him that Hart was drawing plans +for Mrs. Phillips. This job had probably made the young architect +ambitious to start for himself. He felt that Hart should have asked +his consent before undertaking this outside work: at least it would +have been more delicate to do so. But Wright was a kindly man, and +bore no malice. In what he said next to the young architect he was +moved by pure good will. + +"I don't want to discourage you, Hart, but I know what sort of luck +young fellows, the best of them, have these days when they start a new +office. It's fierce work getting business, here especially." + +"I suppose so," Hart admitted conventionally. + +"The fine art side of the profession don't count much with client or +contractor. It's just a tussle all the time!" he sighed, reflecting +how he had spent two hours of his morning in trying to convince a +wealthy client of the folly of cutting down construction cost from +fifty to thirty cents a cubic foot. + +"You young fellows just over from the other side don't always realize +what it means to run an office. If you succeed, you have no time to +think of your sketches, except after dinner or on the train, maybe. +And if you don't succeed, you have to grab at every little job to earn +enough to pay office expenses." + +Hart's blank face did not commit him to this piece of wisdom. + +"The only time I ever had any real fun was when I was working for the +old firm, in New York. God! I did some pretty good things then. Old +man Post used to trim me down when I got out of sight of the clients, +but he let me have all the rope he could. And now,--why it's you +fellows who have the fun!" + +"And you who trim us down!" Hart retorted, with a grim little smile. + +"Well, perhaps. I have to keep an eye on all you Paris men. You come +over here well trained, damned well trained,--we can't do anything like +it in this country,--but it takes a few years for you to forget that +you aren't in la belle France. And some never get over their habit of +making everything French Renaissance. You aren't flexible. Some of +you aren't creative--I mean," he hastened to explain, getting warm on a +favorite topic, "you don't feel the situation here. You copy. You try +to express everything just as you were taught. But, if you want to do +big work, you have got to feel things for yourself, by thunder!" + +Jackson kept his immobile face. It did not interest him to know what +Wright thought of the Beaux Arts men. Yet he had no intention of +falling out with Wright, who was one of the leading architects of the +country, and whose connection might be valuable to him. + +"I see you don't care to have me preach," the older man concluded +humorously. "And you know your own business best." + +He remembered that the Powers Jackson gift for a school would call +sooner or later for a large public building. Probably the family +interests had arranged to put this important piece of work into Hart's +hands. Wright hoped for the sake of his art that the trustees would +put off building until the young architect had developed more +independence and firmness of standard than he had yet shown. + +"I think I understand a little better than I did two years ago what it +takes to succeed here in Chicago," Jackson remarked at last. + +Wright shot a piercing glance at him out of his tired eyes. + +"It means a good many different kinds of things," the older man said +slowly. "Just as many in architecture as elsewhere. It isn't the firm +that is putting up the most expensive buildings that is always making +the biggest success, by a long shot." + +"I suppose not," Hart admitted. + +And there the conversation lapsed. The older man felt the real +impossibility of piercing the young architect's manner, his +imperturbability. "He doesn't like me," he said to himself +reproachfully. + +For he wanted to say something to the younger man out of his twenty +years of experience, something concerning the eternal conflict there is +in all the professions between a man's ideals of his work and the +practical possibilities in the world we have about us; something, too, +concerning the necessity of yielding to the brute facts of life and yet +not yielding everything. But he had learned from years of contact with +men the great truth that talk never saves a man from his fate, +especially that kind of talk. A man lives up to what there is in him, +and Jackson Hart would follow the rule. + +So he dug his hands into the letters on his desk, and said by way of +conclusion:-- + +"Perhaps we can throw some things your way. There's a little job, +now." He held up a letter he had just glanced at. "They want me to +recommend some one to build a club-house at Oak Hills. There isn't +much in it. They can't spend more than seven thousand dollars. But I +had rather take that than do some other things." + +"Thank you!" Hart replied with considerable animation. "Of course I +want every chance I can get." + +He took the letter from Wright's outstretched hand. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +After the few swift months of spring and summer they were to be +married, late in the fall. + +Meanwhile above the lake at Forest Park, in a broad, open field, Mrs. +Phillips's great house was rapidly rising. It was judged variously by +those who had seen it, but it altogether pleased the widow; and the +architect regarded it--the first independent work of his manhood--with +complacency and pride. Helen had not seen it since the walls had +passed the first storey, when, one day late in September, she made the +little journey from the city with the architect, and walked over to the +house from the Shoreham station, up the lake road. + +It was a still, soft fall day, with all the mild charm of late summer +that comes only in this region. The leaves still clung in bronzed +masses to the little oaks; a stray maple leaf dipped down, now and +then, from a gaudy yellow tree, and sailed like a bird along their +path. There was a benediction in the country, before the dissolution +of winter, and the girl's heart was filled with joy. + +"If we could only live here in the country, Francis!" + +"All the year?" he queried doubtfully. + +"Yes, always! Even the worst days I should not feel lonely. I shall +never feel lonely again, anyway." + +As he drew her hand close to his breast, he said contentedly, with a +large view of their future:-- + +"Perhaps we can manage it before long. But land is very dear in this +place. Then you have to keep horses and servants, if you want to live +comfortably in the country." + +"Oh! I didn't think of all that." + +They walked slowly, very close together, neither one anxious to reach +the misty horizon, where in a bed of opalescent gray lay the beautiful +lake. The sunshine and the fruity odors of the good earth, the +tranquil vistas of bronze oaks, set the woman brooding on her nesting +time, which was so close at hand. And the man was thinking likewise, +in his way, of this coming event, anxiously, yet with confidence. The +plans for the Graveland, the contractor's big apartment house, were +already nearly finished,--and largely paid for. Very soon the office +would be idle unless new work came in, but he counted confidently on a +number of good things. There were the Rainbows, who had moved to +Shoreham, having made a sudden fortune, and were talking of building. +Then Mrs. Phillips, he knew, was doing what she could for him with +Colonel Raymond. The railroad man had promised to look over the new +house some day and meet the architect. Buoyant, convinced of his own +ability, he saw the office crowded with commissions! + +Suddenly the house shot up before their eyes, big and new in all the +rawness of fresh brick and stone. It towered blusteringly above the +little oaks, a great red-brick château, with a row of little round +windows in its massive, thick-tiled red roof. + +Helen involuntarily stood still and caught her breath. So this was his! + +"Oh!" she murmured. "Isn't it big, Francis!" + +"It's no three-room cottage," he answered, with a little asperity. + +Then he led her to the front, where she could get the effect of the two +wings, the southerly terrace toward the lake, the sweeping drive, and +the classic entrance. + +"I know I shall grow to like it, Francis," the girl said loyally. "It +must be very pretty inside, with those lovely French windows; and this +court is attractive, too." + +She felt that she was hurting her lover in his tenderest spot, and she +tried anxiously to find better words, to show him that it was only her +ignorance which limited her appreciation. They strolled about among +the refuse heaps of the builders, viewing the place at every angle in +order to get all its effects. Just as they were about to enter the +house, there came from the south road the sound of a puffing +automobile, and presently Mrs. Phillips arrived in a large touring car, +with some people who had been lunching with her at the Shoreham Club. +They came slowly up the driveway to the house, talking and joking in a +flutter of good-natured comment. The architect recognized instantly +the burly form of Colonel Raymond. He was speaking when the car +stopped:-- + +"Well, Louise, you will have to take us all in next season. I didn't +know you were putting up a hotel like this." + +"Hotel! It is a perfect palace!" exclaimed a short, plump woman who +had some difficulty in dismounting. "I hope you are going to have a +pergola. They're so nice. Every country house has a pergola nowadays." + +"Why not an English garden and a yew hedge?" added a man who had on the +red coat of the Hunt Club. "I hope you will have your stabling up to +this, Mrs. Phillips." + +Then they recognized the architect and Helen. Mrs. Phillips introduced +them to her friends, and they all went inside to make a tour of the +rooms. The painters, who were rubbing the woodwork, looked curiously +at the invading party; then, with winks among themselves, turned +indifferently to their tasks. + +The visitors burst into ripples of applause over the hall with its two +lofty stone fireplaces, the long drawing-room that occupied the south +wing of the house, the octagonal breakfast room and the dining-room in +the other wing. The architect led them about, explaining the different +effects he had tried to get. He showed his work modestly, touching +lightly on architectural points with a well-bred assumption that the +visitors knew all about such things. The plump little woman followed +close at his heels, drinking in all that he said. Helen wondered who +she might be, until, in an eddy of their progress, Hart found a chance +to whisper to her, "It's Mrs. Rainbow; she's getting points!" + +He seemed very much excited about this, and the general good luck of +being able to show these people over the house he had made. After the +first floor had been exhausted, the party drifted upstairs in +detachments. Helen, who had loitered after the others, could hear her +lover's pleasant voice as he led the way from suite to suite above. +The voices finally centred in Mrs. Phillips's bathroom, where the +sunken bath and the walls of colored marble caused much joking and +laughter.... + +"Can you tell me if Mrs. Phillips is here?" a voice sounded from the +door. Helen turned with a start. The young girl who asked the +question was dressed in a riding habit. Outside in the court a small +party of people were standing beside their horses. The girl spoke +somewhat peremptorily, but before Helen had time to reply, she added +more cordially:-- + +"Aren't you Miss Spellman? I am Venetia Phillips." + +Then the two smiled at each other and shook hands in the way of women +who feel that they may be friends. + +"I was off with my uncle the day you dined with mamma," she continued, +"so I missed seeing you. Isn't this a great--barn, I was going to +say." She laughed and caught herself. "I didn't remember! Mamma +likes it so much. We have just been out with the hounds,--the first +run of the season. But it was no fun, so we came on here. It's too +early to have a real hunt yet. Do you ride?" + +They sat down on the great staircase and were at once absorbed in each +other. In the meantime Mrs. Phillips's party had returned from the +upper storey by the rear stairs, and were penetrating the mysteries of +the service quarters. Jackson was showing them proudly all the little +devices for which American architecture is famous,--the interior +telephone service, the laundry chutes, the electric dumb-waiters, the +latest driers. These devices aroused Colonel Raymond's admiration, and +when the others came back to the hall he took the architect aside and +discussed driers earnestly for several minutes. From that they got to +the heating system, which necessitated a visit to the basement. + +Mrs. Phillips took this occasion to compliment Helen upon her lover's +success:-- + +"You can be proud of your young man, Miss Spellman. He's done a very +successful piece of work. Every one likes it, and it's all his, too," +she added generously. + +Helen found nothing to say in reply. The widow was not an easy person +for her to talk to. On the single other occasion when they had met, in +Mrs. Phillips's city house, the two women had looked into each other's +eyes, and both had remained cold. The meeting of the two women had not +been all that the architect had hoped it might be; for apart from this +house which he was building, there were other of his many ambitions in +which Mrs. Phillips could be very helpful to them. He did not intend +that Helen and he, when they were married, should sink into that dull, +retired manner of living that both his mother and Mrs. Spellman seemed +to prefer. It would be good business for him to enlarge his +acquaintance among the rich as fast as possible. + +So this time when Helen found nothing amiable on the tip of her tongue +to reply, Mrs. Phillips examined the younger woman critically, saying +to herself, "She's a cold piece. She won't hold him long!" ... + +At last the party gathered itself together and left the house. The big +touring car puffed up to the door, and the visitors climbed in, making +little final comments of a flattering nature to please the architect, +who had charmed them all. He was assiduous to the very end, laughing +again at Mrs. Rainbow's joke about the marble tub, which she repeated +for the benefit of those who had not been upstairs. + +After Hart had helped her to mount the steps of the car, she leaned +over and gave him her hand. + +"So glad to have met you, Mr. Hart," she said with plump +impressiveness. "I am sure if we build, we must come to you. It's +just lovely, everything." + +"I shall have to give that away to Rainbow," the colonel joked. +"There's nothing so bad to eat up money as a good architect." + +Then he shook hands cordially with Hart, lit a cigarette, and swung +himself to the seat beside Mrs. Phillips. After the car had started, +the riders mounted. Hart helped Venetia Phillips to her seat, and +slipped in a word about the hunt. But the girl leaned over on the +other side toward Helen, with a sudden enthusiasm. + +"I do so want to see you again, Miss Spellman! But I suppose you are +very busy now." + +"Oh, no," Helen protested, blushing at the girl's frank enthusiasm. + +"But when you are married, can't I see a lot of you?" + +Helen laughed. "Come and see me whenever you will!" she said, and the +two held hands for a moment, while the man in the red coat talked with +the architect. + +When they had all gone, Jackson turned to Helen, a happy smile of +triumph on his face. + +"It seemed to take!" + +There had not been one word of comment on the house itself, on the +building as a home for generations of people. But Hart did not seem to +notice that. He was flushed with the exhilaration of approval. + +"Yes," Helen answered, throwing all the animation she could into the +words; "I think they all liked it." + +She was silent, her thoughts full of vague impressions gathered from +the little incident of the afternoon. There had been revealed to her +an unknown side of her lover, a worldly side, which accorded with his +alert air, his well-trimmed mustache, and careful attention to dress. +He had been very much at home with all these people, while she had felt +more or less out of her element. He knew how to talk to them, how to +please them, just as he knew how to build a house after their taste for +luxury and display. Although he was a poor, hardworking young +architect, he could talk hunters or motor cars or bridge whist, as the +occasion demanded. Whether it was due to his previous experience or to +an instinct for luxury, he was, in fact, very much one of them! + +She cast a timid look at the great façade above them, over which the +cold shadows of the autumn evening were fast stealing, leaving the +building in its nudity still more hard and new and raw. She was glad +it was not to be her fate to live there in all its grandeur and stiff +luxury. + +The architect had to speak to the superintendent of the building, and +Helen sat down on the stone balustrade of the terrace to wait for him. +The painters were leaving their job, putting on their coats as they +hurried from the house. They scarcely cast a glance her way as they +passed out, disappearing into the road, fleeing from the luxurious +abode and the silent woods, which were not theirs, to the village and +the city. The girl mused idly about them and their lives, and about +the other people who had come there this afternoon to look over the +house, and about the house itself. She reflected how much more she +liked the sketch Jackson had made of a little club-house for the Oak +Hills Country Club. It was a rough little affair, the suggestion of +which the architect had got from a kodak of a Sicilian farm-house he +had once taken. But this great American château was so different from +what she had supposed her lover would build, this caravansary for the +rich, this toy where they could hide themselves in aristocratic +seclusion and take their pleasures. And the thought stole into her +mind that he liked it, this existence of the rich and prosperous, their +sports and their luxuries,--and would want to earn with the work of his +life just their pleasures, their housing, their automobiles and +hunters. It was all strange to her experience, to her dreams! + +From the second floor there came to her the sound of voices:-- + +"I tells you, Muster Hart, you got to rip the whoal damn piping out +from roof to basement if you wants to have a good yob of it. I tole +you that way back six weeks ago. It waren't specified right from the +beginning." + +"I'll speak to Rollings about it to-morrow and see what can be done." + +"That's what you say every time, and he don't do nutting," the Swede +growled. + +"See here, Anderson! Who's running this job?" ... + +The girl strolled away from the voices toward the bluff, where she +could see the gray bosom of the lake. The twilight trees, the waveless +lake soothed her: they were real, her world,--she felt them in her +soul! The house back there, the men and women of it, were shadows on +the marge. + +"Nell!" her lover called. + +"Coming, Francis." + +When he came up to her she rested her head on his shoulder, looking at +him with vague longing, desiring to keep him from something not clearly +defined in her own mind. Her lover drew her to him and kissed her, +once, twice, while her eyes searched his wistfully. She seemed passive +and cold in his arms. But suddenly she closed her longing eyes, and +her lips met his, hungrily, tensely, in the desire to adore, to love +abundantly, which was her whole life. + +"We must hurry to get that train,--dear. When we live out here we'll +have to sport a motor car, won't we?" he said buoyantly. + +She answered slowly, "I don't know that I should want to live just +here, after all." + +"Why, I thought you were crazy about the country! And I've been +thinking it might be the very thing for us to do. There's such a lot +of building in these places now since business has looked up. Mrs. +Phillips has asked me several times why I didn't move out here on the +shore. Just before she left to-day she said in a joking way that if I +wanted to build a lodge for her, I might take it for a year or so. Of +course that's a joke. But I know she's bought lately a lot more +property on the ravine, and she might be willing to let me have a small +bit on reasonable terms. She's been so friendly all along!" + +He was still in the flush of his triumph, and talked rapidly of all the +plans that opened out before his fervent ambition. Suddenly he took +note of the girl's mood and said sharply, "Nell, I believe you don't +like her!" + +"Why do you say that!" she exclaimed, surprised in her inner thoughts. +"I don't really know." + +"Why, it's plain enough. You never talk to her. You are always so +cold! Louise is a chatty person; she likes to have you make an effort +for her. And you treated Mrs. Rainbow in the same way." + +"Oh, Francis! I didn't mean to be cold. Ought I to like them if you +are to do work for them?" + +Her lover laughed at her simplicity. Nevertheless, he felt somewhat +disturbed at Helen's indifference to the social aspect of their +marriage venture. He wished to make a proper stir in the puddle, and +he was beginning to suspect that Helen had little aptitude for this +distinctively woman's side of matrimony. + +"Rich people always puzzle me," she continued apologetically. "They +always have, except uncle Powers, and you never thought of him as rich! +I don't feel as if I knew what they liked. They are so much +preoccupied with their own affairs. That other time when I met Mrs. +Phillips she was very much worried over the breakfast room and the +underbutler's pantry! What is an underbutler's pantry, Francis?" + +This raillery over the needs of the rich sounded almost anarchistic to +the architect in his present mood, and they walked to the station +silently in the gathering darkness. But after a time, on the train, he +returned to the events of the afternoon, remarking with no relevancy:-- + +"She can do anything she likes with Raymond. It would be a big stroke +to get that railroad business!" + +As Helen made no reply to this observation, they sank again into silent +thought. + + +The night before their marriage the architect told her exultantly that +Colonel Raymond had sent for him that afternoon to talk over work for +the railroad corporation. + +"That's Mrs. Phillips's doing," he told Helen. "You must remember to +say something to her about it to-morrow if you get the chance. It's +likely to be the biggest wedding present we'll have!" + +"I am glad!" Helen replied simply, without further comment. + +He thought that she did not comprehend what this good fortune would +mean to them. And he was quite mystified when she sent him away and +refused to see him again before the ceremony of the following day. He +could not realize that in some matters--a few small matters--he had +bruised the woman's ideal of him; he could not understand why these +last hours, before she took him to her arms forever, she wished to +spend alone with her own soul in a kind of prayer.... + +There were only a few people present at the marriage in the little +Maple Street house the next day. Many of their more fashionable +friends still lingered away from the city although it was late in +October. Mrs. Phillips had made a point of coming to the wedding, even +putting off a projected trip to New York, and after much urging she had +been made to bring Venetia, who was strangely bent on going to this +wedding. Pemberton, an old friend of the Spellmans, who had recently +been asked to join the Powers Jackson trustees, was there, and also +little Cook, who was the backbone of the new office. Everett Wheeler +was the best man. He and Hollister had put off their yearly fishing +trip to do honor to Jackson Hart, who had won their approval, because +the young man had swallowed his disappointment about the will and was +going to marry a poor girl. Hollister and Pemberton had brought Judge +Phillips with them, because he was in town and liked weddings and ought +to send the pair a goodly gift. Of the presence of all these and some +others the young architect was agreeably conscious that October day. + +Only that morning, on the way to the house, Everett had referred to the +great school building, a monumental affair, which the trustees would +have to build some day. He said nothing that might commit the trustees +in any way. Nevertheless, it was in the aroma of this new prospect, +and of all the other good fortune which had come to him since he had +taken up his burden of poverty, that Jackson Hart was married. + +But Helen walked up to him to be married, in a dream, unconscious of +the whole world, with a mystery of love in her heart. When the +ceremony was over, she looked up into her husband's resolute face, +which was slightly flushed with excitement. Venetia, standing by her +uncle's side a few steps away, could see tears in the bride's eyes, and +the girl wondered in her heart what it meant. + +Did the woman know now that the man who stood there face to face with +her, her husband, was yet a stranger to her soul? She raised her lips +swiftly to him, as if to complete the sacrament, and there before all +he bowed his head to kiss her. + + + + +PART II + +THE STRUGGLE + + + +CHAPTER X + +The Lady Venetia de Phillips, as the young woman used to call herself +in the doll age, had never set foot in a common street car, or, indeed, +in anything more public than a day coach on the suburban train; and in +that only because the railroad had not found it profitable to provide +as yet in that service a special coach for her class. For Mrs. +Phillips, who had known what it was to ride in an Ottumwa buggy, +comfortably cushioned by the stout arm of an Ottumwa swain, understood +intuitively the cardinal principle of class evolution, which is +separation. Therefore she had carefully educated her children +according to that principle. + +So it happened shortly before Mrs. Phillips had taken possession of her +new home that Miss Phillips, wishing to pay a visit to her new friend +who lived on the North Side of the city, was driving in her mother's +victoria, in dignity, according to her estate. Beside her sat her +favorite terrier, Pete, scanning the landscape of the dirty streets +through which they were obliged to pass from the South to the North +Side. Suddenly, as the carriage turned a corner, Pete spied a long, +lank wharf rat, of a kind that did not inhabit his own more cleanly +neighborhood. The terrier took one impulsive leap between the wheels +of the victoria, and was off up Illinois Street after the rat. It was +a good race; the Lady Venetia's sporting blood rose, and she ordered +the coachman to follow. Suddenly there dashed from an alley a light +baker's wagon, driven by a reckless youth. Pete, unmindful of the +clattering wagon, intent upon his loping prey, was struck full in the +middle of his body: two wheels passed diagonally across him, squeezing +him to the pavement like an india-rubber ball. For a moment he lay +there stretched in the street, and then he dragged himself to the +sidewalk, filling the air with hideous howls. The passers-by stopped, +but the reckless youth in the baker's wagon, having leaned out to see +what damage had been done, grinned, shook his reins, and was off. + +Before the coachman had brought the victoria to a full stop Venetia was +out and across the street. Pete had crawled into an alley, where he +lay in a little heap, moaning. When his mistress tried to gather him +into her skirt he whimpered and showed his teeth. Something was +radically wrong! The small boys who had gathered advised throwing Pete +into the river, and offered to do the deed. But Venetia, the tears +falling from her eyes, turned back into the street to take counsel with +the coachman. A young man who was hurrying by, swinging a little +satchel and whistling to himself, stopped. + +"What's up?" he asked, ceasing to whistle at sight of the girl's tears. + +Venetia pointed to the dog, and the stranger, pushing the small boys +aside, leaned over Pete. + +"Gee! he's pretty well mashed, ain't he? Here, Miss, I'll give him a +smell of this and send him to by-by." + +He opened his little satchel and hunted for a bottle. Venetia timidly +touched his arm. + +"Please don't kill him!" + +"That's just what I'm going to do, sure thing!" He paused, with the +little vial in his hand, and looked coolly at the girl. "You don't +want the pup to suffer like that?" + +"But can't he be saved?" + +The stranger looked again at Pete, then back at Venetia. Finally he +tied a handkerchief over the dog's mouth, and began to examine him +carefully. + +"Let's see what there's left of you after the mix-up, Mr. Doggie. +We'll give you the benefit of our best attention and skill,--more'n +most folks ever get in this world,--because you are the pet of a nice +young lady. If you were just an alley-cat, you wouldn't even get the +chloroform. Well, Miss, he'd have about one chance in a hundred, after +he had that hind leg cut off." + +"Are you a doctor? Do you think that you could cure him? Mamma will +be very glad to pay you for your services." + +"Is that so?" the stranger remarked. "How do you know that my services +don't come too high for your mother's purse? Well, come on, pup! +We'll see what can be done for you." + +Drawing the improvised muzzle tighter, he gathered Pete up in a little +bundle. Then he strode down the street to the west. The coachman drew +up beside the curb and touched his hat. + +"Won't you get in?" Venetia asked. + +"It's only a step or so to my place," he answered gruffly. "You can +follow me in the carriage." + +But she kept one hand on Pete, and walked beside the stranger until he +stopped at an old, one-story, wooden cottage. Above the door was +painted in large black letters, "S. COBURN, M.D., PHYSICIAN AND +SURGEON." + +"May I come in?" the girl asked timidly. + +"Sure! Why would I keep you sitting on the door-step?" + +Inside there was a little front hall apparently used as a waiting-room +for patients. Back of this was a large bare room, occupying the +remaining floor space of the cottage, into which the doctor led the +way. A wooden bench extended the entire length of this room underneath +a row of rough windows, which had been cut in the wall to light the +bench. Over in one corner was a cot, with the bedclothes negligently +dragging on the floor. Near by was an iron sink. On a table in the +centre of the room, carefully guarded by a glass case, was a complex +piece of mechanism which looked to the girl like one of the tiresome +machines her teacher of physics was wont to exhibit. + +"My laboratory," the doctor explained somewhat grandly. + +Venetia stepped gingerly across the cluttered floor, glancing about +with curiosity. The doctor placed the dog on the table and turned on +several electric lights. + +"You'll have to help at this performance," he remarked, taking off his +coat. + +Together they gave Pete an opiate and removed the muzzle. The doctor +then turned him over and poked him here and there. + +"Well," he pronounced, "Pete has a full bill. Compound fracture, +broken rib, and mashed toes. And I don't know what all on the inside. +He has a slim chance of limping around on three legs. Shall I give him +some more dope? What do you say?" + +"Pete was a gamy dog," Venetia replied thoughtfully. "I think he would +like to have all his chances." + +"Good!" The doctor tossed aside the sponge that he had held ready to +give Pete his farewell whiff. He told the girl how to hold the dog, +and how to touch the sponge to his nose from time to time. They were +absorbed in the operation when the coachman pushed his way into the +room. + +"What shall I do, Miss, about the horses? Mis' Phillips gave particler +instructions I wasn't to stay out after five-thurty. It's most that +now." + +"Tell him to go home," the doctor ordered. "We'll be an hour more." + +"But how shall I get home then?" the girl asked, perplexed. + +"On your feet, I guess, same as most folks," the doctor answered, +testing a knife on his finger. "And the cars ain't stopped running on +the South Side, have they?" + +"I don't know. I never use them," Venetia replied helplessly. + +The doctor put the knife down beside Pete and looked at the girl from +her head to her feet, a teasing smile creeping over his swarthy face. + +"Well, it's just about time for you to find out what they're good for. +I'll take you home myself just to see how you like them. You won't get +hurt, not a bit. You may go, Thomas!" He waved his hand ironically to +the coachman. "And when you go out, be good enough to slip the latch. +We have a little business to attend to in here, and don't want to be +interrupted." + +When the coachman had left, Venetia turned to the doctor with a red +face, and copying her mother's most impressive tones, asked:-- + +"What would you like me to do now, Dr. Coburn?" + +"Nothing special. Turn your back if you don't like to see me take a +chop out of doggie." + +He laughed at her dignity; therefore she kept her face turned +resolutely on poor Pete. She could not help being interested in the +man as she watched his swift movements. The doctor was stocky and +short, black-haired, with a short black mustache that did not disguise +the perpetual sardonic smile of his lips. She noticed that his +trousers were very baggy and streaked at the bottoms with mud. They +were the trousers of a man who, according to her experience, was not a +gentleman. The frayed cravat, which showed its cotton filling, +belonged to the same category as the trousers. But there was something +in the fierce black eyes, the heavy jaw, the nervous grip of the lips +when the man was thinking, that awed the girl. The more Venetia looked +at him, the more she was afraid of him; not afraid that he would do any +harm to her, but vaguely afraid of his strength, his force. His bare +arms were thick and hairy, although the fingers were supple, and he +touched things lightly. Altogether he was a strange person in her +little world, and somewhat terrifying. + +The doctor talked all the time, while he worked swiftly over the dog, +describing to the girl just what he was doing. Venetia watched him +without flinching, though the tears would roll down her face. She put +one hand under Pete's limp head to hold it, as she would have liked to +have her head held under the same circumstances. At last the doctor +straightened himself and exclaimed:-- + +"Correct! He's done up in first-class style." He went to the sink and +washed his arms and hands. "Yes, Peter is as well patched as if the +great Dr. Cutem had done it himself and charged you ten thousand +dollars for the job. I donno' but it's better done. And he would have +charged you all right!" He gave a loud, ironical laugh and swashed the +water over his bare arms. Then he came back to the operating table, +wiping his hands and arms on a roller towel that was none too clean. + +"You can quit that sponge now, Miss, and I guess doggie won't +appreciate the little attention of holding his head yet awhile. He +hasn't got to the flower-and-fruit stage yet, have you, eh, purp?" + +Venetia stood like a little girl, awkwardly waiting for orders. + +"What's your name?" the doctor demanded abruptly. + +"Venetia--Venetia Phillips." + +"Well, Miss Venetia, you seem fond of animals. Would you like to see +my collection?" + +Without waiting for an answer he strode to the farther end of the room +and opened a trap-door. + +"Come over here!" + +The girl peeped through the trap-door into the cellar. There, in a +number of pens, were huddled a small menagerie of animals,--dogs, cats, +guinea-pigs, rabbits. + +"What do you do with all of them?" the girl asked, her heart sinking +with foreboding. + +"Cut 'em up!" + +"Cut them up?" + +"Sure! And dose 'em. This is an experimental laboratory." The doctor +waved his hand rather grandly over the dirty room. "There are not many +like it in the city of Chicago, I can tell you. I am conducting +investigations, and I use these little fellers." + +"It's horrid!" the girl exclaimed, looking apprehensively at Pete. + +"Not a bit of it!" The doctor reached down his hand and pulled up a +rabbit, a little mangy object, which tottered a few steps and then fell +down as if dizzy. "Jack's had fifteen drops of the solution of +hydrochlorate of manganese this morning. He looks kind of dopy, don't +he? He'll be as smart as a trivet to-morrow. But I guess he's about +reached his limit of hydrochlorate, eh, Jack?" + +In spite of herself the girl's curiosity was aroused, and when the +doctor had returned Jack to his pen, she asked, "What's that queer +machine over there?" + +"That's to pump things into your body, to squirt medicines into you, +instead of dropping them into your tummy loose, as doctors usually do. +See? When I stick this long needle into you and work this handle, a +little stream of the thing I want to give you is pumped into your body +at the right spot. Have you got anything the matter with your liver? +I am working on livers just now. Would you like to have me try it on +you? No! I thought not. That's why Jack has to take his dose every +morning." + +He went into his explanation more thoroughly, and they talked of many +things that were as wonderful to Venetia, brought up in the modern city +of Chicago, as if she had come out of Thibet. + +"I suppose I shall have to leave Pete here," she said at last. "May I +come to see him sometimes?" + +"Sure! As often as you like. I'm generally in afternoons. I'll +telephone if the patient's pulse gets feeble or his temperature goes +up." + +"You needn't make fun of me! And I think I can find my way home +alone," she added, as the doctor took his hat from the table and jammed +it on his head. + +"I said I'd go home with you. I am not going to miss seeing you take +that first ride on the cable, not much! Perhaps you won't mind walking +across the bridge and up the avenue to the cable line? It's a pretty +evening, and it will do you good to take the air along the river." + +So the two started for the city and crossed the busy thoroughfare of +the Rush Street Bridge just as the twilight was touching the murky +waters of the river. The girl was uncomfortably conscious that the man +by her side was a very shabbily dressed escort. She was glad that the +uncertain light would hide her from any of her acquaintances that might +be driving across the bridge at this hour. The doctor seemed to be in +no hurry; he paused on the bridge to watch a tug push a fat grain boat +up the river, until they were almost caught by the turning draw. + +"That's a fine sight!" he remarked. + +"Yes, the sunset is beautiful," she replied conventionally. + +"No! I mean that big vessel loaded with grain. That's what you live +on: it's what you are,--that and a lot of dirty cattle over in the pens +of the stock yard. That's you, Miss Venetia,--black hair, pink cheeks, +and all!" + +"What a very materialistic way of looking at life!" Venetia replied +severely. + +"Lord, child!" the doctor exclaimed ironically. "Who taught you that +horrid word?" Then he proceeded to give her a little lecture on the +beauties of physiology, which occupied her attention all the way to the +cable car, so that she forgot her snobbish anxieties. + +The car was crowded, and no one of the tired men who were reading their +newspapers was gallant enough to offer her a seat. So she was obliged +to stand crowded in a corner, swaying from a strap overhead, while the +persistent doctor told her all about the car, the motive power, the +operatives, the number of passengers carried daily, the dispute over +the renewal of the franchise for the road, and kindred matters of +common concern. + +"Now, it's likely enough some of your folks own a block of watered +stock in this concern," he concluded in his clear, high voice, that +made itself felt above the rattle of the car. "And you are helping to +pay them their dividends. Some day, though, maybe the rest of us won't +want to go on paying them five cents to ride in their old cars. Then +the water will dry up, the stock will go down, and perhaps you'll have +one or two dresses less every year. You'll remember then I told you +the reason why!" + +Venetia had heard enough about stocks and bonds to know that a good +deal of the Phillips money was invested in the City Railway. But she +had also learned from her earliest youth that it was very vulgar for a +man to discuss money matters with a girl. Furthermore, peering about +the crowded conveyance, she had caught sight of Porter Howe, one of her +brother Stanwood's friends. He was looking at her and the doctor, and +she began to feel uncomfortable again. It had never occurred to her +that the young men of her class were in the habit of using the street +cars, at least until they had reached those assured positions at the +head of industry which always awaited them. + +So the novelty of the ride in the public car had something of torture +in it, and she was glad enough to escape through the front door at +Eighteenth Street. + +"Won't you come in?" she asked the doctor politely when they came to +the formidable pile of red brick where she lived. + +"Thanks! I guess not to-day. I don't believe your folks will want me +to stay to supper, and I am getting hungry. Hope you enjoyed your +ride. Some day I'll come and take you for a trolley ride somewhere +else." + +He shook her hand vigorously and laughed. Then he started briskly for +the city, his hands thrust in his trousers pockets, his black felt hat +drawn forward over his brows. But Venetia had barely mounted the first +bank of steps before she heard her name called in a loud voice from the +street. + +"Say, Miss Venetia!" + +The doctor was shouting back to her, one hand at the side of his mouth. + +"Don't you worry about that pup! I think I can bring him round all +right." + +She nodded nervously and stepped into the vestibule with a sense of +relief from her companion. She knew that Dr. Coburn was what her +brother called a "mucker," and her mother spoke of as a "fellow." Yet +she felt that there was something in the man to be respected, and this +insight, it may be said, distinguished Miss Venetia from her mother and +her brother. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +Pete was a very sick dog, but as Dr. Coburn boasted, no pampered +patient in a private hospital ever had better care. Ultimately he +recovered from his operation and went about gayly on three legs, but +not until Venetia had made a good many visits to the squalid +"laboratory" and had come to feel very much at home among the animals +and scientific apparatus that the eccentric young doctor had gathered +about him. Mrs. Phillips, naturally, had not consented to these visits +to the "dog doctor," as she persisted in calling Pete's saviour, until +Venetia had enlisted the services of Helen as chaperon. Then, being +very much occupied these days with furnishing the new house, she paid +little attention to Venetia's long afternoons spent in the company of +the architect's wife. + +These visits were, perhaps, the most educational experiences that the +girl had ever had. One day she and Helen had watched the doctor take +apart the queer-looking pump that occupied the post of honor in the +laboratory, examined the delicate valves of the machine, and learned +the theory of its use. Once they got courage to witness voluntarily +its application on a rabbit. Venetia winced nervously when she saw the +long gold needle sink into the tender breast of the small beast, the +muscles relax, the heart stop beating altogether; but she worked one of +the valves of the pump steadily as the doctor directed. + +"Ain't that quick work!" he shouted enthusiastically. "It didn't take +the stuff thirty seconds to strike the right spot." + +Venetia nodded her head gravely, as he proceeded step by step in his +demonstration. When he finished she asked with a gravity that made +Helen smile:-- + +"Aren't you a very celebrated man?" + +Even her world paid some respect to notable achievements in science, +and she had heard Judge Phillips speak admiringly of certain recent +discoveries by a famous physiologist. The doctor, however, roared with +ironic laughter. + +"Not celebrated exactly! At the medical societies they call me the +crazy fakir. I don't believe there's a first-class doctor in the city +who would take the time to look at this machine. They'd want to know +first what some feller in Vienna thought about it. I might starve for +all the help I've ever had here! Doctors don't want any one to do +things on his own hook: they're jealous, just as jealous as women. But +I guess I'm going to show 'em a thing or two not in the books. Let me +tell you on the quiet, Miss Venetia,--I'm going over to Paris with this +pump of mine and show it off in one of their hospitals. Then you'll +see something!" + +The girl tried to look intelligent. + +"If I can convince some Frenchman or German that I am on to a big idea, +why the whole pack of pill-sellers over here will fall into line so +quick you can't see 'em." + +"Perhaps we shall go over to Paris this summer, too. How I should like +to be there when you are, and see you show the pump!" + +In her experience there was nothing remarkable in going to Europe: one +went to hear an opera, to order a few gowns, to fill out an idle +vacation. + +"Well, I may have to go steerage, but I'll get there somehow." + +While they had been discussing the machine, a small, white-faced man, +who looked as if he might be a waiter or some kind of skilled mechanic, +had come into the laboratory and nodding to the doctor took a chair at +the farther end of the room with the manner of one who was quite at +ease in the place. His face, which was aged by illness or care, +interested Helen greatly. She watched him while the others talked, +wondering what his relation to the doctor could be, whether that of +patient or friend. He sat huddled up on his chair, one worn-out boot +thrust forward from a ragged trouser leg, curiously scanning the young +girl, who seemed in her fresh beauty and rich clothes decidedly out of +harmony with the dingy room. When Venetia spoke of going abroad as +casually as she might have mentioned going to the country, a sarcastic +smile crept over his face. He seemed to possess the full power of +patience, as if a varied experience with a buffeting world had taught +him to accept rather than to resist. His business there, whatever it +might be, could wait, had always waited. + +"Hussey, here, is the only feller that I ever found besides myself who +has any faith in the old pump," Coburn remarked presently by way of +introduction, half turning toward the silent man, and smiling as if he +thoroughly enjoyed the joke of having this one convert. "He's always +after me to try it on him,--he says he's got something the matter with +his lungs,--but I guess it's purely a scientific interest that makes +him offer to be the first victim. Gee! Wouldn't I like to take him at +his word!" + +He worked one of the delicate valves of the machine, squirting through +the needle a thin stream of water in the direction of Hussey. + +"Why don't you do it then?" the man asked in an indifferent tone. "I'm +ready any time you say." + +"Ain't he got nerve, now?" the doctor appealed to Venetia, his eyes +twinkling sardonically. "Any doctor would tell him for nothing that it +was just plain murder to stick that needle into his lungs. If I am +wrong, you know, he'd be a goner, bleed to death." + +"I guess I ain't built very different from that guinea-pig," the man +observed placidly. "And I have seen you put it into one of them often +enough." + +"Why don't you try it, if he's willing?" Venetia asked the doctor +breathlessly. + +Helen and Coburn laughed, and even the silent Hussey smiled grimly. + +"Maybe, young lady, you wouldn't mind if I tried it on you! Can't you +get up a real good heart trouble now?" the doctor quizzed. + +"Would it make any particular difference if I hadn't anything the +matter with me?" Venetia asked quickly. "You can put it into me and +see what it does, anyway." + +"Good nerve!" Coburn laughed admiringly. "See, Mrs. Hart, I've got two +converts now. Don't you want to make a third?" + +Then bursting into his loud laugh, which seemed to be directed at +himself, Coburn walked to the rear of the room, raised a trap-door, and +whistled for Pete. He thrust his hand down, caught the dog by the +neck, and placed him on the laboratory table for exhibition. + +"Nothing worse than a good aristocratic limp, Peter," the doctor +pronounced with complacency. "Just come here and look at that ear, +Venetia! What do you think of that? It isn't quite the right shade, +but I couldn't lay my hands on a terrier that was as dark as Pete." + +"What have you done to his ear?" the girl demanded. + +"He hadn't much of an ear left, when I came to look him over. So I +grafted a new piece on. And I cropped it, too, so it would look like +its mate. Pretty neat job?" + +"That's why you wouldn't let me see his head when you were changing the +bandages!" + +"Sure! This ear was to be a real Christmas surprise for a good little +girl." + +"Poor old Pete!" + +"What's the matter with Pete? Don't drop your tears that way. He's +forgotten by this time he ever had another leg. Say!" he added +abruptly, "what do you think the job's worth?" + +"I don't know," Venetia replied a little haughtily. "Please send your +bill to mamma." + +"And suppose I make it half what Dr. Cutem would charge for doing the +same job on you, what would mamma say? Pete's worth half, ain't he, +Mrs. Hart?" + +"Not to me," Helen answered lightly. + +"Well, you'd have thought he was the way she went on about him that +afternoon I found them out in the street. But that's the luck of a +poor doctor. You do your best, and, the patient cured, the bill seems +large!" + +The doctor's joke evidently distressed Venetia, who had been taught +that it was low to discuss bills. The silent man still smiling to +himself over the girl, rose and spoke to the doctor in a low tone. +Coburn nodded. + +"The same thing? Yes, I'll be over pretty soon." + +Then Hussey left the laboratory with a slight nod of his head in the +direction of the women. When he had gone and the outer door had banged +behind him, the doctor remarked thoughtfully:-- + +"I guess it isn't just pure interest in science that makes him ready to +try the pump." + +"Tell me about him," Helen asked quickly. + +"He lost his little girl two months ago,--malnutrition, that is to say +slow starvation, and I guess his wife's not got long to live. That's +why he came in this afternoon. But I can't do anything for her now, +nor anybody else. She's just beat out. They came from somewhere in +Pennsylvania, a little country place. He's a bookbinder by +trade,--does fancy work,--and work gave out in the country, so he tried +New York. He had some kind of trouble there with the union and came on +here. But he might as well have stayed where he was,--there ain't +anything in this town for him, and the union is after him again. He's +been up against it pretty much ever since he started. That's his +story." + +"Poor woman!" Helen exclaimed, with a quick sense of her own new +happiness. "Do you suppose she would like to have me call on her?" + +"I don't know. Perhaps she might. But he's rather sour on folks in +general," the doctor answered indifferently. + +"Where do they live?" + +"Out west here a ways on Arizona Avenue." + +"I know that district. The River settlement is over there on Arizona +Avenue. But I didn't know any Americans lived there. They are mostly +Poles or Germans, I thought," Helen added. + +"I guess people like the Husseys live most anywhere they can find a +hole to crawl into," Coburn answered brusquely. "So you are one of +those settlement cranks?" + +"I had classes there for a time before I was married," Helen admitted. + +"Got sick of it? Found you couldn't scrub up the world in a few weeks, +or even a small piece of it? I took you for a woman of too much sense +to mix in that foolishness. It might do Venetia here some good, teach +her a thing or two. She never rode in a street car till I showed her +how." + +"I only gave it up when I was going to marry, and my husband thought I +was not strong enough," Helen protested stoutly. "But it's the most +interesting--" + +"See here! Look at this floor. Would it clean it any to pour a +spoonful of water here and there? Well, that's what your social +settlements with all their statistics and their investigations are +doing. I tell you I know because I have been one of them, one of the +'masses.' I have been dirt poor all my life. I lived once for six +months in a tenement room with five other men. 'Understanding and +sympathy'? Rot! You can't really know anything about folks until you +earn your bread as they do, because you have to or starve; and live and +eat and marry as they do because you have to. Do you suppose those +English know anything about their Hindoos? Well, these settlement +folks know just about as much of what the people around them really are +as the English know about those darkies they boss." + +"But they're trying to understand, to help." + +"What's the good of their help? What men need is a chance to help +themselves at the pot. And the only way they'll ever get that is to +fight for it. Fight the hoggish ones who want the whole loaf. Let 'em +get out and fight, same as the people always have had to when they +weren't content to starve. Then you'd see what this settlement +'sympathy and understanding' amounts to." + +"Fighting never helps." + +"Don't it now? What does your science or history tell you? Men have +fought in one way or another for pretty nearly everything they've got!" + +"Perhaps that is the trouble." + +"Not much," he retorted, as if he were trying to convince himself as +much as her. "The real fact is, most of the world isn't worth the +bother of saving it from its fate. They are refuse junk. Just junk, +so many tons of flesh and bone, with not wit enough to hold their +appetites. That's why the worst robbers get on top and ride, every +time. They always will because they are the best fighters. No, young +woman, the ruck of people aren't worth bothering about. Life is the +cheapest thing on this planet; pious folks with all their blart can't +alter that fact. It's cheap, and mean, and can't fight." + +"What's the good of that machine, if it's only fit to mend such bad +flesh?" + +"You think you've got me," he laughed back. "Now I'll tell you why. I +want to show every stupid doctor in this town that I've got a trick +worth two of his. All the high-toned doctors have turned me down, +every one I ever got at. But I can fight. See? That's why I starve +myself and live in this chicken-coop. I could make money enough +gassing patients and selling them a lot of wind. Don't you think I +could eat well and dress well and be as sleek and fine as the young men +Venetia thinks are the right thing? I guess I could. Do you know Dr. +Parks on the North Side? Two years ago he offered to take me into his +office if I would quit fooling with these experiments and devote myself +to private practice. Parks is earning a good twenty thousand a year. +The pickings in that office would be considerable, I guess." + +"But you wanted something better than money!" + +"Better? I don't know about that. I want Parks and all the other +big-mouths in the profession just salaming there before me for one +thing." + +"No,--that isn't much better than wanting money. You don't want to +help. To want to help, to care about helping, that's the best thing in +men and women,--caring to help others whether what they do succeeds in +the end or fails. Nobody can know that." + +The doctor's face lost its ironical grin; he looked at Helen very +gravely. + +"That feeling you talk about must be a kind of extra sense which I +haven't got. It's like the color nerve or the sound nerve. I've +always been color-blind. In the same way I haven't that other feeling +you talk about. And I guess most folks in this world are like me. If +they felt like you, why it wouldn't be the same old world we know." + +"It must be a cruel world of murder and hate, if you haven't that." + +"Well, I guess it's pretty much the same world that old Michael Angelo +saw when he got up in the morning, or Julius Cæsar, or any of the rest +of them. It's a mighty lively sort of place, too, if you know how to +forage for yourself." + +Venetia, who had been listening to the discussion wide-eyed, burst out +explosively:-- + +"What are you two scrapping about, anyway? Aren't you going to see +that sick woman?" + +"Right you are," Dr. Coburn laughed. "I'll have to trot over there +pretty soon." + +"And I am going to see her, too, if you'll give me the address," Helen +added. "By the way, Dr. Coburn, you know my husband, don't you?" + +A peculiar look passed over the doctor's face as he replied: "Yes, in a +way. I used to be chore-boy in the chemical lab when he was in +college. But I wasn't his sort." + +Helen recollected Jackson's exclamation when she had told him of her +first visit with Venetia to the doctor's office. "That scrub!" Jackson +had commented, simply and finally. + +There was an awkward pause, which Venetia broke by saying, "I can take +Pete, can't I?" + +"I suppose he's well enough," Coburn answered reluctantly. It was +plain that he would like to have some excuse to put off Pete's +departure. The bit of friendship with the two women, which fate had +tossed him, was too precious to part with easily. He picked the dog up +brusquely, saying: "Pete, you are getting skinny. I guess it's time +for you to go back to the good living you're used to. Don't you be +getting into another mix-up, though, or there won't be enough dog left +to patch." + +Pete licked his hand in a puppyish way, as Coburn carried him to the +carriage and placed him carefully on the seat between Venetia and Helen. + +"Won't you come to see us?" Helen asked, as they shook hands. The +queer look came back to the doctor's face. + +"No," he said brusquely, "I guess not. I hope to see you again, +though." + +"Why do you suppose he said that?" Venetia inquired quickly when they +had started. + +Helen blushed, as she answered slowly, "Perhaps he doesn't like my +husband." + +"Don't you think he's the most interesting man you ever saw?" the girl +exclaimed breathlessly. "At first he frightened me; he said such queer +things--things people don't say, just think them. But I like it now. +I mean to see a lot more of him somehow." + +"Will you get your mother to ask him to Forest Park?" Helen asked +mischievously. + +"Just imagine it! Wouldn't Mrs. Phillips be nice to him? They'd have +a fight the first thing, if she even looked at him. But I am sure he's +the most interesting man I ever met. He's lots nicer than Stanwood's +friends. They are always trying to hold your hand and wanting to kiss +you. It makes up for conversation." + +"Venetia!" the older woman protested. + +"Well, they do! And when I told mamma once, she said that a girl could +always manage men if she wanted to." + +As-the carriage stopped at the apartment house where the Harts lived, +the girl impulsively kissed the older woman. + +"I'm so glad I know you--and the doctor, too!" + + +That evening when Helen sat down to dinner with her husband in their +little apartment, she recounted the events of her day, among them the +visit to Dr. Coburn's office. Jackson, who had brought home with him a +roll of plans to work at in the evening, remarked casually: "Isn't +Venetia going there a good deal? Her mother won't like that sort of +intimacy." + +"I don't think there is any harm in it. Dr. Coburn interests her, +opens her eyes to things she never realized before. I think he must +have a good deal of ability, though he is boastful and rough." + +"That kind usually are conceited," the architect replied indifferently. +"He had better show a little of his ability in getting some paying +patients. He can't be doing much, judging by the boots and hat he had +on the last time I saw him." + +"No, he is very poor," Helen admitted. She disliked to have her +husband judge any man by his "boots and hat." These necessary articles +of clothing seemed to her rather accidental aspects of humanity in the +confusing fortunes of life. + +"Would you mind very much," she ventured after a time, "calling on him? +I want to ask him to dine with us some Sunday. I want to have Venetia, +and Pete, too." + +Jackson looked at his wife in surprise. + +"If you wish it, of course. I don't see much point to it. Why do you +want him? He isn't our kind." + +She was becoming gradually conscious that her husband liked only the +society of his kind--those people who had the same tastes and habits, +whose views and pleasures he shared. When she thought of it, she +realized that they had rapidly severed themselves from any other kind +during the first few months of their married life. She had given up +going to the River settlement before her marriage, partly because +Jackson disapproved of settlements. They were "socialistic" and +"cranky," and business men told him that they helped to stir up that +discontent among the laboring classes which was so rife in Chicago. +They encouraged the unions, and with people of his class trade-unionism +was considered to be the next worst thing to anarchy. So in the desire +to have no shadow of difference between them, Helen had given up her +classes in the settlement and rarely returned to the friends she had +made in that part of the city. + +There was growing in her, however, something almost of revolt against +this attitude on the part of her husband. There came back to her these +days with singular insistence some earnest words which once had +thrilled her: "We are bound to one another inseparably in this life of +ours; we make a society that is a composite. Whatever we may do to +weaken the sense of that common bond disintegrates society. Whatever +we can do to deepen the sense of that bond makes life stronger, better +for all!" This idea fed an inner hunger of spirit which her husband +had not appeased. For she had in large measure that rare instinct for +democracy, the love of being like others in joy and sorrow. + +Jackson believed in charitable effort, and had urged her to accept an +invitation to join the committee of women who managed St. Isidore's +hospital. It was almost a fashionable club, this committee, and it was +a flattering thing for a young married woman to be made a member of it. +The hospital was under the special patronage of the Crawfords and the +Fosters and other well-known people in the city. And when after a +visit to the bookbinder's sickly wife, she wished to do something for +Hussey, Jackson interested himself in her effort to get together a +class of young married women to learn the art of bookbinding, which +happened to be a part of the current enthusiasm over craftsmanship. +This class met at various houses once a week and spent a morning trying +to bind paper-covered literature under Hussey's direction. Jackson, +who was a bit of a dilettante by nature, was much interested in the +work of the class. He would like to have Helen try her hand in +metal-work or design jewellery or wall-paper or model. Once he talked +to the class on the minor arts, talked with great enthusiasm and charm, +exhorting these young women of the leisure class to cultivate +intensively some one artistic interest in life. + +But Helen, who hoped soon to have a child, found these things more or +less trivial. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +After a winter in the city the Harts went to live at Shoreham, taking +rooms for the season in a cottage near the club. The new station which +the railroad was building at Eversley Heights, and the Rainbows' +cottage on the ridge just west of the club, had brought the architect +considerable reputation. His acquaintance was growing rapidly among +the men who rode to and fro each day on the suburban trains of the C. +R. and N. It was the kind of acquaintance which he realized might be +very valuable to him in his profession. + +Between Chicago and Shoreham there was a long line of prosperous +suburbs, which exhibited a considerable variety of American society. +As the train got away from the sprawling outskirts of the city, every +stop marked a pause in social progress. Each little town gathered to +itself its own class, which differed subtly, but positively, from that +attracted by its neighbor. Shoreham was the home of the hunting set, +its society centring in the large club. At Popover Plains there was a +large summer hotel, and therefore the society of Popover Plains was +considered by her neighbors as more or less "mixed." Eversley Heights +was still undeveloped, the home of a number of young people, who were +considered very pleasant, even incipiently smart. But of all the more +distant and desirable settlements Forest Park had the greatest pride in +itself, being comparatively old, and having large places and +old-fashioned ugly houses in which lived some people of permanent +wealth. At these latter stations many fashionable traps were drawn up +at the platforms to meet the incoming afternoon trains, and the +coachmen, recognizing their masters, touched their hats properly with +their whips. Farther down the line there were more runabouts, and they +were driven by wives freshly dressed, who were expecting package-laden +husbands. Still nearer the city, the men who tumbled out of the cars +to the platform found no waiting carriages, and only occasionally a +young woman in starched calico awaited her returning lord. + +Nevertheless, all these suburban towns had one common characteristic: +they were the homes of the prosperous, who had emerged from the close +struggle in the city with ideals of rest and refreshment and an +instinct for the society of their own kind. Except for a street of +shops near the stations, to which was relegated the service element of +life, the inhabitants of these suburbs got exclusively the society of +their kind. + + +The architect went to the city by one of the earlier trains and came +back very late. He had all the labor of supervising the construction +of his buildings, for the work in the office did not warrant engaging a +superintendent. He emerged from the city, after a day spent in running +about here and there, with a kind of speechless listlessness, which the +wife of a man in business soon becomes accustomed to. But the dinner +in the lively dining-room of the club-house, with the chatter about +sport and the gossip, the cigar afterward on the veranda overlooking +the green, turfy valley golden in the afterglow of sunset, refreshed +him quickly. He was always eager to accept any invitation, to go +wherever they were asked, to have himself and his wife in the eyes of +their little public as much as possible. His agreeable manners, his +keen desire to please, his instinct for the conventional, the suitable, +made him much more popular than his wife, who was considered shy, if +not positively countrified. As the season progressed, Jackson was sure +that they had made a wise choice of a place to settle in, and they +began to look for a house for the winter. + +These were the happiest months the architect had ever known. He was +having the exquisite pleasure that a robust nature feels in the first +successful bout with life. Then blows, even, are sweet, and the whole +brutal surge of the struggle. The very step of him these days as he +turned in at his club for a hurried luncheon, his air of polite haste, +a quick, hearty manner of greeting the men he knew, proclaimed him as +one who had taken his part in the game. The song of the great city +sang in his ears all the day, with a sweeter, minor note of his love +that was awaiting him. + +Yet there were grave risks, anxieties, that pressed as the months +passed. In spite of all the apparent prosperity which the little +office enjoyed from the start, the profit for the first year was +startlingly small. The commission from the Phillips house had long +since been eaten; also as much of the fee from Graves as that close +contractor could be induced to pay over before the building had been +finished. The insatiable office was now devouring the profits from the +railroad business. Such commissions as he had got in Forest Park and +Shoreham were well-earned: the work was fussy, exacting, and paid very +little. When Cook saw the figures, he spoke to the point: "It's just +self-indulgence to build houses. We must quit it." If they were to +succeed, they must do a larger business,--factories, mills, +hotels,--work that could be handled on a large scale, roughly and +rapidly. + +The Harts were living beyond their means, not extravagantly, but with a +constant deficit which from the earliest weeks of their marriage had +troubled Helen. Reared in the tradition of thrift, she held it to be a +crime to spend money not actually earned. But she found that her +husband had another theory of domestic economy. To attract money, he +said, one must spend it. He insisted on her dressing as well as the +other women who used the club, although they were for the most part +wives and daughters of men who had many times his income. At the close +of the first ten months of their marriage Helen spoke authoritatively:-- + +"At this rate we shall run behind at least two thousand dollars for the +year. We must go back to the city to live at once!" + +They had been talking of renting the Loring place in Forest Park for +the coming year. But she knew that in the city she could control the +expenditure, the manner of living. The architect laughed at her +scruples, however. + +"I'll see Bushfield to-day and find out when they are to get at the +Popover station." + +She still looked grave, having in mind a precept that young married +people, barring sickness, should save a fifth of their income. + +"And if that isn't enough," her husband added, "why, we must pull out +something else. There's lots doing." + +He laughed again and kissed her before going downstairs to take the +club 'bus. His light-hearted philosophy did not reassure her. If +one's income was not enough for one's wants, he said--why, expand the +income! This hopeful, gambling American spirit was natural to him. He +was too young to realize that the point of expansion for professional +men is definitely limited. A lawyer, a doctor, an architect, has but +his one brain, his one pair of hands, his own eyes--and the scope of +these organs is fixed by nature. + +"And we give to others so little!" she protested in her heart that +morning. Her mother had given to their church and to certain charities +always a tenth of their small income. That might be a mechanical, +old-fashioned method of estimating one's dues to mankind, but it was +better than the careless way of giving when it occurred to one, or when +some friend who could not be denied demanded help.... + +The architect, as he rode to the early morning train in the club 'bus, +was talking to Stephen Lane, a rich bachelor, who had a large house and +was the chief promoter of the Hunt Club. Lane grumbled rather +ostentatiously because he was obliged to take the early train, having +had news that a mill he was interested in had burned down overnight. + +"You are going to rebuild?" the architect asked. + +"Begin as soon as we can get the plans done," Lane replied laconically. + +It shot into the architect's mind that here was the opportunity which +would go far to wipe out the deficit he and Helen had been talking +about. With this idea in view he got into the smoking car with Lane, +and the two men talked all the way to town. Hart did not like Stephen +Lane; few at the club cared for the rich bachelor, whose manners +carried a self-consciousness of wealth. But this morning the architect +looked at him from a different angle, and condoned his tone of +patronage. Yet the mill would mean only a few hundred dollars, a mere +pot-boiling job, that in his student days he would have scorned, +something that Cook or a new draughtsman might bite his teeth on! As +the train neared the tangled network of the city terminal, he ventured +to say, "What architects do your work, Lane?" + +He hated the sound of his voice as he said it, though he tried to make +it impersonal and indifferent. Lane's voice seemed to change its tone, +something of suspicion creeping in, as he replied:-- + +"I have always had the Stearns brothers. They do that sort of thing +pretty well." + +As they mounted the station stairs, Lane asked casually: "Do you ever +do that kind of work? It isn't much in your line." + +"I've never tried it, but of course I should like the chance." + +Then Lane, one hand on the door of a waiting cab, remarked slowly: +"Well, we'll talk it over perhaps. Where do you lunch?" and gave the +architect two fingers of his gloved hand. + +He was thinking that Mrs. Hart was a pleasant woman, who always +listened to him with a certain deference, and that these Harts must be +hard put to it, without old Jackson's pile. + +Hart went his way on foot, a taste of something little agreeable in his +mouth. That same morning he had to stop at the railroad offices to see +the purchasing agent. The railroad did its own contracting, naturally, +and it was through this man Bushfield that the specifications for the +buildings had to pass. The architect had had many dealings with the +purchasing agent, and had found him always friendly. This morning +Bushfield was already in his office, perspiring from the August heat, +his coat off, a stenographer at his elbow. When Hart came in he looked +up slowly, and nodded. After he had finished with the stenographer, he +asked:-- + +"Why do you specify Star cement at Eversley, Hart?" + +"Oh, it's about the best. We always specify Star for outside work." + +"How's it any better than the Climax?" the purchasing agent asked +insistently. + +"I don't know anything about the Climax. What's the matter with Star?" + +Bushfield scratched his chin thoughtfully for a moment. + +"I haven't got anything against Star. What I want to know is what you +have got against Climax?" + +The smooth, guttural tones of the purchasing agent gave the architect +no cause for suspicion, and he was dull enough not to see what was in +the air. + +"It would take time to try a new cement properly," he answered. + +The purchasing agent picked up his morning cigar, rolled it around in +his mouth, and puffed before he replied:-- + +"I don't mind telling you that it means something to me to have Climax +used at Eversley. It's just as good as any cement on the market. I +give you my word for that. I take it you're a good friend of mine. I +wish you would see if you can't use the Climax." + +Then they talked of other matters. When Hart got back to the office he +looked up the Climax cement in a trade catalogue. There were hundreds +of brands on the market, and the Climax was one of the newest. Horace +Bushfield, he reflected, was Colonel Raymond's son-in-law. If he +wished to do the Popover station, he should remain on good terms with +the purchasing agent of the road. Some time that day he got out the +type-written specifications for the railroad work, and in the section +on the cement work he inserted neatly in ink the words, "Or a cement of +equal quality approved by the architect." + +He had scarcely time to digest this when not many days later the +purchasing agent telephoned to him:-- + +"Say, Hart, the Buckeye Hardware people have just had a man in here +seeing me about the hardware for that building. I see you have +specified the Forrest makes. Aren't the Buckeye people first-class?" + +The architect, who knew what was coming this time, waited a moment +before replying. Then he answered coolly, "I think they are, +Bushfield." + +"Well, the Buckeye people have always done our business, and they +couldn't understand why they were shut out by your specifying the +Forrest makes. You'll make that all right? So long." + +As Hart hung up his receiver, he would have liked to write Raymond, the +general manager, that he wanted nothing more to do with the railroad +business. Some weeks later when he happened to glance over the Buckeye +Company's memoranda of sales for the Eversley station, and saw what the +railroad had paid for its hardware, he knew that Horace Bushfield was a +thief. But the purchasing agent was Colonel Raymond's son-in-law, and +the railroad was about to start the Popover station! + + +Something similar had been his experience with the contractor Graves. + +"Put me up a good, showy building," the contractor had said, when they +first discussed the design. "That's the kind that will take in that +park neighborhood. People nowadays want a stylish home with elevator +boys in uniform.... That court you've got there between the wings, and +the little fountain, and the grand entrance,--all just right. But they +don't want to pay nothin' for their style. Flats don't rent for +anything near what they do in New York. Out here they want the earth +for fifty, sixty dollars a month; and we've got to give 'em the nearest +thing to it for their money." + +So when it came to the structure of the building, the contractor +ordered the architect to save expense in every line of the details. +The woodwork was cut to the thinnest veneer; partitions, even +bearing-walls, were made of the cheapest studding the market offered; +the large floors were hung from thin outside walls, without the brick +bearing-walls advised by the architect. When Hart murmured, Graves +said frankly:-- + +"This ain't any investment proposition, my boy. I calculate to fill +the Graveland in two months, and then I'll trade it off to some +countryman who is looking for an investment. Put all the style you +want into the finish. Have some of the flats Flemish, and others +Colonial, and so on. Make 'em smart." + +The architect tried to swallow his disgust at being hired to put +together such a flimsy shell of plaster and lath. But Cook, who had +been trained in Wright's office, where work of this grade was never +accepted, was in open revolt. + +"If it gets known around that this is the style of work we do in this +office, it'll put us in a class, and it ain't a pleasant one, +either.... Say, Jack, how's this office to be run--first-class or the +other class?" + +"You know, man," the architect replied, wincing at the frank speech, +"how I am fixed with Graves. I don't like this business any better +than you do, but we'll be through with it before long; and I shan't get +into it again, I can tell you." + +He growled in his turn to the contractor, who received his protest with +contemptuous good humor. + +"You'd better take a look at what other men are doing, if you think I +am making the Graveland such an awful cheap building. I tell you, +there ain't money in the other kind. Why, I worked for a man once who +put up a first-class flat building, slow-burning construction, heavy +woodwork, and all that. It's old-fashioned by this--and its rents are +way down. And I saw by the paper the other day that it was sold at the +sheriff's sale for not more than what my bill came to! What have you +got to say to that?" + +Therefore the architect dismissed the Graveland from his mind as much +as he could, and saw little of it while it was under construction, for +the contractor did his own superintending. One day, however, he had +occasion to go to the building, and took his wife with him. They drove +down the vast waste of Grand Boulevard; after passing through that +wilderness of painful fancies, the lines of the Graveland made a very +pleasant impression. + +Hart had induced Graves to sacrifice part of his precious land to an +interior court, around which he had thrown his building like a +miniature château, thus shutting out the sandy lots, the ragged street, +which looked like a jaw with teeth knocked out at irregular intervals. +A heavy wall joined the two wings on the street side, and through the +iron gates the Park could be seen, just across the street. + +"Lovely!" Helen exclaimed. "I'm so glad you did it! I like it so--so +much more than the Phillips house." + +They studied it carefully from the carriage, and Hart pointed out all +the little triumphs of design. It was, as Helen felt, much more +genuine than the Phillips house. It was no bungling copy, but an +honest answer to a modern problem--an answer, to be sure, in the only +language that the architect knew. + +Helen wanted to see the interior, although Jackson displayed no +enthusiasm over that part of the structure. And in the inside came the +disaster! The evidences of the contractor's false, flimsy building +darkened the architect's brow. + +"The scamp!" he muttered, emerging from the basement. "He's propped +the whole business on a dozen or so 'two-by-fours.' And I guess he's +put in the rottenest plumbing underground that I ever saw. I don't +believe it ever had an inspection." + +"Show me what you mean," Helen demanded. + +He pointed out to her some of the devices used to skimp the building. + +"Even the men at work here know it. You can see it by the way they +look at me. Why, the thing is a paper box!" + +In some of the apartments the rough work was scarcely completed, in +others the plasterers were at work; but the story was the same +everywhere. + +"I can't see how he escaped the Building Department. He's violated the +ordinances again and again. But I suppose he knows how to keep the +inspectors quiet." + +He remembered the Canostota: he had no manner of doubt, now, about +those I-beams in the Canostota. + +"Francis!" Helen exclaimed with sudden passion; "you won't stand it? +You won't let him do this kind of thing?" + +The architect shrugged his shoulders. + +"It's his building. He bought the plans and paid for them." + +She was silent, troubled in her mind by this business distinction, but +convinced that wrong was being done. A thing like this, a fraud upon +the public, should be prevented in some way. + +"Can't you tell him that you will report him to the Building +Department?" she asked finally. + +Hart smiled at her impetuous unpractically. + +"That would hardly do, would it, to go back on a client like that? +It's none of my business, really. Only one hates to feel that his +ideas are wasted on such stuff as this is made of. The city should +look after it. And it's no worse than most of these flat buildings. +Look at that one across the street. It's the same cheap thing. I was +in there the other day.... No, it's the condition of things in this +city,--the worst place for good building in the country. Every one +says so. But God help the poor devils who come to live here, if a fire +once gets started in this plaster-and-lath shell!" + +He turned to the entrance and kicked open the door in disgust. Helen's +face was pale and set, as if she could not dismiss the matter thus +lightly. + +"I never thought of fire!" she murmured. "Francis, if anything like +that should happen! To think that you had drawn the plans!" + +"Oh! it may last out its time," he replied reassuringly. "And it +doesn't affect the appearance of the building at present. It's real +smart, as Mrs. Rainbow would say. Don't you think so, Nell?" + +She was standing with her back to the pleasant façade of the Graveland, +and was staring into the Park across the street. Turning around at his +words she cast a swift, scrutinizing glance over the building. + +"It isn't right! I see fraud looking out of every window. It's just a +skeleton covered with cloth." + +The architect laughed at her solemnity. He was disgusted with it +himself; it offended his workman's conscience. But he was too modern, +too practical, to allow merely ideal considerations to upset him. And, +after all, in his art, as in most arts, the effect of the work was +two-thirds the game. With her it was altogether different. Through +all outward aspect, or cover, of things pierced their inner being, from +which one could not escape by illusion. + +As they were leaving the place the contractor drove up to the building +for his daily inspection. He came over to the architect, a most +affable smile on his bearded face. + +"Mrs. Hart, I presume," he said, raising his hat. "Looking over your +husband's work? It's fine, fine, I tell you! Between ourselves, it +beats Wright all out." + +Helen's stiffness of manner did not encourage cordiality, and Graves, +thinking her merely snobbish, bowed to them and went into the building. + +"You'll never do anything for him again, will you, Francis? Promise +me." + +And he promised lightly enough, for he thought it highly improbable +that the contractor ever would return to him, or that he should feel +obliged to take his work if he offered it. + + +Nevertheless, the contractor did return to the office, and not long +afterward. It was toward the end of the summer, when the architect and +his wife were still debating the question of taking a house in the +country for the winter. One afternoon Jackson came back from his +luncheon to find Graves waiting for him in the outer office. The +stenographer and Cook were hard at work in the room beyond, with an air +of having nothing to say to the contractor. As Graves followed Hart +into his private office, Cook looked up with a curl on his thin lips +that expressed the fulness of his heart. + +"Say," Graves called out as soon as Hart had closed the door to the +outer room, "I sold that Graveland three weeks ago, almost before the +plaster was dry. A man from Detroit came in to see me one morning, and +we made the deal that day." + +"Is that so?" Hart remarked coolly. + +"It was a pretty building. I knew I shouldn't have any trouble with +it. Now I have something new in mind." + +The architect listened in a non-committal manner. + +"Part of that trade with the Detroit feller was for a big block of land +out west here a couple of miles. I am thinking of putting up some tidy +little houses to sell on the instalment plan." + +"What do you mean to put into them?" Jackson asked bluntly. + +"Well, they'd ought to sell for not more than eight thousand dollars." + +"And cost as much less as you can make them hold together for? I don't +believe I can do anything for you, Mr. Graves," Jackson replied firmly. + +"Is that so? Well, you are the first man I ever saw who was too busy +to take on a paying piece of business." + +He settled himself more comfortably in the chair opposite Hart's desk, +and began to describe his scheme. There was to be a double row of +houses, three stories and basement, each one different in style, in a +different kind of brick or terra cotta, with a distinguishing "feature" +worked in somewhere in the design. They were to be bait for the +thrifty clerk, who wanted to buy a permanent home on the instalment +plan rather than pay rent. There were many similar building schemes in +different parts of the city, the advertisements of which one might read +in the street cars. + +"Why do you want me to do the job for you?" Hart asked at last. "Any +boy just out of school could do what you are after." + +"No, he couldn't! He hasn't the knack of giving a fresh face to each +house. But it won't be hard work for you!" + +This, the architect knew, was true. It would be very easy to have Cook +hunt up photographs from French and English architectural journals, +which with a little arrangement would serve for the different houses. +With a few hours' work he could turn out that individual façade which +Graves prized commercially. Here was the large job that could be done +easily and roughly, opportunely offering itself. + +"I don't like to have such work go through the office. That's all +there is about it!" he exclaimed at last. + +"Is that so? Too tony already. Well, we won't fight over that. +Suppose you make the sketches and let another feller prepare the +details?" + +There were many objections to this mode of operation, but the +contractor met every one. Hart himself thought of Meyer, a clever, +dissipated German, to whom he had given work now and then when the +office was busy. Meyer would do what he was told and say nothing about +it. + +It was late when Graves left the office. Cook and the stenographer had +already gone. Hart went down into the street with the contractor, and +they nodded to each other when they parted, in the manner of men who +have reached an understanding. On the way to the train, Jackson +dropped into his club for a drink. He stood staring into the street +while he sipped his gin and bitters. The roar of the city as it came +through the murky windows seemed to him more than commonly harsh and +grating. The gray light of the summer evening filtered mournfully into +the dingy room.... He was not a weak man; he had no qualms of +conscience for what he had made up his mind that afternoon to do. It +was disagreeable, but he had weighed it against other disagreeable +alternatives which might happen if he could not get the money he +needed. His child would be born in a few months, and his wife must +have the necessary comforts during her illness. He had too much pride +to accept Helen's plan of going to her mother's house for her +confinement. By the time he had reached Shoreham he had entirely +adjusted his mind to Graves, and he met his wife, who had walked over +to the station, with his usual buoyant smile. And that evening he +remarked:-- + +"I guess we had better take the Loring place. It's the only fit one +for rent. We'll have to keep a horse--that's all." + +They had been debating this matter of the Loring place for several +weeks. It was a pleasant old house, near the lake, not far from Mrs. +Phillips's in Forest Park. It was Mrs. Phillips who had first called +the architect's attention to it. But, unfortunately, it was too far +from either station of the railroad to be within walking distance. And +it was a large establishment for two young persons to maintain, who +were contemplating the advent of a baby and a nurse. + +All this Helen had pointed out to her husband, and lately they had felt +too poor to consider the Loring place. + +"What has happened, Francis?" she asked. + +"A lot more business has come in,--a block of houses. They will be +very profitable," he answered vaguely, remembering Helen's antipathy to +the contractor. "Did you lunch with Venetia? I saw her this morning +at the station. She is growing up fast, isn't she?" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +Two years passed and they were still living in the Loring place, which +the architect had remodelled comfortably to suit his modern taste. +Occasionally he talked of building, and they looked at land here and +there. But it was clearly out of the question at present, for each +year the family budget went leaping upward, and the income came tagging +after. + +"Jack," so Everett Wheeler expressed the situation in the raw phrase of +the ordinary man, "Jack's got a champagne appetite. But he's a pretty +good provider." + +The architect was a good provider: he enjoyed heartily the luxury that +his money brought him, and he wanted his wife to enjoy it with him. He +worked at high pressure and needed his bread and meat well seasoned +with excitement. Once, early in their married life, Mrs. Phillips had +volunteered to explain to Helen the philosophy of this masculine +temperament. + +"Some men need more food than others. They'd mope and grow thin if +they dined at home on a chop and went to bed at ten every night. They +must have something to make steam. Your young man was born to be a +spender." + +The second winter the Phillipses had gone to Europe, where the widow +was still adding to her collection for the new house,--Forest Manor as +she had dubbed it. Leaving Venetia in Paris with some friends, she had +descended upon Italy, the rage for buying in her soul. There she +gathered up the flotsam of the dealers,--marbles, furniture, stuffs,--a +gold service in Naples, a vast bed in Milan, battered pictures in +Florence. Mrs. Phillips was not a discriminating amateur; she troubled +her soul little over the authenticity of her spoil. To San Giorgio, +Simonetti, Richetti, and their brethren in the craft she came like a +rich harvest, and they put up many a prayer for her return another +season. + +In March of that year, Jackson Hart, struggling with building strikes +in Chicago, had a cablegram from the widow. "Am buying wonderful +marbles in Florence. Can you come over?" The architect laughed as he +handed the message to his wife, saying lightly, "Some one ought to head +her off, or she'll be sending over a shipload of fakes." Helen, +mindful of the widow's utterances about Jackson, and thinking that he +needed the vacation after two years of hard work, urged him generously +to accept the invitation and get a few weeks in Italy. But there was +no time just then for vacation: he was in the grip of business, and +another child was coming to them. + +From time to time Mrs. Phillips's purchases arrived at Forest Park and +were stored in the great hall of her house. Then late in the spring +the widow telephoned the architect. + +"Yes, I am back," came her brisk, metallic tones from the receiver. +"Glad to be home, of course, with all the dirt and the rest of it. How +are you getting on? I hear you are doing lots of things. Maida +Rainbow told me over there in Paris that you were building the +Bushfields an immense house. I am so glad for you--I hope you are +coining money." + +"Not quite that," he laughed back. + +"I want you to see all the treasures I have bought. I've ruined myself +and the children! However, you'll think it's worth it, I'm sure. You +must tell me what to do with them. Come over Sunday, can't you? How +is Mrs. Hart? Bring her over, too, of course." + +Thus she gathered him up on her return with that dexterous turn of the +wrist which exasperated her righteous brother-in-law. On the Sunday +Jackson went to see the "treasures," but without Helen, who made an +excuse of her mother's weekly visit. He found the widow in the stable, +directing the efforts of two men servants in unpacking some cases. + +"Ah, it's you! How are you?" + +She extended a strong, flexible hand to Hart, and with the other +motioned toward a marble that was slowly emerging from the packing +straw. + +"Old copy of a Venus, the Syracuse one. It will be great in the hall, +won't it?" + +"It's ripping!" he exclaimed warmly. "But where did you get that +picture?" + +"You don't like it?" + +"Looks to be pure fake." + +"And Simonetti swore he knew the very room where it's hung for over a +hundred years." + +"Oh, he probably put it there himself!" + +"Come into the house and see the other things. I have some splendid +chairs." + +For an hour they examined the articles she had bought, and the +architect was sufficiently approving to satisfy Mrs. Phillips. Neither +one had a pure, reticent taste. Both were of the modern barbarian type +that admires hungrily and ravishes greedily from the treasure house of +the Old World what it can get, what is left to get, piling the spoil +helter-skelter into an up-to-date American house. Mediæval, +Renaissance, Italian, French, Flemish--it was all one! Between them +they would turn Forest Manor into one of those bizarre, corrupt, +baroque museums that our lavish plunderers love,--electric-lighted and +telephoned, with gilded marble fireplaces, massive bronze candelabra, +Persian rugs, Gothic choir stalls, French bronzes--a house of barbarian +spoil! + +A servant brought in a tray of liquors and cigarettes; they sat in the +midst of pictures and stuffs, and sipped and smoked. + +"Now," Mrs. Phillips announced briskly, "I want to hear all about you!" + +"It's only the old story,--more jobs and more strikes,--the chase for +the nimble dollar," he answered lightly. "You have to run faster for +it all the time." + +"But you are making money?" she questioned directly. + +"I'm spending it." + +He found it not difficult to tell her the state of his case. She +nodded comprehendingly, while he let her see that his situation, after +two years of hard work, was not altogether as prosperous as it appeared +on the surface. Payments on buildings under construction were delayed +on account of the strikes; office expenses crept upward; and personal +expenses mounted too. And there was that constant pressure in +business--the fear of a cessation in orders. + +"We may have to move back to town after all. That Loring place is +pretty large to swing, and in town you can be poor in obscurity." + +"Nonsense! You must not go back. People will know then that you +haven't money. You are going to get bigger things to do when the +strikes are over. And you are so young. My! not thirty-five." + +Her sharp eyes examined the man frankly, sympathetically, approving him +swiftly. His clay was like hers; he would succeed, she judged--in the +end. + +"Come! I have an idea. Why shouldn't you build here, on my land? +Something pretty and artistic; it would help you, of course, to have +your own house. I know the very spot, just the other side of the +ravine--in the hickories. Do you remember it?" + +In her enthusiasm she proposed to go at once to examine the site. +Pinning a big hat on her head, she gathered up her long skirt, and they +set forth, following a neat wood-path that led from the north terrace +into the ravine, across a little brook, and up the other bank. + +"Now, here!" She pointed to a patch of hazel bushes. "See the lake +over there. And my house is almost hidden. You would be quite by +yourselves." + +He hinted that to build even on this charming spot a certain amount of +capital would be needed. She frowned and settled herself on the stump +of a tree. + +"Why don't you try that Harris man? You know him. He made a heap of +money for me once,--corn, I think. He knew just what was going to +happen. He's awfully smart, and he's gone in with Rainbow, you know. +I am sure he could make some money for you." + +"Or lose it?" + +She laughed scornfully at the idea of losing. + +"Of course you have got to risk something. I wouldn't give a penny for +a man who wouldn't trust his luck. You take my advice and see Harris. +Tell him I sent you." + +She laughed again, with the conviction of a successful gambler; it +became her to laugh, for it softened the lines of her mouth. + +She was now forty-one years old, and she appeared to Jackson to be +younger than when he had first gone to see her after his uncle's death. +She had come back from Europe thinner than she had been for several +years. Her hair was perfectly black, still undulled by age, and her +features had not begun to sharpen noticeably. She had another ten +years of active, selfish woman's life before her, and she knew it. +Meantime he had grown older rapidly, so that they were much nearer +together. She treated him quite as her equal in experience, and that +flattered him. + +"Yes," she continued, in love with her project, "there isn't a nicer +spot all along the shore. And you would be next door, so to say. You +could pay for the land when you got ready, of course." + +She gave him her arm to help her in descending the steep bank of the +ravine, and she leaned heavily on him. Beneath the bluff the lake +lapped at the sandy shore in a summer drowse, and the June sun lay +warmly about the big house as they returned to it. The shrubbery had +grown rankly around the terrace, doing its best in its summer verdancy +to soften the naked walls. The architect looked at the house he had +built with renewed pride. It was pretentious and ambitious, mixed in +motive like this woman, like himself. He would have fitted into the +place like a glove, if his uncle had done the right thing. Somewhat +the same thought was in the widow's mind. + +"It was a shame that old Powers treated you so shabbily! They haven't +done anything yet about that school, have they?" + +"No; I thought I should be drawing the plans before this. Rather +counted on it." + +They stood for a moment on the terrace, looking at the house. Yes, it +was like them both! They loved equally the comforts and the luxuries +and the powers of this our little life. And they were bold to snatch +what they wanted from the general feast. + +"You must make Harris do something for you," she mused. "You can't +bury yourself in a stuffy flat." Then in a few moments she added: +"How's that handsome wife of yours? I hear she's going to have another +child." She continued with maternal, or, perhaps, Parisian, +directness: "Two babies, and not on your feet yet! You mustn't have +any more. These days children are no unmixed blessing, I can tell +you.... Venetia? I left her in the East with some friends she made +over there. She's too much for me already. She needs a husband who +can use the curb." ... + +When Jackson reported to his wife the widow's offer, Helen said very +quickly, "I had rather go back to the city to live, Francis, than do +that." + +"Why?" he asked with some irritation. + +"Because, because--" + +She put her arms about his neck in her desire to make him feel what she +could not say. But he was thinking of Mrs. Phillips's advice to see +the broker, and merely kissed her in reply to her caress. The widow +had spoken wisely; it would be foolish to retreat now, to hide himself +in the city. Instead, he would venture on with the others. It was the +year of the great bull market, when it seemed as if wealth hung low on +every bough, and all that a bold man had to do to win a fortune was to +pick his stock and make his stake. + + +Forest Park was very gay that summer. There were perpetual dinners and +house parties and much polo at the Shoreham Club. The architect, who +was very popular, went about more than ever, sometimes with his wife, +and often alone, as her health did not permit much effort. +Occasionally he played polo, taking the place of one of the regular +team, and usually when there was a match he stopped at the club on his +way from the city. + +One of these polo Wednesdays, late in August, Helen strolled along the +shore-path in the direction of the Phillipses' place, with an idea of +calling on Venetia Phillips, if her strength held out. The path +followed the curves of the bluff in full view of the lake, from which +rose a pleasant coolness like a strong odor. Back from the edge of the +bluff, in the quiet of well-spaced trees, stood the houses. They +seemed deserted on this midsummer afternoon, for those people who had +the energy to stir had gone to the polo grounds. The Phillips house, +also, was apparently asleep in the windless heat, as Helen crossed the +lawn that stretched from the edge of the bluff to the terrace; but when +she reached the stone steps she caught a glimpse of Mrs. Phillips +seated in the farther corner of the terrace, where luxuriant vines +curtained a sheltered nook. Beyond was the outline of a man's form, +and little rings of blue cigar smoke curled upward. The widow was +leaning forward, her elbows resting comfortably on her knees, and in +the animation of her talk she had put one hand on her companion's arm +to emphasize her words. It lay there, while she looked into the man's +face with her eager, flashing eyes. + +Before Helen could take another step Mrs. Phillips turned her head, as +if disturbed unconsciously by the presence of an intruder. + +"Oh, is that you, Mrs. Hart?" the older woman asked after a moment of +scrutiny. "Did you walk in all this heat? Come over here." + +"Helen!" Jackson exclaimed, rising, a trace of annoyance in his tone, +as though he had been interrupted in some important business matter. + +"Don't get up, Mrs. Phillips," Helen said quickly, and the coldness of +her voice surprised her. "I am looking for Venetia." + +And without further words she opened the terrace door and stepped into +the hall. + +"You'll find her about somewhere. Ask John!" Mrs. Phillips called +after her coolly. + +While the servant departed in search of Venetia, Helen moved restlessly +about the long drawing-room, which oppressed her with its close array +of dominating furniture, thinking of the two outside upon the terrace. +She had no suspicion of wrong between them, or, indeed, any jealousy of +this woman, who she well knew liked men--all men. Yet an unfamiliar +pain gripped her heart. Slowly, for many months, she had felt some +mysterious and hostile force entering her field, and now she seemed to +see it pictured, dramatized here before her in this little scene,--a +man and a woman with chairs pulled close together, their faces aglow +with eager thoughts. The other part of her husband, that grosser side +of him which she dimly felt and put forth from her mind with dread, was +on intimate terms with this woman, who fed his ambitions. And the +wife, suddenly, instinctively, hated her for it. + +There was nothing evil, however, between those two on the terrace. The +architect had come from town by an early train to see the polo, and +there Mrs. Phillips had found him, and had brought him home in her +automobile. She had just learned a piece of news that concerned the +architect closely, and they were discussing it in the shade and quiet +of the north terrace. + +"I know they're going to start soon. The judge let it out at dinner +last night. He's no friend of yours, of course, because I like you. +But he won't take the trouble to fight you. You must get hold of your +cousin and the other trustees." + +It was here that Mrs. Phillips, in her eagerness for his success, laid +her hand on the young man's arm. Jackson murmured his thanks, thinking +less of the widow than of the trustees of the Powers Jackson bequest. + +"It'll be the biggest thing of its kind we have had in this city for +years. It's only right that you should have it, too. Can't your wife +win over the judge? He's always talking about her," she resumed after +Helen's departure. + +It was not strange that in the end the man should take the woman's +hand, and hold it while he expressed his gratitude for all her good +offices to him. It was a pleasant hand to hold, and the woman was an +agreeable woman to have in one's confidence. Naturally, he could not +know that she considered all men base,--emotionally treacherous and +false-hearted, and would take her amusement wherever she could get it. + + +Venetia found Helen in the drawing-room, very white, her lips +trembling, and beads of perspiration on her forehead. + +"What's the matter?" Venetia demanded quickly. "Have you seen a ghost +anywhere?" + +"It's nothing," the older woman protested. "I shouldn't have walked so +far. And now I must go back at once,--yes, really I must. I'm so +sorry." + +"Let me call Mr. Hart," Venetia said, troubled by the woman's white +face. "I saw him come in with mamma a little while ago." + +"No, no, I prefer not, please. It would worry him." + +Then Venetia insisted on driving her home, and left her calmer, more +herself, but still cold. She kissed her, with a girl's +demonstrativeness, and the older woman burst into tears. + +"I am so weak and so silly. I see things queerly," she explained, +endeavoring to smile. + +After the girl had gone, Helen tried to recover her ordinary calm. She +played with the little Francis, who was beginning to venture about the +walls and chairs of his nursery, testing the power in his sturdy legs. +This naïve manifestation of his masculine quality touched the mother +strangely. She saw in this mark of manhood the future of the boy. +What other of man's instincts would he have? Would he, too, hunger and +fight for his share in the spoil of the world? + +The terrible hour of her woman's agony was fast approaching, when she +should put forth another being into the struggle with its mates. She +did not shrink from the pain before her, although she began to wonder +if it might not end her own life, having that dark foreboding common to +sensitive women at this crisis. If death came now, what had she done +with her life? She would leave it like a meal scarce tasted, a task +merely played with--something seen but not comprehended. What had she +done for the man she loved? This afternoon when she saw her husband, +so remote from her, travelling another road, a bitter sense of the +fruitlessness of all living had entered her heart. This husband whom +she had so passionately loved! + + +An hour later, as the architect was taking his leave of Mrs. Phillips, +a servant brought him a telephone message from his house. His wife was +suddenly taken ill. He raced home through the leafy avenues in the big +touring car, which fortunately stood ready before the door. He found +Helen white and exhausted, her eyes searching the vacant horizon of her +bedroom. + +"Why, Nell! Poor girl!" he exclaimed, leaning over her, trying to kiss +her. "The walk was too much for you in all this heat. Why didn't you +let me know?" + +Her lips were cold and scarcely closed to his caress. She pushed him +gently from her, wishing to be alone in her trial. But shortly +afterward, purging her heart of any suspicion or jealousy,--still +haunted by that fear of death,--she drew him to her and whispered:-- + +"You were talking with Mrs. Phillips. I didn't want to--it's all +right, Francis. I love you, dear! Oh! I love you!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +Rumor had it that the Powers Jackson trust was about to be fulfilled. +It had become known among the friends of the trustees that during these +prosperous times the fund for the educational project had grown apace, +and was now estimated to be from five to six millions of dollars. It +was understood that some of the trustees were in favor of handing over +this munificent bequest to a large local university, with the +stipulation that a part of the money should be devoted to maintaining a +school on the West Side where some form of manual training or +technology should be taught. + +One morning, not long after Helen's confinement, Jackson read aloud +from the newspaper an item to the effect that negotiations were under +way with the university. + +"So that's their game!" he exclaimed to Helen gloomily, seeing in this +move an unexpected check to his ambition. + +"How can they even think of it!" she responded warmly, unwontedly +stirred at the thought that the old man's design had already become +thus blurred in the minds of his nearest friends. "That wasn't in the +least what uncle meant should be done. I wish I could see Everett, or +Judge Phillips, and find out the truth in all this talk." + +"Yes," Jackson assented. "I should like to know what they mean to do." + +Then he went to the train, trying to recall the names of the +influential trustees of the university, and wondering whether after all +there would be any monumental building erected with his uncle's money. +Fate seemed disposed to keep from his touch the smallest morsel of the +coveted millions! + +It was not long before Helen had the opportunity she desired of finding +out from the trustees what was the truth beneath the newspaper gossip. +Judge Phillips with Mr. Pemberton took the seat behind her in the car +of the Chicago train one morning, and the judge leaning forward +inquired about the children. Before he settled back into his +newspaper, Helen ventured to mention the current report about the +Powers Jackson bequest. + +"I hope it isn't true," she protested warmly. "Mr. Jackson was not +interested in universities, I know,--at least especially. He didn't +believe very much in theoretical education; I don't think he would have +wanted his money used that way." + +"What is that?" Pemberton asked with interest. + +The judge, who preferred to talk babies or shrubs with a pleasant young +woman, answered briefly:-- + +"Well, we haven't settled anything yet. Mr. Hollister seems to be +against the university plan, and I don't know that I favor it. But +you'll have to talk to Pemberton here. It was his idea." + +"Why do you think Mr. Jackson would have objected?" Pemberton inquired +gravely. + +"We often used to discuss college education," Helen replied quickly, +turning to the younger trustee. "And he had very positive ideas about +what was needed nowadays. He thought that colleges educated the +leaders, the masters, and that there would always be enough left for +that kind of institution. So many people are interested in colleges. +But he wanted to do something with his money for the people." + +"Yes, of course, it must be a free technical school," Pemberton replied +literally, "and it must be out there on the West Side." + +"But planned for the people, the working people," she insisted. + +"Naturally. But we are all the 'people,' aren't we, Mrs. Hart? I +haven't much sympathy with this talk nowadays about the 'people' as +opposed to any other class." + +"That's the unions," the judge nodded sagely. "We are all the +'people.' There is no class distinction in educational matters. We +want to offer the best kind of education for the poor boy or the rich +boy. What was Powers himself? His school must be a place to help boys +such as he was, of course." + +They were both completely at sea as to the donor's real intentions, +Helen felt sure, and she was eager to have them see the matter as she +saw it. Suddenly ideas came to her, things she wished to say, things +that seemed to her very important to say. She remembered talks that +she had had with the old man, and certain remarks about college +education which had dropped from him like sizzling metal. + +"But a technological school like the one in Boston,"--Pemberton had +instanced this famous school as an example they should follow,--"that's +a place to educate boys out of their class, to make them ambitious, to +push them ahead of their mates into some higher class." + +"Well?" asked Pemberton. "What's the matter with that idea? Doesn't +all education do just that for those who are fitted for it?" + +"Uncle wanted something so different! He wanted to make boys good +workmen, to give them something to be contented with when they had just +labor before them, daily labor, in the factories and mills." + +The judge's face puckered in puzzle over this speech. He was of an +older generation, and he could see life only in the light of +competition. Free competition in all the avenues of life--that was his +ideal. And the constant labor disputes in Chicago had thickened his +prejudices against the working people as a class. He believed, in +common with his associates, that their one aim was to get somebody's +money without working for it. + +But the other man, who was younger and less prejudiced, was more +responsive. He felt that this woman had an idea, that she knew perhaps +what the benefactor really wanted, and so they talked of the school +until the train reached Chicago. As they rose to leave the cars, +Pemberton said warmly:-- + +"I am glad we have had this talk, Mrs. Hart. I think I see what you +mean, although I am not at all clear how to attain the objects that you +describe as the donor's intention. But you have modified my ideas very +materially. May I call on you some day and continue this discussion?" + +"If you would!" Helen exclaimed, glowing with an enthusiasm unfelt for +a long time. + +"Well," the judge concluded, "I hope we can get the thing settled +pretty soon and start on the building. I want to see something done +before I die." + +"Yes," Helen assented, "I should think you would want to see the school +go up. And I hope Jackson will have the building of it." + +She expressed this wish very simply, without considering how it might +strike the trustees. It was merely a bit of sentiment with her that +her husband, who had got his education from Powers Jackson, might, as a +pure labor of love, in gratitude, build this monument to the old man. +It did not then enter her mind that there would be a very large profit +in the undertaking. She assumed that the architect would do the work +without pay! + +It was not until Pemberton's thin lips closed coldly and the judge +stared at her in surprise that she realized what she had said. Then +her face turned crimson with the thought of her indelicacy, as Judge +Phillips replied shortly:-- + +"We haven't got that far yet, Mrs. Hart. It's probable that if we +build we shall have a competition of designs." + +The two men raised their hats and disappeared into the black flood +pouring across the bridge, while she got into an omnibus. That remark +of hers, she felt, might have undone all the good of the talk they had +had about the old man's plan. Her cheeks burned again as she thought +of hinting for business favors to her husband. It seemed a mean, +personal seeking, when she had been thinking solely of something noble +and pure. + +This idea distressed her more and more until she was ingulfed in that +mammoth caravansary where one-half of Chicago shops and, incidentally, +meets its acquaintances and gossips. She hurried hither and thither +about this place in the nervous perturbation of buying. Finally, she +had to mount to the third floor to have a correction made in her +account. There, in the centre of the building, nearly an acre of floor +space was railed off for the office force,--the bookkeepers and tally +clerks and cashiers. Near the main aisle thirty or forty girls were +engaged in stamping little yellow slips. Each had a computation +machine before her and a pile of slips. Now and then some girl would +glance up listlessly from her work, let her eyes wander vacantly over +the vast floor, and perhaps settle her gaze for a moment on the face of +the lady who was waiting before the cashier's window. This store +boasted of the excellent character of its employees. They were of a +neater, more intelligent, more American class than those employed in +other large retail stores. Even here, however, they had the +characteristic marks of dull, wholesale labor. + +Helen was hypnotized by the constant punch, click, and clatter of the +computation machines, the repeated movements of the girls' arms as they +stretched out for fresh slips, inserted them in the machines, laid them +aside. This was the labor of the great industrial world,--constant, +rhythmic as a machine is rhythmic, deadening to soul and body. +Standing there beside the railing, she could hear the vast clatter of +our complex life, which is carried on by just such automata as these +girls. What was the best education to offer them, and their brothers +and fathers and lovers? What would give their lives a little more +sanity, more joy and human interest?--that was the one great question +of education. Not what would make them and their fellows into +department managers or proprietors. + +The receipted bill came presently, with a polite bow. She stuffed the +change into her purse and hurried away, conscious that the girl nearest +the railing was looking languidly at the back of her gown. + +On her way to the Auditorium to meet some women who were to lunch with +her there, and afterward go to the afternoon concert, she stopped at +her husband's office. The architect had moved lately to the top story +of a large new building on Michigan Avenue, where his office had +expanded. He had taken a partner, a pleasant, smooth-faced young man, +Fred Stewart, who had excellent connections in the city, which were +expected to bring business to the firm. Cook was still the head +draughtsman, but there were three men and a stenographer under him now. +His faith in Hart had been justified, and yet at times he shook his +head doubtfully over some of the work which passed through the office. + +Cook recognized Helen when she entered the outer office, and opened the +little wicket gate for her to step inside. + +"Your husband's busy just now, been shut up with a contractor most all +the morning. Something big is on probably. Shall I call him?" + +"No," she answered. "I'll wait awhile. Is this the new work?" She +pointed in surprise to the water-color sketches and photographs on the +walls. "It's so long since I have been in the office. I had no idea +you had done so much." + +"More'n that, too. There's some we don't hang out here," the +draughtsman answered with suppressed sarcasm. "We've kept pretty busy." + +He liked his boss's wife. She had a perfectly simple, kindly manner +with all the world, and a face that men love. The year before she had +had Cook and his younger brother in the country over Sunday, and +treated them "like distinguished strangers," as Cook expressed it. + +"That's the Bushfields' house--you know it, perhaps? This is Arnold +Starr's residence at Marathon Point--colonial style. That's an Odd +Fellows hall in Peoria. I did that myself." + +Helen said something pleasant about the blunt elevation of the Odd +Fellows hall. + +"That's the Graveland," he continued, pointing to a dingy photograph +that Helen recognized. "It was called after the contractor's name. We +did that the first year." + +"Yes, I think I remember it," she murmured, passing on quickly. That +was the building her husband had done for the disreputable contractor, +who had made it a mere lath-and-plaster shell. + +She kept on around the room, glancing at the photographs and sketches. +Among the newer ones there were several rows of semi-detached houses +that, in spite of the architect's efforts, looked very much as if they +had been carved out of the same piece of cake. Some of these were so +brazen in their commonplaceness that she thought they must be the work +of the Cooks. Probably Jackson had reached that point of professional +success where he merely "criticised" a good many of the less important +sketches, leaving the men in the office to work them out. + +She sat down to wait, her interest in the office sketches easily +dulled. They were much like the products of the great emporium that +she had just left,--of all marketable kinds to suit all demands. The +architect worked in all the "styles,"--Gothic, early English, French +château, etc. There was little that was sincere, honest, done because +the man could do it that way and no other. It was all clever +contrivance. + +Men came and went in the offices, the little doors fanning back and +forth in an excitement of their own. The place hummed with business; +messengers and clerks came in from the elevators; contractors exchanged +words with the busy Cook; and through all sounded the incessant call of +the telephone, the bang of the typewriter. A hive of industry! It +would have pleased the energetic soul of the manager of Steele's +emporium. + +Meantime the wife was thinking, "What does it mean to _him_?" When +they began their married life in a flat on the North Side, Jackson had +brought his sketches home; and she had kept for his use a little +closet-like room off the hall where he worked evenings. But from the +time they had moved into the Loring house he had rarely brought home +his work; he was too tired at night and felt the need for distraction +when he left the office. Had he lost his interest in the art side of +his profession? Was he turning it into a money-making business, like +Steele's? She reproached herself as the mere spender and enjoyer, with +the children, of the money, which came out of these ephemeral and +careless buildings, whose pictures dotted the walls. + +She was roused by the sound of her husband's voice. He was coming +through the inner door, and he spoke loudly, cheerily, to his companion. + +"Well, then, it's settled. Shall I have Nelson draw the papers?" A +thick, cautious voice replied in words that were unintelligible, which +caused the architect to laugh. Then they emerged into the outer +office. The stranger's square, heavy face, his grizzled beard, and +thick eyebrows were not unknown to Helen. + +"So long, Hart," the contractor murmured, as he disappeared into the +hall. + +"Why, Helen! You here!" the architect exclaimed when he caught sight +of his wife. "Why didn't you let me know? Always tell Miss Fair to +call me." + +He took her hand, and putting his other hand under her chin he gave her +a little caress, like a busy, indulgent husband. + +"Who was that man, Francis?" she asked. + +"The one who came out with me? That was a contractor, a fellow named +Graves." + +She had it on her lips to say, "And you promised me once that you would +never have any more business with him." But she was wise, and said +simply, "I came away this morning without enough money, and I have +those women at luncheon, you know." + +"Of course. Here! I'll get it for you in a minute." He rang a bell, +and pulling out a little check-book from a mass of papers, letters, +memoranda, that he carried in his pocket, wrote a check quickly with a +fountain pen as he stood. + +"There, Miss Fair!" He handed the check to the waiting stenographer. +"Get that cashed at the bank downstairs and give the money to Mrs. +Hart." + +When the young woman, with an impersonal glance at the husband and +wife, had disappeared, the architect turned to Helen and pulled out his +watch. + +"I may have to go to St. Louis to-night. If you don't see me on the +five two, you'll know I have gone. I'll be back to-morrow night, +anyway. That's when we dine with the Crawfords, isn't it?" + +His mind gave her only a superficial attention, and yet he seemed happy +in spite of the pressure of his affairs. The intoxication of mere +activity, the excitement of "doing," so potent in our country, had got +its grip on him. In his brown eyes there burned a fire of restless +thoughts, schemes, combinations, which he was testing in his brain all +his waking moments. Yet he chatted courteously while they waited for +the stenographer to return. + +"By the way," he remarked, "I telephoned Everett this morning, and he +says there's nothing in that story about their giving the university +the money. He says Hollister knows uncle wouldn't have wanted it, and +Hollister is dead set against it." + +"Judge Phillips and Mr. Pemberton were on the train with me this +morning, and they talked about it. They don't seem altogether clear +what the trustees will do with the money. I hope they won't do that. +It would be too bad." + +"I should say so," Jackson assented warmly. + +He accompanied his wife downstairs and bought her some violets from the +florist in the vestibule. They parted at the street corner, for he was +already late in meeting an appointment. She watched him until he was +swallowed up by the swift-flowing stream on the walk, her heart a +little sad. He was admirable toward her in every way. And yet--and +yet--she hated the bustle of the city that had caught up her husband +and set him turning in its titanic, heartless embrace. There rose +before her the memory of those precious days on the sea when they had +begun to love, and in some inexplicable manner it seemed to her that +after these years of closest intimacy they were essentially farther +apart than then. + +Being a sensible woman, however, she dismissed her transient +disagreement with life and presented to her guests a smiling, cordial +face. + + +Mrs. Horace Bushfield was already waiting for her in the foyer of the +hotel, where a number of suburban luncheon parties were assembling. +Presently the others came: Mrs. Rainbow, who was still toiling to +better heights of social prestige and regarded her acceptance of this +invitation as a concession to the fine arts; Mrs. Ollie Buchanan, a +young married woman, who was already a power on the St. Isidore +hospital board; the younger Mrs. Crawford and a guest of hers from out +of town; and Mrs. Freddie Stewart, the wife of Jackson's partner,--six +in all. They were soon seated about a table, eating their oysters and +spying over the large dining-room for familiar faces. + +"There's Betty Stuart over there," Mrs. Rainbow remarked, proud of the +ease with which she handled the nickname. "My, how ill she looks! You +know she had typhoid pneumonia in New York. She looks as if she were +going to walk into her grave." + +"Perhaps it wasn't just typhoid," Mrs. Bushfield added; "they tell +strange stories. Her husband didn't go on once while she was ill." + +"Couldn't get away, poor man!" + +The two laughed, while Mrs. Buchanan looked at them coldly. + +"Yes, this is the best restaurant we have," Mrs. Bushfield explained +apologetically to the guest from out of town. "Chicago has miserable +hotels. Wretched food, too. You can't help it, my dear,"--she turned +good-humoredly to Helen, and then concluded with the comfortable +superiority of abuse,--"but Chicago is still a village." + +Men and women were moving noiselessly to and fro over the thickly +carpeted floor that seemed to give off an odor of stale food. The dull +red walls were already streaked here and there by soot, and the coarse +lace curtains at the windows had been washed to a dirty gray in +fruitless effort to make them clean. Behind their folds on the +window-ledges there had gathered a thick sediment of ashes and coal +dust, and beneath this the white paint was smutched with soot. +Nevertheless, the ladies accustomed to the unconquerable dirt of the +city ate their luncheon undisturbed. + +With the coming of the sweetbreads Mrs. Buchanan was saying +confidentially to Mrs. Rainbow:-- + +"She's quite done for herself, you know. Mrs. Antony Crawford says +that she will not have her again at her house. I should think that her +mother would take her away. They say that Stanwood Phillips, too, has +disgraced himself at Yale--awfully fast. But Venetia must be a perfect +little fool. She might have had Stephen Lane." + +"So might any girl who had money these ten years," Mrs. Freddie Stewart +remarked positively. + +"Beast of a temper, that man. I pity the girl he gets." ... + +"I must tell you,--they were at the Ritz last summer when we were, and +positively they didn't know enough French to order their food. Their +chauffeur used to take them about, and he would go anywhere he had a +mind to, you know. Positively helpless. So we took pity on them, you +know, and showed them things for a time." + +On the other side of the table Mrs. Crawford's voice was raised in +protest to Helen. + +"You can't shop in this place. Steele's has got as bad as the rest. I +go to New York for everything." ... + +"Isn't Sembrich getting too fat to sing?" ... + +"Who is that new tenor? I heard him in London last spring. He was +fine." ... + +At last Helen ventured to say, "We should be starting, if we are to +hear the Leonore overture." + +"Oh! bother the overture. Let's stay here and talk until it's time for +Sembrich. The rest of it is such a bore," Mrs. Rainbow protested, +nursing covetously her ice. + +Finally the company got under way and proceeded to the concert hall, +much to Helen's relief. She had no complaint to make of her guests, +who had been got together for Mrs. Stewart's pleasure. They were quite +as intelligent women as she was, and all of them more important than +she in the sphere where they lived. They were good wives, and two of +them good mothers. Their talk, however, had seemed to her intolerably +petty and egotistical, reflecting a barren life of suburban gossip and +city sprees. Their husbands, working furiously here in the resounding +city, maintained them in luxury for their relaxation and amusement, and +provided they kept on the broad avenues of married life cared little +how they spent their days. In Steele's great store, and in a thousand +other stores and factories of the vast city, girls and women were +mechanically pounding their machines hour after hour. The fine flower +of all their dead labor in life was the luxury of these women, who ate +and dressed, loved, married, and had children in idleness and ease.... + +The waiter came with the bill,--eighteen dollars and thirty cents, and +two dollars to the waiter who stood eying the tray. Helen had been +rather ashamed, too, of the simplicity of the food. She had not +offered them wine, which she knew Mrs. Crawford was used to having at +luncheon. Jackson would have laughed at her economy or been irritated +by it. They often entertained friends in this same restaurant after +the theatre, and she had seen the waiter carry off two twenty-dollar +bills and return with very little change. It seemed to her plain +nature simply wicked to pay so much money--the blood of human +beings--merely to eat. They paid, she knew, for the tarnished +ceilings, the heavy carpets, the service--all the infinite tawdry luxe +of modern life. + +"And why not?" Jackson demanded impatiently when she protested. "Don't +I make it? If I want to spend it on champagne and crab-meat, why +shouldn't I? I hustle hard enough to get it." + +The argument was positive, but she felt that it was imperfect. Yet all +their friends lived as they did, or even better: the bill for pleasure +with them all was a large one.... + +By the time they had reached Mrs. Phillips's box, which they were to +occupy, the concert was well advanced. The massive chords of the +Tschaikowscy's symphony broke through the low chatter of the boxes. + +"One of those bangy Russian things," Mrs. Rainbow whispered ruefully, +as she tugged at her wrap in fat helplessness. + +Helen helped her to disengage her lace and then arranged the chairs for +her guests. While the women opened their opera-glasses and took a +preliminary survey of the hall, she sank into the rear seat, pulled the +chenille portière half over her face, and closed her eyes. + +That "bangy Russian thing" whipped her blood and sent strange pictures +flying through her head. For the moment it loosed the cords that +seemed to bind her to a stake. The heat and smell and twaddling voices +of the hotel dining-room faded away. And in its place the divine music +filled her soul, transforming her from a weak and doubting woman, who +floated helplessly in her petty world of comforts, into some more +active, striving creature,--a maker and moulder of life! + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +Jackson had lately bought a couple of hunters, and Sundays, when it was +good weather, Helen and he often went over to the club stables to see +the horses and the hounds. It was a pleasant spot of a fine summer +morning. The close-cropped turf rolled gently westward from the brow +of the hill on which the club-house stood to a large horizon of fields, +where a few isolated trees, branching loftily, rose against a clear +sky. The stables were hidden in a little hollow some distance from the +house, and beyond them was a paddock where a yelping pack of hounds was +kennelled. Close at hand some captive foxes crouched in their pen, +listening sharp-eyed and fearful to the noisy chorus of their enemies. + +No sports of any kind were allowed on Sundays, for the community was +severely orthodox in regard to the observance of Sunday, as in other +merely moral matters. But when the weather was good there were usually +to be found about the stables a number of young men and women, +preparing for tête-à-tête rides over the country roads or practising +jumps at the stone wall beside the paddock. Later in the morning they +would stroll back to the club veranda for a cool drink, and gossip +until the church-going members returned from service, and it was time +to dress for luncheon. + +Of the younger set Venetia Phillips was most often to be found down by +the stone wall on a Sunday morning. She had come home from Europe this +last time handsome, tall, and fearless, thirsty for excitement of all +sorts, and had made much talk in the soberer circles of suburban +society. She was a great lover of dogs and horses, and went about +followed by a troop of lolloping dogs--an immense bull presented by an +English admirer, and a wolf hound specially imported, being the leaders +of the pack. She was one of the young women who still played golf now +that it was no longer fashionable, and on hot days she might be seen on +the links, her brown arms bare to the shoulders, and her blue black +hair hanging down her back in a flood. She rode to all the hunts, not +excepting the early morning meets late in the season. It was said, +also, that she drank too much champagne at the hunt dinners, and +occasionally allowed a degree of familiarity to her admirers that +shocked public opinion in a respectable and censorious society which +had found it hard to tolerate the mother. + +Indeed, Mrs. Phillips could do nothing with her; she even confided her +troubles to Helen. "My dear, the girl has had every chance over there +abroad;--we had the very best introductions. She spoiled it all by her +idiocy. Stanwood is making a fool of himself with a woman, too. Enjoy +your children now, while you can spank them when they are naughty." + +And Helen, although she had scant sympathy with the domestic +tribulations of the rich, was puzzled by the girl. The friendship +between them, which had begun so prosperously over Pete's sick-bed, had +largely faded away. The winter after their visits to Dr. Coburn's +laboratory Venetia had spent in a famous Eastern school, where Western +girls of her class were sent to acquire that finish of manner which is +still supposed to be the peculiar property of the older communities. +On her return she was no longer the impulsive girl that stared +wide-eyed at the eccentric doctor's opinions; there were reticencies in +her which the married woman could not overcome. Since then their paths +had crossed more rarely, and when they met there was a certain teasing +bravado in Venetia's attitude which prevented intimacy. + +Mrs. Buchanan's pungent gossip about the girl, and the widow's bitter +complaint of her daughter, rose to Helen's mind one Sunday as they +stood together at the stone wall by the club stables, watching Lane, +who was trying a new hunter. Lane's temper was notoriously bad; the +Kentucky horse was raw and nervous; he refused the jump, almost +throwing his rider. Lane, too conscious of the spectators, his vanity +touched, beat the horse savagely on the head. + +"Low!" Venetia grumbled audibly, turning her back on the scene. +"Come!" she said to Helen, seizing her arm. "Haven't you had enough of +brutes for one morning? Come up to the club and have a talk. That's +the man madam my mother would like to have me marry! Do you suppose +he'd use the whip on his wife?" + +"He has his good side, even if his temper is short," Helen objected, as +they strolled across the links toward the club-house. "You might do +worse, Venetia." + +"Quite the picture of a young girl's fancy! Forty-eight, and he's +asked every eligible girl in the city to marry him, and they have all +shied. So do I, though I wasn't in the running over there in +London--in spite of all the fuss the Chicago papers made about me, I +wasn't--you know Mrs. Phillips runs a regular press bureau! But I am +not quite down to him yet." + +They had the club veranda to themselves at that mid-morning hour. +Venetia flung herself into a chair and flicked the tips of her boots +with her whip. The small Francis, who had followed his mother, tumbled +on the grass with the terrier Pete. Now and then Pete, who was +privileged on Sundays, would hobble to the veranda and look at his +mistress. + +"You wouldn't marry a man like that, now would you? Well? You want to +say something disagreeable, don't you! You have had it on your +conscience for weeks. I could see it in your eye the other afternoon +when you were with Mrs. Freddie Stewart--that nice little cat. Come, +spit it out, as the boys say." + +"Yes, I have had something on my mind." + +"You don't like me now that I have grown up?" + +"I thought we should be so much better friends," Helen admitted frankly. + +"I am not the nice little girl you used to know when the doctor +entertained us and Pete with scientific conversation mixed with social +philosophy--that's what troubles you?" + +"Why--why are you so different?" + +"You mean, why do I smoke? drink champagne? and let men kiss me?" + +She laughed at the look of consternation on Helen's face. + +"That's what you mean, isn't it? My sporting around generally, and +drinking too much wine at that dinner last fall, and supplying these +veranda tabbies with so much food for thought? Why can't I be the +nice, sweet young woman you were before you were married? A comfort to +Mrs. Phillips and an ornament to Forest Manor!" + +"You needn't be all that, and yet strike a pleasanter note," the older +woman laughed back. + +"My dear gray mouse, I'm lots worse than that. Do you know where I was +the other night when mamma was in such a temper because I hadn't come +home, and telephoned all around to the neighbors?" + +"At the Bascoms'?" + +"Of course, all sweetly tucked up in bed. Not a bit of it! A lot of +us had dinner and went to see a show--that was all on the square. But +afterward Teddy Stearns and I did the Clark Street levee, at one in the +morning, and quite by ourselves. We saw heaps and heaps--it was very +informing--I could tell you such stories! And it went all right until +Teddy, like a little fool, got into trouble at one of the places. Some +one said something to me not quite refined, and Ted was just enough +elated to be on his dignity. If we hadn't had an awful piece of luck, +there would have been a little paragraph in the papers the next +morning. Wouldn't that have made a noise?" + +"You little fool!" groaned Helen. + +"Oh! I don't know," Venetia continued imperturbably. "Let me tell you +about it. Just as I had hold of Ted and was trying to calm him down, +somebody hit him, and there was a general scrap. Ted isn't so much of +a fool when he is all sober. Just then a man grabbed me, and I found +myself on the street. It was-- Well, no matter just now who it was. +Then the man went back for Ted, and after a time he got him, rather the +worse for his experience. We had to send him to a hotel, and then my +rescuer saw me home to the Bascoms'. My, what a talking he put up to +me on the way to the North Side!" + +She waited to see what effect she had produced, but as Helen said +nothing she continued with a laugh:-- + +"I suppose you are thinking I am a regular little red devil. But you +don't know what girls do. I've seen a lot of girls all over. And most +of 'em, if they travel in a certain class, do just as fool things as +that. On the quiet, you understand, and most of them don't get into +trouble, either. They marry all right in the end, and become quiet +little mammas like you, dear. Sometimes, when they are silly, or weak, +or have bad luck, there's trouble. Now, I am not talking loose, as Ted +would say. I've known Baltimore girls, and New York girls, and +Philadelphia girls, and Boston girls,--and the Boston ones are the +worst ever! + +"Why should the women be so different from the men, anyway? They are +the same flesh and blood as their fathers and brothers, and other +girls' fathers and brothers, too.... Don't make that face at me! I'm +nice enough, too, at least a little nice. Didn't you ever sit here +evenings, or over at the Eversley Club, and watch the nice little +girls? But perhaps you couldn't tell what it means when they do things +and say things. You ought to get a few points from me or some other +girl who is next them. We could tell you what they've been up to ever +since they left school, day by day." + +The small Francis was rolling over and over on the green turf, +rejoicing in the freedom of soiling his white suit. Beyond the polo +field a couple on horseback were passing slowly along the curving road +into the woods. The cicadas sang their piercing August song among the +shrubs. It was a drowsy, decorous scene. + +"It isn't all like that," the older woman protested, looking out on the +pleasant landscape. "You can choose what you will have." + +"Do you think I should do any better if I chose your kind, my dear?" +Venetia asked quietly. "Or my mother's? Is Maida Rainbow's +conversation an improvement on Ted's? It isn't any more grammatical. +And Mrs. Ollie Buchanan's talk is worse than mine. Come now, dear +lady, tell me the truth! After several winters by the suburban +fireside do you still find your heart beating warmly when hubbie plods +up the street at eve in his new auto? Do you advise me to marry Mr. +Stephen Lane and transfer my activities to Breathett Lodge,--join the +tabby chorus, just to keep the tabbies quiet? Is the married state of +all these people you and I know out here to be so much desired?" + +"Most of the men and women you know here in Chicago are not bad." + +"Oh, no! They're good out here, most of 'em, and dull, damn dull. +They're afraid to take off their gloves for fear it isn't the correct +thing. A lot of 'em aren't used to good clothes, like that Mrs. +Rainbow. As uncle says, 'Our best people are religious and moral.' +But there's more going on than you dream of, gray mouse." + +"You are too wise, Venetia." + +"I'll tell you the reason why we sport. We're dull, and we are looking +for some fun. The men get all the excitement they need scrambling for +money. Girls want to be sports, too, and they can't do the money act. +So they sport--otherwise. That's the why." + +She rapped the floor with her whip, and laughed at Helen's perplexity. + +"I want to be a real sport, and know what men are like, really, when +they are off parade, as you nice women don't know 'em." + +"Well, what are they like?" + +"Some beasts, some cads, some good fellows," Venetia pronounced +definitively. "Do you know why I let men kiss me sometimes? To see if +they will, if that sort of thing is all they want of me. And most of +'em do want just that, married or single. When a man has the chance, +why, he goes back to the ape mighty quick." + +She nodded sagely when Helen laughed at her air of wisdom, and she +continued undisturbed:-- + +"There are some of them now, coming up from the paddock. They have had +their little Sunday stroll, and now they want a drink to make them feel +cool and comfy, and some conversation with the ladies. We must trot +out our prettiest smiles and smoothest talk while they sit tight and +are amused." + +"And so you think this is all, just these women and men you see here +and in other places like this? And the millions and millions of others +who are trying to live decent lives, who work and struggle?" + +"I talk of those I know, dearie. What are the rest to me? Just dull, +ordinary people you never meet except on the street or in the train. +We are the top of it all.... I don't care for books and all that sort +of thing, or for slumming and playing with the poor. If you knew them, +too, I guess you'd find much the same little game going on down there." + +"What a horrid world!" + +"It is a bit empty," the girl yawned. "I suppose the only thing, after +you have had your run, is to marry the decentest man you can find, who +won't get drunk, or spend your money, or beat you, and have a lot of +children. Yours are awfully nice! I'd like to have the kids without +the husband--only that would make such a row!" + +"That would please your mother, to have you married." + +"Oh, mother! I suppose it would please her to have me marry Mr. +Stephen Lane," Venetia answered coldly. "One doesn't talk about one's +mother, or I'd like to tell you a thing or two on that head. She +needn't worry over me. She's had her fun, and is taking what she can +get now." + +The group of men and women drew near the club-house. Jackson stopped +to speak to a man who had just driven up. Venetia pointed to him +derisively. + +"There! See Jackie, your good man? He's buzzing old Pemberton, that +crusty pillar of society, because he's got a little game to play with +him. He's after old Pemby's vote for that school house. You mustn't +look so haughty, dear wife. It's your business, too, to be nice to +dear Mr. Pemberton. I shall leave you when he comes up, so that you +can beguile him with your sweet ways. It's money in thy husband's +purse, mouse, and hence in thy children's mouths. Now if we women +could scramble for the dollars,--why, we shouldn't want other kinds of +mischief. I'd like to be a big broker, like Rainbow, and handle deals, +and make the other fellows pay, pay, pay!" + +She swung the small Francis over her head and tumbled him in the grass, +to the delight of Pete, who hobbled about his mistress, yelping with +joy. + +There was something hard and final in the girl's summary of her +experience. And yet in spite of the obvious injustice of her +accusations, Helen felt startled and ashamed before her railing. After +all, was there such an infinite distance between the decent lives of +herself, her husband, and their friends and the heedless career of this +undisciplined girl? Were they governed by finer ends than hers? +Vigorous, hot-blooded, and daring, Venetia would have battled among men +as an equal, and got from the fight for existence health, and sanity, +and joy. As it was, she was rich enough to be protected in the +struggle for existence, and was tied down by the prejudices of her +class. She was bottled passion! + + +The architect still held Pemberton in conversation on the drive, and +Venetia presently returned to Helen, smiling slyly into her face. + +"That doctor man was an amusing chap, wasn't he? I mean Dr. Coburn, +the one who mended up Pete when I was a young miss, and outraged mamma +by sending her a receipted bill for two hundred and fifty dollars. He +asks about you still. Why did you drop him? I always thought that was +a bit queer in you, you know. You liked him, but he wasn't your kind, +and you dropped him." + +"Where have you seen him?" Helen asked evasively. + +"Oh, here and there. He writes me pretty often, too. Why not? He was +the man who helped me out of that scrape with Teddy. Wouldn't Jackie +let you have anything to do with him? Jack is an awful snob, you know." + +"Francis didn't like him," Helen admitted a little sadly. "I am afraid +I didn't make much of an effort either with him or with that poor Mr. +Hussey. It's so hard to do some things, to know people you like when +they're out of your path." + +Venetia scrutinized the older woman's face and laughed. + +"Just so! What did I tell you?" + +"How is he?" + +"Just as always,--poor, down at the heel and all over, an out-and-out +crank." + +"How do you meet him?" Helen asked pointedly. + +"Sometimes at his hang-out, as he calls it. I've had supper there once +or twice with Molly Bascom. You needn't be alarmed. We talk science, +and he abuses doctors. He trundled off to Paris or Vienna with that +queer machine of his, and got some encouragement over there. You +should hear him talk about Europe! Now he's crazy over some new bugs +he's found. He may not make good from Jack's point of view. But you +see that doesn't prevent me from liking him. He has a great time +thinking all by himself. He'd starve himself to death if he had to, to +do what he's after. That's the real thing. I offered him money once +to help him out." + +"Venetia, not that!" + +"Yes. I said, 'See here, my friend, I've more of this than I want,' +which was a lie. But I was willing to sell a horse or two. 'Help +yourself,' I said, 'and when I want it I'll ask you.' I put a cardcase +I had with me on the table, stuffed of course. He took it up, took out +what was in it, handed the money back, and dropped the case in a +drawer. 'None of that,' he said. 'I don't take money from a woman.' +I was glad afterward that he didn't take it, though I don't know +why--he looked specially hard up. I suppose I might have done it a +nicer way, but I thought he would understand and treat me like a little +girl, as he always has.... Well, here comes Jack at last." + +She gave the architect a hand, which he shook with mock impressiveness. + +"How do, Jackie! I've been teaching your domestic angel a thing or +two." + +"I guess you can't corrupt her." + +It was evident that she and Jackson understood each other very well. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +Season shifted into season, and meanwhile an impalpable veil of +difference was falling between the architect and his wife. The +peaceful days of winter, early spring, and late autumn were precious to +the woman--days when the silent processes of nature touched her senses +softly, and she could live undisturbed by calls and dinners with their +array of familiar faces. Then she heard the birds in the trees behind +the house, and listened to the rustling of the tall poplars beneath her +windows, and watched the vivid colors of the lake. This harmony of +nature, this great enveloping organism of peace, she was beginning to +feel, was all that life held for her,--nature and her children, whose +wants she fulfilled. Yet ever in the background, not far away, there +hung in the horizon that black cloud above the city, which could not +wholly be shut out in any revery of country peace. For with it she and +her children were linked by all the cords of modern life. + +She had felt the sly reproach in Venetia's references to Dr. Coburn. +The seedy doctor had drawn her strongly, and yet in the face of her +husband's contemptuous indifference to him she had made but one or two +feeble attempts to reach him. A few times, also, she had visited the +bookbinder's sickly wife, and after the birth of little Francis had +revived the class in bookbinding. Jackson had fitted up a studio for +the class out of an old teahouse on the bluff, where during mild +weather they received their friends in æsthetic informality. But the +class had soon dwindled, the young married women of whom it was +composed flitting to other pursuits, and the taciturn bookbinder taking +offence at a fancied slight suddenly ceased his visits. Some weeks +later when Helen called at the Husseys' rooms to see the wife, she +found that they had moved away, and having written Dr. Coburn for their +address without success, she had made no further attempt to find them. + +Thus ended her efforts to reach that world which lay outside her own +circle. More and more, as her married life went on, she had succumbed +to the _milieu_ that her husband had chosen. As his struggle for +success grew hotter, she, too, in her way, had been absorbed into it, +and had become the domestic and social satellite which he needed in his +relations with rich clients. And so Venetia's careless defence of +herself pricked her. Was there, after all, anything more admirable in +the decent life that she and her husband led with its little circle of +selfish activities than in the crude outbreaks of Venetia Phillips +which had caused so much perturbation in Forest Park? They were not +vicious to be sure,--the people she lived with; they were merely dull +and negative. + + +One of these brooding days shortly after the talk on the club veranda, +Helen set forth to a neighbor's with a bundle of books and some flowers +for Mrs. Buchanan, who was giving a dinner that evening. She had +reached the point in the winding road where a long bridge crossed a +deep ravine on the level with the topmost branches of lofty trees. At +the other end of the bridge a man was standing looking down into the +green depths below. He was so much absorbed in the ravine that he did +not hear the woman's steps as she drew near. When she passed behind +him, he glanced up with a startled look in his black eyes, and grasping +the bicycle by his side was moving off. + +"Don't you remember me, Mr. Hussey?" Helen asked, holding out her hand. +"How are you? I am so glad to see you again. Did you ride out all the +way from the city? We don't see many bicycles these days." + +She poured forth her little flood of amiable sentences, while the +bookbinder stood quietly holding his wheel. + +"Yes," he answered slowly, when she paused. "I rode out on my wheel. +I wanted to see how the country looked." + +He paused and then continued: "Yes, I've been out of the city +considerable after my wife died. I went West, to Kansas City. But I +came back. I'm used to this place. My woman died here, and the child, +too." + +"I tried to find you after the class broke up," Helen explained. "I +wanted to get your wife to come out here and visit me." + +"That was nice and kind of you," he answered dryly. + +"I have an errand a little way from here. Won't you go with me and +then come back to the house?" she persisted, piqued by his tone. + +"Thank you, I don't believe I will. It's time I was starting back to +the city." + +"You had better rest awhile first." + +"I ain't particularly tired. You are very good. What do you want me +to come for?" he asked abruptly, and then continued to speak as if he +were talking to himself: "You and I ain't the same kind of folks. We +are placed different on this earth, and there's no getting away from +the fact. It's best for us both to keep where we belong." + +"Nonsense!" she retorted. + +"As I have looked about among folks," he went on calmly, "I've seen +that's the best way, in the long run--for the rich and the poor to keep +to themselves. That's why you didn't see nothing of me after the +ladies got tired of binding books. Not that I've got anything against +those better fortuned than me. It's just the way things are made to +run. So long as the present order lasts, man is divided from man--and +that's all there is to it. The only use the poor man has for the rich +man is to get work from him and some pay for it. The only use the rich +man has for the poor man is to get his work done. And they'd better do +their business apart, as far apart as they can." + +"My husband isn't rich. We have to struggle, too." + +Hussey smiled sceptically. + +"I had all I could do when the woman was living to keep a decent room +or two, and find enough to eat. There's some difference between us, +ain't there? And I don't speak like you, and maybe I eat different at +the table." + +"That's all very important," Helen laughed. + +"It's the little things that separate, not the big ones. You look +around your own kind of folks and see if that's not so. It's just the +silly scraps of ways that keep man from man." + +"Well, it's too good a day to quarrel about that. At least, you and I +can both enjoy those trees down there." + +A victoria came toward them at a lively trot, making the wooden +planking resound. The lady in the carriage leaned forward and bowed to +Helen, and then cast a second, longer glance at her companion. + +"She's wanting to know who that man is you're talking to," Hussey +remarked ironically. "No, them trees and the country in general ain't +the same to me and you. You folks squat right out here and buy up all +the land you can lay your hands on, at least all that can be got at +easily from the city. Perhaps, though, some day it will be different, +and the beautiful parts of the country will be kept for all to have." + +They began to cross the bridge, and Helen holding the man in talk wiled +him as far as her own gate, with an unreasoning determination to make +him come into her house. + +"I suppose I ought to take that bundle there," Hussey observed as they +walked, pointing to the parcel that Helen held in her hand. + +"It's nothing." + +"I notice that don't make any difference among your kind. Your men +folks may let their women suffer in other ways, but they fetch and +carry for you in public." + +"Yes--that's so," Helen laughed. + +"That bundle ain't nothing for you to carry. You wouldn't have started +out with it if it had been. It's the same way about giving a woman a +seat in a car. If she looks as if she needed it, why a humane man +would give her his seat the same as he would to a tired man. But most +times the man needs it more." + +"You wouldn't have wanted your wife to stand?" + +"Well, she weren't never real well, not after the child came." + +He spoke more gently, and added without any polite delicacy, "There +must have been something wrong happened then, for she got up weak, and +couldn't bear children no more." + +"You miss her!" + +"Yes, sometimes, when work's plenty, and I feel strong, and there's +something for her to live for. Most times I think it's just as well +she's gone. And the child, too," he added softly. "You see it ain't +as it is with you, with a working-man and his wife. They don't have so +much love and notions, maybe. That don't stand long after the first +weeks. The man's got to work and the woman, too. If she's a +pretty-looking girl when he marries her, sweet and fresh, them looks +don't last long. It's like anything you use all the time. There's no +chance to lay it by and let it freshen up. Now you and my wife were +about of an age, I judge. But she looked to be the mother of you, +before she died. You are as pretty as you ever was or more so, and men +would court you to-day if you were single. It wasn't so with my woman, +and I did the best I could for her, too. Don't you suppose a +working-man hates to see his wife grow old, through hard work and no +chance to freshen up? He mayn't be as nice in his tastes as your sort, +but he don't like to see his wife wear out." + +Romantic love, so he seemed to hold, was one of the luxuries of the +expensive classes. While he was talking they passed into the driveway +and came to the house. Hussey finally got to the veranda, where he sat +stiffly on the edge of a large steamer chair, holding his derby hat in +his two hands. After a time he deposited the hat on the floor and +gradually slipped into the comfortable depths of the chair and talked +on more freely. + +There was nothing new or wise in the bookbinder's talk. Yet certain +things that he said, furtive, flame-like words of revolt which +contained half truths, sank into Helen's receptive mind: "Man pays +pretty high for his civilization, as he calls it, and what does he get +for it? The police station and the fire department." "The Bible says +that man must be born again. Yes--that's so! With a new kind of belly +that knows when it's had enough." "The labor question always comes +down to cutting the pie: because a man with one kind of a brain can +think faster than his neighbor, ought he to get a bigger slice? Does +he need it to make him think?" + +There was a vein of character in the man himself, a passionate faith in +a vision of society other than that which holds to-day. His talk was +not vindictive, or greedy, or envious, but he assumed calmly that the +present state of society was wasteful and unjust, and that already, +here and there, men and women were beginning to wake from the +individualistic nightmare and were ready to try an altogether new +manner of living together. + +"I get tired," he said in answer to a platitude that Helen made, +"hearing what some folks are kind enough to do for society--how +necessary they are to make it run. Don't you believe it, not for one +second! If we could take account of stock in some way, and find out +just what mere brains are good for and how much they do in gettin' food +and clothes and shelter, I guess we'd put brains lower down. And +what's more, if the only way you can get the best work out of smart men +is to let them hog it, then human nature must be a pretty poor sort of +outfit, and we'd better all starve. But the best workmen I've known +didn't work because they had to: it was in 'em from the beginning of +time to work better than the others." + +The boys came home presently from a children's party at a neighbor's. +They were dressed very prettily in white, with large collars of absurd +shape and size. They wore neat little leather yachting caps with the +names of men-of-war gaudily embossed in gold cord about the rims. + +"They're healthy-looking chaps," Hussey observed as each one politely +gave him a hand. "That's what rich folks can do for their children, if +they've got good blood in 'em to start with. You can buy them the +proper food and put them in cool, big rooms, and plant 'em out here in +the country." + +"Yes, I am on a committee of women that has charge of a country home," +Helen answered idly. + +"Charity?" He pronounced the word ironically. "Well, I must be +starting. It will be dark before I get halfway to the city." + +He rose and took a long look at the blue lake. + +"This'll have to last me some time. It's been mighty pleasant sitting +here on your piazza and jawing away about these big things, Mrs. Hart." + +"You'd better come again, then." + +"Well, maybe I'll be riding out this way sometime. But you remember +what I said about mixing! You stick to your side of the fence, and +I'll try to stick to mine." + +"Suppose I'm not altogether content with my side?" + +"I guess you'll have to grin and bear it. I don't reckon to spend much +time pitying you. It looks to me rather pretty on your side." + +As they were shaking hands, the chug of an automobile could be heard in +the roadway. + +"That must be my husband!" Helen exclaimed. "Won't you wait a minute +and see him?" + +The heavy, lumbering machine with its ugly fat wheels rolled up the +driveway, and after a final heave and sigh came to a stand before the +veranda. The driver leaped down and opened the little door in the rear +for his master to descend. The architect was smoking a cigar and +carried in his arms a heavy bag of papers and books. + +"Hello, Nell!" he called cheerily, and then looked inquiringly at the +man beside her. + +"Francis, this is Mr. Hussey. You remember Mr. Hussey who gave us +lessons in bookbinding?" + +"How do you do?" The architect greeted Hussey with a pleasant nod. +"Very glad to see you again." + +He held out his free hand in the simple, cordial fashion that made him +popular in his office and with the foremen on his buildings. He always +made a point of being genial with working people. He got more out of +them that way and often avoided friction. He usually carried about +with him a handful of black and strong cigars, which he dealt out on +the slightest occasion. + +"Sit down again, won't you?" he remarked. "Have a cigar?" + +He pulled out one of the proper variety from his inner pocket. + +"I don't smoke," the bookbinder replied shortly. + +He made no further remark, and the architect, also, found himself at +the end of his cordiality. Helen realized that the two men had nothing +whatsoever to talk about. Jackson could have discussed bindings in a +dilettante fashion, meaning certain rich and costly specimens of the +art that wealthy amateurs bought and locked up in cabinets, but he knew +nothing about the ordinary trade. + +"Mr. Hussey rode out from the city on a bicycle," Helen explained. "I +met him on the bridge and induced him to come up here and rest for a +little while." + +"Yes, it's hot," Jackson answered. "Fearfully hot on the train from +Indianapolis this morning. I haven't been cool all day until Fred let +out the machine coming over from the station." + +Hussey looked at the lumbering automobile sighing to itself below the +veranda, and then at the chauffeur, who was waiting for orders. + +"Good day," he said abruptly. "It's some longer to the city on a wheel +than in one of them affairs." + +Helen walked down the steps with her guest in a vague desire to be +cordial. He mounted his wheel, and bending his little body over the +frame, pedalled swiftly out of the driveway. Helen watched him for a +moment, feeling that he would not call again, as she hoped he might. +He had merely wandered their way this bright summer day like a chance +stranger from some vast outer world,--a world that perpetually teased +her spirit. + +"What is he, Nell? Socialist or anarchist?" Jackson called out +good-humoredly, when his wife returned to the veranda. + +It was one of his jokes that his wife dabbled in socialism. + +"I wish he would have stayed to dinner." + +"But we're going out." + +"Yes, I know. But he wouldn't have stayed anyway." + +Her husband looked at her inquiringly, yet he was not sufficiently +interested in Mr. Hussey to frame a question. He poured himself a +glass of water, drank it, and when he set the glass down, the +bookbinder had been washed into complete oblivion. + +"Come! It must be time to dress," he said briskly. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +The Harts were to dine at the Elisha Stewarts' that evening, and the +architect had considered this engagement of sufficient importance to +bring him back to Chicago all the way from Indianapolis. Elisha +Stewart had made his money many years ago, when he commanded a vessel +on the lakes, by getting control of valuable ore properties. The +Elisha Stewarts had lived in Shoreham for nearly a generation, and were +much considered,--very good people, indeed. Their rambling, +old-fashioned white house, with a square cupola projecting from the +roof, was one of the village landmarks. The place was surrounded by a +grove of firs set out by Elisha himself when he built the house. + +It was a large dinner, and most of the guests, who were of the older +set, were already assembled in the long drawing-room when Helen and +Jackson arrived. The people in the room were all talking very +earnestly about a common topic. + +"It's the Crawfords," Mrs. Stewart murmured asthmatically into Helen's +ear. "You know they find his affairs in such a frightful tangle. They +say there won't be much left." + +"Indeed!" Jackson exclaimed sympathetically. + +"Anthony wasn't all right, not fit for business for more than a year +before he died," Colonel Raymond was saying to the group. "And he +snarled things up pretty well by what I hear." + +"That slide in copper last March must have squeezed him." + +"Squeezed? I should say it did." + +"It wasn't only copper." + +"No, no, it wasn't only copper," assented several men. + +Among the women, the more personal application of the fact was openly +made. + +"Poor old Anthony! It must have troubled him to know there wasn't one +of his family who could look out for himself. Morris was a pleasant +fellow, but after he got out of Harvard he never seemed to do much. It +will come hard on Linda." + +"What has the youngest boy been up to lately?" + +"The same thing, I guess." + +"I heard he'd been doing better since he went on the ranch." + +"He couldn't get into much trouble out there." + +"Isn't there anything left?" + +"Oh, the widow will have a little. But the in-laws will have to hunt +jobs. One is out in California, isn't he?" + +The company did not seem able to get away from the topic. Even after +they went out to dinner, it echoed to and fro around the table. + +"I say it's a shame, a crime!" Mr. Buchanan pronounced with confident +earnestness. "A man with that sort of family has no right to engage in +speculative enterprises without settling a proper sum on his family +first. There's his eldest daughter married to an invalid, his youngest +daughter engaged to be married to a parson, and neither of his sons +showing any business ability." + +"That's a fact, Oliver," Mr. Stewart nodded. "But you know Anthony +always loved deep water." + +"And now it's his family who have got to swim in it." + +"He was a most generous man," Pemberton remarked in a milder tone. "I +hardly know of a man who's done more first and last for this town, and +no one ever had to ask twice for his help in any public enterprise." + +"Seems to have looked after other people's affairs better'n his own. +It's a pity now the boys weren't brought up to business." + +"That isn't the way nowadays. He was always ready for a gamble, and +she didn't want her sons in the business." + +From time to time there were feeble efforts to move the talk out of the +rut in which it had become fixed. But the minds of most of those about +the table were fascinated by the spectacle of ruin so closely presented +to them. The picture of a solid, worldly estate crumbling before their +eyes stirred their deepest emotions. For the moment it crowded out +that other great topic of the new strike in the building trades. Every +one at the table held substantially the same views on both these +matters, but the ruin of the Crawford fortune was more immediately +dramatic than the evils of unionism. + +"When are you fellows going to start that school, Pemberton?" some one +asked at last. + +"Not until these strikes let up, and there's no telling when that will +be. If these labor unions only keep on long enough, they will succeed +in killing every sort of enterprise." + +"Yes, they're ruining business." + +Then Pemberton, who was seated next to Helen, remarked to her:-- + +"You will be glad to know, Mrs. Hart, that the trustees have decided +not to hand the work over to any institution, at least for the present." + +"I am so glad of that," she replied. + +"That's about as far as we have got." + +Sensitively alive to her former blunder in expressing her wish that her +husband might draw the plans for the school, she took this as a hint, +and dropped the subject altogether, although she had a dozen questions +on the tip of her tongue. + +She noticed that Jackson, who was seated between Mrs. Stewart and Mrs. +Phillips, was drinking a good deal of champagne. She thought that he +was finding the dinner as intolerably dull as she found it, for he +rarely drank champagne. When the women gathered in the drawing-room +for coffee, the topic of the Crawfords' disaster had reached the +anecdotal stage. + +"Poor Linda! Do you remember how she hated Chicago? She's been living +at Cannes this season, hasn't she? I suppose she'll come straight home +now. Does she own that place in the Berkshires?" + +"No, everything was in his name." + +"He was one of the kind who would keep everything in his own hands." + +"Even that ranch doesn't belong to Ted, I hear." + +"My, what a tragedy it is!" + +There seemed to be no end to the talk about the lost money. Helen sat +limply in her chair. The leaden dulness of the dinner-talk, the dead +propriety and conventionality of the service, the dishes, the guests, +had never before so whelmed her spirit as they did to-night. These +good people were stung into unusual animation because a man had died +leaving his family not poor, but within sight of poverty. For poverty +is the deadliest spectre to haunt the merchant class at their lying +down and at their uprising. + +When the men came in, murmuring among themselves fragments of the same +topic, Helen felt as though she might shriek out or laugh hysterically, +and as soon as she could she clutched her husband, just as he was +sitting down beside Mrs. Pemberton. + +"Take me away, Francis. It's awful," she whispered. + +"What's the matter?" he asked in quick concern. "Don't you feel well?" + +"Yes, yes, I am all right. No, I am tired. My head aches. Can't we +leave? I shall do something silly--come!" + +As they got into their carriage, he demanded, "What was the matter?" + +"Nothing,--just the awful dulness of it,--such people,--such talk, +talk, talk about poor Mr. Crawford's money!" + +"I thought the crowd was all right," he grumbled. "The best out +here--what was the matter? Your nerves must be wrong." + +"Yes, my nerves are wrong," she assented. + +Then they were silent, and from the heat, fatigue, and champagne he +relapsed into a doze on the way home. But when they reached the house +he woke up briskly enough and began to talk of the dinner again:-- + +"Nell, Mrs. Phillips was speaking to me to-night about Venetia. She's +worried to death over the girl. The men say pretty rough things about +her, you know. Little fool! She'd better marry Lane if he wants her +still, and keep quiet." + +"Like mother, like daughter," Helen replied dryly. "And of the two I +prefer the daughter." + +"What makes you say that? Louise is all right; just likes to have her +hand squeezed now and then." + +"Phew!" Helen exclaimed impatiently. + +There was something so short and hard in his wife's voice that Jackson +looked at her in surprise. They went to their dressing-room; now that +he had got his eyes open once more he made no haste to go to bed. +There was something he wanted to say to his wife which needed delicate +phrasing. He lit a cigarette and leaned back against the open window, +through which the night air was drawing gently. After a little time he +remarked:-- + +"The judge was talking some about the school. They are getting ready +to build as soon as the strikes are settled. Has Everett said anything +to you about it?" + +"Not lately. I haven't seen him since we were at the Buchanans'. Why?" + +"Why! I am counting on Everett, and the last time I saw him he seemed +to me to be side-stepping. I've seen Pemberton once or twice, but he +always avoids the subject. I asked him point-blank to-night what their +plans were, and he said the papers had everything that had been +settled. He's a stiff one! I saw you were talking to him. Did he say +anything about the school?" + +Helen, who had been moving about the room here and there, preparing to +undress, suddenly stood quite still. The memory of her remark to +Pemberton that morning on the train swept over her again, coloring her +cheeks. She answered the question after a moment of hesitation:-- + +"Yes, he spoke about their not giving the money to the university, but +that was all. And I didn't like to ask questions." + +"Oh!" Jackson murmured in a disappointed tone. "You might have drawn +him out. He's likely to have a good deal to say about what is done. +The judge is down on me, never liked me since I built for +Louise--thinks I stuck her, I suppose. Wasn't his money, though. +Hollister is on the fence; he'll do what Everett tells him. It rests +with Pemberton, mostly." + +Helen turned toward where he was standing and asked swiftly, "Why do +you want them to give it to you so much?" + +"Why?" The architect opened his mouth in astonishment. "Don't you +know the size of the thing? They're going to spend a million or more +on the school, put up one large building or several smaller ones. It's +a chance that doesn't come every week to do a great public building." + +She had begun to unhook her dress, and her nervous fingers tangled the +lace about the hooks. Jackson, seeing her predicament, put down his +cigarette and stepped forward to help her. But she swerved away from +him unconsciously, tugging at the lace until it broke loose from the +hook. + +"Francis!" she exclaimed, with a kind of solemnity. "You would not do +it for money, just like any ordinary building?" + +"And why not?" he asked, puzzled. "Am I drawing plans for fun these +days? I'll tell you what, Nell, I need the money, and I need it badly. +Something must turn up, and right away. Since the strikes began there +hasn't been much new business coming into the office, of course, and it +costs us a lot to live as we do. That's plain enough." + +"We can live differently. I've often thought it would be better if we +did, too." + +"But I don't want to live differently. That's nonsense!" + +They were silent for a little while before their unfinished thoughts. +He broke the silence first:-- + +"Perhaps I ought to tell you that I've been caught in an--investment, +some stocks I bought. A friend of mine advised me, a broker who is in +with Rainbow. But the thing went wrong. I don't believe those fellows +know as much as the man outside. Well, instead of making a good thing +by it, I must find ten or twelve thousand dollars, and find it mighty +quick. Now if I get this commission, I can borrow the money all right. +I know who will let me have it. And then by the end of the year it +will straighten out. And the next time I go to buy stocks, well--" + +"But that building--the school?" Helen interrupted. She pulled a thin +dressing-sack over her shoulders and sat down on the edge of the bed, +looking breathlessly into his face. What he had said about his losses +in the stock market had made no impression on her. "That work is uncle +Powers's gift, his legacy to the people. You can't do it just to make +money out of it!" + +"Why not?" he demanded shortly, and then added, with a dry little +laugh: "I should say that building rather than any other. I'd like to +pick up a few crumbs from the old man's cake. It's only common +justice, seeing he did me out of all the rest." + +She stared at him with bewildered eyes. Perhaps she was not a very +quick woman, if after five years of daily contact with her husband she +did not know his nature. But the conceptions she had cherished of him +were too deep to be effaced at once. She could not even yet understand +what he meant. + +"'Did you out of all the rest'?" she queried in a low voice. + +"Yes!" he exclaimed hardily. "And I think the trustees should take it +into consideration that I didn't contest the will when I had the best +kind of case and could have given them no end of trouble. I was a fool +to knuckle under so quickly. I might at least have had an agreement +with them about this matter." + +"So," she said, "you want to build the school to make up what you think +uncle should have given you?" + +"You needn't put it just like that. But I need every cent I can make. +The bigger the building, the better for me. And I can do it as well +for them as anybody. They're probably thinking of having a +competition, and asking in a lot of fellows from New York and Boston. +They ought to keep it in this city, anyway, and then the only man I'd +hate to run up against would be Wright. He's got some mighty clever +new men in his office." + +He talked on as he stripped off his coat and waistcoat and hung them +neatly on the clothes-tree, permitting her to see all the consideration +he had given to his chances for securing this big commission. +Evidently he had been turning it over and over in his mind, and he was +desperately nervous lest he might lose what he had counted on having +all along ever since his marriage. He refrained from telling his wife +that he felt she had seconded him feebly in this matter; for she knew +the judge, and Pemberton, and Everett, too, a great deal better than he +did. They had always paid her rather marked attention. + +Helen said nothing. There was nothing in her surprised and grieved +heart to be said. For the first time she saw clearly what manner of +man her husband was. She knew how he felt about his uncle. He was +vindictive about him, and seemed to welcome this job as a chance to get +even with the old man for slighting him in his will. For some reason +unknown to her he had not tried at the time of his death to break his +will and show his ingratitude, and now he regretted that he had +displayed so much forbearance. + +This sudden sight of the nakedness of the man she loved dulled her +heart so that she could not view the thing simply. It was impossible +for her to see that there was nothing very dreadful in her husband's +attitude, nothing more than a little ordinary human selfishness, +sharpened by that admirable system of civilized self-interest which our +philosophers and statesmen so delight to praise. She had been dreaming +that her husband might have the honor to design this great building as +a testimonial, a monument of gratitude, to the man who had succored his +youth, who had given him his education! Her sentiment turned rancid in +her heart. + +"Now if Everett or the judge should say anything to you, give you a +chance, you know what it means to me," Jackson remarked finally, as he +put his boots outside the door for the man to get in the morning. He +had meant to say more than this, to point out to her in detail the +service she could do them both. Something in her manner, however, +restrained him, and he contented himself with this final hint. + +But Helen had stepped back into the dressing-room and did not hear him. +When she returned her husband was already in bed, and his eyelids were +closed in sleep. She placed herself beside him and turned out the +light. + +She lay there a long, long time, her open eyes staring upward into the +darkness, her arms stretched straight beside her, as she used to lie +when she was a little child, and her nurse had told her to be good and +not to stir. Something strange had happened that day, something +impalpable, unnamable, yet true, and of enormous importance to the +woman. The man who lay there beside her, her husband, the indivisible +part of her, had been suddenly cut from her soul, and was once more his +own flesh--some alien piece of clay, and ever so to be. + +She did not cry or moan. She was too much stunned. All the little +petty manifestations of character, unobserved through those five years +of marriage, were suddenly numbered and revealed to her. It was not a +question of blame. They declared themselves to her as finalities, just +as if she had suddenly discovered that her husband had four toes +instead of five. He was of his kind, and she was of her kind. Being +what she was, she could no longer worship him, being what he was. And +her nature craved the privilege of worship. That thin, colorless +protestantism of her fathers had faded into a nameless moralism. She +had no Christ before whom she could pour her adoration and love. +Instead, she had taken to herself a man; and now the clay of his being +was crumbling in her hands.... + +Outside the room the lake began to clamor on the sands beneath the +bluff. It called her by its insistent moan. She rose from the bed and +stepped out upon the little balcony that looked eastward from their +room. The warm night was filled with a damp mist that swathed the tree +trunks to their branches and covered the slow-moving waves of the lake. +Through this earth fog there was moving a current from some distant +point, touching the sleeping town. + +All the unquiet feelings that latterly had been rising in her +soul--Venetia's bold challenge, Hussey's harsh words, her own +dissatisfaction with the empty life of getting and spending--now +hardened into judgment. The poor bookbinder was right: it was useless, +perhaps, to mix the two orders of life,--those that labor for mere +living and those that labor for luxury. But here in the superb +indifference of nature she knew herself to be kin with him, the man of +the people, the common man, whose lot it was to labor for his scanty +bread. Surely a new order of the world was to be born, wherein the +glory of life should not be for the ferocious self-seekers, wherein all +that was fine in man should not be tainted with greed! + +She held her arms out to the mist, vaguely, blindly, demanding some +compensation for living, some justification that she knew not of. And +there in the vigil of the misty night the woman was born. From a soft, +yielding, dreaming, feminine thing, there was born a new +soul--definite, hard, and precise in its judgment of men and life.... + +In the house behind her slept her husband and her two boys,--her +children and his. But only in the words of the sentimentalists are +children a sufficient joy to woman's heart. Loving as she was by +nature, nevertheless she asked more of God than her two boys, whose +little lives no longer clung to hers by the bonds of extreme infancy. +They were growing to become men; they, too, like her husband, would +descend into the market for the game which all men play. The fear of +it gripped her heart. + +And at last she wept, miserably, for the forlorn wreck of her worship, +longing for the glorious man she had once adored. + + +The next morning she said to her husband:-- + +"Francis, I want to go back to the city this winter." + +"Well--there's time to think of it--you may change your mind by the +fall." + +She said no more, but the first step in her new life had been taken. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +Everett Wheeler could hardly be reckoned as a man of sentiment. Yet in +the matter of selecting an architect for the new school he stood out +persistently against the wishes of Pemberton and Judge Phillips, with +but one sentimental argument,--the Powers Jackson trustees must give +the commission for building the great school to the nephew of the +founder, without holding a competitive trial of any sort. + +"It's only square," he insisted. "Jackson was disappointed about the +will. He had some grounds for feeling badly used, too. He might have +made us a good deal of trouble at the time, and he didn't." + +"Powers would think it queer to pass him by," Hollister urged also, +"seeing he gave the boy a first-class education to be an architect. +And he's a hustling, progressive fellow from all I hear. I must say I +admire the way he's settled into the collar since his uncle died. Why +shouldn't we give him this boost?" + +These remarks were made at one of the many informal meetings of the +trustees, which were held almost daily now that the plans for the +school were shaping themselves toward action. Pemberton, with whom the +others happened to be taking their luncheon, glanced sharply at +Wheeler. Although not given to suspecting his neighbors of indirect +motives, Pemberton understood Wheeler well enough to know that when the +lawyer fell back upon sentiment there must be another motive in the +background. The close relationship between the men was not sufficient +to account wholly for the cold lawyer's unexpected zeal in behalf of +the young architect. Everett Wheeler was not one to be moved by family +ties. Pemberton had not forgotten Mrs. Hart's sudden interest in this +commission, which he had attributed to an unwise eagerness for her +husband's profit. It occurred to him now that he had once heard in +past years of Everett Wheeler's devotion to Nellie Spellman. + +"I can't see that it follows that we should put this plum into his +mouth," the judge remarked testily. "If Powers had wanted to give the +chap any more money, he would have left it to him. You must excuse me, +Everett, for speaking my mind about your cousin; but, frankly, I don't +altogether like the fellow. He's too smooth, too easy with all the +world." + +"That's all right, judge. I'm not urging him because he's my cousin. +But we know why you are down on him," Wheeler answered, with a smile. +"He did let your sister-in-law in for a good deal." + +"Well, it isn't just that. Of course he was beginning then, and wanted +to make his first job as big as possible--that's natural enough. And I +guess Louise-- Well, it's her affair. She manages her own property, +and I wouldn't let her spend any of the children's money. But I don't +like Hart's methods. Raymond was telling me the other day how he +worked him for that railroad job--through--through a woman. I suppose +it's all right; the man must get business where he can. It's hard for +youngsters to make a living these days. But to get a woman to pull off +a thing like that for you! And Raymond told me they had to drop him, +too--he didn't do the work economically, or something of the sort." + +"I guess there's another story to that, perhaps," Wheeler answered +patiently. "Jack wasn't willing to let Bushfield make all he wanted to +off the contracts. I happen to know that. And I don't see why you +should have it in for him because he got a lady to say a good word for +him with Raymond. You know well enough that pretty nearly all the big +commissions for public buildings in this city have gone by +favor,--family or social or political pull. It's got to be so. You're +bound to think that the man you know is bigger than the other fellow +you don't know." + +"That is not a good reason, Mr. Wheeler, why we should do the same +thing in this case," Pemberton objected stiffly. "It would have been +well for American architecture if it had happened less often. The +proper way in the case of all public buildings is to hold an open +competition." + +"Well, we won't argue that question. But this is a special case. Here +is a man who happens to be a nephew of the founder, who knows more of +our plans than any other architect, naturally, and can give us pretty +much all his attention. He'll push the work faster." + +"We can wait," Pemberton still demurred. "There is no need for undue +haste." + +"No, no, John," Judge Phillips protested. "I am getting to be an old +man. I want to see the school started and feel that my duty's done. +We've thrashed this out long enough. Let us try Hart and be done with +it." + +Pemberton had been added to their number at the suggestion of the +judge, because of his well-known public spirit and his interest in +educational and philanthropic enterprises. He had undertaken his +duties with his accustomed energy and conscientiousness, and at times +wearied even the judge with his scruples. The others had rather hazy +ideas as to the exact form, educationally, that the large fund in their +charge should assume. Wheeler concerned himself mainly with the +financial side of the trust. Hollister, who had got his education in a +country school, and Judge Phillips, who was a graduate of a small +college, merely insisted that the school should be "practical," with +"no nonsense." After they had rejected the plan of handing over the +bequest to a university, Pemberton had formed the idea of founding a +technological school, modelled closely after certain famous Eastern +institutions. This conception Helen had somewhat disturbed by her talk +with him, in which she had vigorously presented the founder's +democratic ideas on education. Her views had set him to thinking on +the problem once more, and he had discussed the matter with the +intimate friends of the founder, seeking to discover the old man's real +purpose in his benefaction. + +In his perplexity Pemberton had gone East to see the president of a +university, of which he was one of the trustees, and there he had met a +professor in the scientific department, one Dr. Everest, a clever +organizer of educational enterprises. Dr. Everest did not find it +difficult to convince the puzzled trustee that his dilemma was an +imaginary one, that all warring ideals of education might be easily +"harmonized" by a little judicious "adjustment." There should be some +domestic science for the girls, manual training combined with technical +and commercial courses for the boys, and all would be right, especially +if the proper man were employed to mix these ingredients. In brief, +the doctor came to Chicago at the invitation of the trustees, looked +over the ground, and spoke at several public dinners on the "ideals of +modern education." His eloquent denunciation of a "mediæval" +education, his plea for a business education for a business people, and +especially his alert air and urbane manners convinced the trustees that +they had found a treasure. Dr. Everest was invited to become the head +of the new school, which was to be called the JACKSON INDUSTRIAL +INSTITUTE. + +Hart attended one of the dinners where the new director spoke, and +afterward engaged Dr. Everest in a long conversation about the new +school. They found themselves agreed that it ought to be housed +"monumentally," whatever happened. Later, Dr. Everest spoke warmly to +Pemberton of the intelligent young architect, whom he understood might +be asked to design the building. His views, he said, were +"progressive" and "inspiring," and Jackson praised the director warmly +to his wife; but Helen, who had read all his utterances in the papers, +felt that the clever doctor, however much of an "educator" he might be, +knew absolutely nothing about the one class in the community he had +been engaged to work for. His ideas about education were strictly +those of the merchant class, the only class in America that the "higher +education" concerned itself with. + +However all that might be, Dr. Everest's good word, more than Wheeler's +persistency, prevailed against Pemberton's prejudices. The architect +was in a fair way of winning the long-coveted prize. + + +When Everett Wheeler had finally obtained the consent of his associates +to ask the architect to meet the trustees and the new director and +discuss plans for the building, the lawyer was so pleased that he broke +an engagement for dinner, and took the train to Forest Park instead. +He might have telephoned the architect at his office, but, sluggish as +he was temperamentally, he had long promised himself the pleasure of +telling Helen personally the good news. Of late she had not seemed +wholly happy, and he supposed that there were money troubles in the +household which would now be relieved. + +He found a number of people in the studio on the bluff, and sat down +patiently to wait. It had been a warm day, and the men and women were +lounging comfortably on the grass mats, gossiping and enjoying the cool +air from the lake. Jackson was in high spirits, telling Irish stories, +a social gift which he had recently cultivated. Wheeler found himself +near Venetia Phillips, who was nursing a sprained elbow, the result of +being pitched against a fence by a vicious horse. + +"Why don't you go over there and try your charms on Helen?" she asked +Wheeler peevishly. "She's been out of sorts all this summer. When you +see the solemn way good married women take their happiness, it doesn't +encourage you to try your luck and be good. I wonder if she and Jackie +scrap? She looks as if she had a very dull life." + +"Are you thinking of trying your chances?" the lawyer asked with a +heavy attempt at the flippant tone. "You ought to have let me know." + +"Do you mean that as an offer? Does it lead up to anything?" + +"I'll put it in legal form, if you will give me the chance." + +"Should I consent to be bored with one Everett Wheeler, a lawyer, +specially successful in making bad corporations, something of a +politician, not yet fifty, no known vices, easy with women? Is that +the question?" + +"You flatter me." + +"Wait a moment. I want a good man--a blue-ribbon, high-geared saint; +or something equally clever of the other kind. Are you good enough?" + +"Well, I guess I could pass with the rest." + +"That's the trouble. You are just about up to the average of the +crowd. You wouldn't steal, and you wouldn't run away with any one's +wife. You're too knowing; it wouldn't pay." + +"You're right there!" + +"And if I get into trouble any time, you're just the man I'd go to. +You wouldn't make remarks of a moral nature, and you would know how to +squeeze me through a little hole. But you wouldn't do to marry." + +"Oh, I don't know--I'd be easy." + +"Too tolerant--that's the trouble." + +"You are a wise young woman." + +"Yes, I'm very wise about men. I'm going to write a book about men I +have known well. It will be read, too. Do you want to go in?" + +"Well, let's drop me. What about Helen and Jack? What's the matter?" + +"I can't make out exactly. Unsatisfied aspirations, or something of +the sort. I should guess that our Jackson doesn't come up to +specifications. She sighs for the larger world. Did you ever meet a +chap who used to give lessons in binding paper books? That was some +years ago, when earnest ladies were all trying to do something with +their hands to revive the arts and crafts. His name was Hussey. He +was a poor, thin little man, with a wife dying from consumption or +something of the sort. I have always thought Helen wanted to run away +with Mr. Hussey, but couldn't get up her courage. They used to talk +socialism and anarchy and strikes until the air was red, so Maida told +me. It was sport to see him and Jackson get together. Jack would +offer him a cigar,--the bad kind he keeps for the men on his buildings. +Hussey would turn him down, and then Helen would ask the bookbinder to +luncheon or dinner, and that would give Jack a fit. But Hussey +wouldn't stay. He had ideas about the masses not mixing with the +classes until the millennium comes. Helen would argue with him, but it +was no use. He thought nothing was on the square. Well, one day he +got huffy about something Jack said, so Maida says, and went off and +never turned up again at the class. Helen tried to find him; I don't +think she ever got over it. And only the other day she ran across him +again, Jack told me. I believe that Hussey was the man for her. She +is another unsatisfied soul. I am going now, and you had better try to +cheer her up." + +It was beyond the lawyer's power, however, to penetrate Helen's mood. +She seemed curiously removed from the scene. The banter and talk of +the people on the veranda passed over her unheeded; while her eyes +rested dreamily on the trees, among which the summer twilight was +stealing. To rouse her attention, Wheeler brought forth his news. + +"I came out here to tell you something, Nell," he said. + +"What is it?" she asked indifferently. + +"Jack is going to build the school. It has just been decided to-day." + +She gave a little start, as though his words brought her back to the +present, but she said nothing. + +"The trustees have come around to it at last. You know Pemberton and +the judge wanted a public competition, or something of the kind." + +"Why don't they have a competition?" she asked quickly. And aroused +suddenly, with nervous animation, as if she resented the suggestion of +a special favor, she continued, "It would be much fairer to have an +open competition!" + +"Why should we? Isn't Jack the old man's nephew?" + +She made no reply, and he said nothing more, dampened by the way she +took his splendid news. In a little while the others left and they had +dinner. Wheeler expected Helen would tell her husband of the decision, +but she seemed to have forgotten it. So, finally, he was forced to +repeat his announcement. He dropped it casually and coldly:-- + +"Well, Jack, we're getting that school business cleared up. Can you +meet the trustees and the doctor at my office some day this week?" + +Jackson bubbled over with glee. + +"Hoorah!" he shouted. "Good for you, Everett! We must have up some +champagne." + +The lawyer, watching Helen's impassive face, felt inclined to moderate +Jackson's enthusiasm. + +"Of course, nothing's settled as to the commission. You'll be asked to +prepare sketches after you have consulted with Dr. Everest. That's +all." + +That was enough for the architect. He thought that he could satisfy +the director, and if he succeeded with him, the rest of the way was +clear. When the champagne came, he pressed his thanks on his cousin. + +"It's awfully good of you, Everett. I know all the trouble you have +taken for me in this matter. You'll have to let me build that camp in +the Adirondacks this fall. My heavens!" he went on, too excited to be +cautious, "you don't know what a load it takes off my shoulders! I can +feel myself free once more. It's a big thing, the first big thing +that's come my way since I began. How much do the trustees mean to put +into the building?" + +"That depends," the lawyer answered cautiously. "It will be over half +a million, anyway, I should suppose--maybe nearer a million." + +"It's a great opportunity!" the architect exclaimed, conscious that the +more elevated and ideal aspects of the subject were slipping out of +sight. "It doesn't come every day, the chance to build a monument like +the school." + +"You're quite right," Wheeler assented. + +In his excitement, Hart left his seat and began to pace the floor, his +hands twisting his napkin nervously. Meanwhile Helen was watching the +bubbles break in her champagne glass. Her face had remained utterly +blank, although she seemed to be listening to her husband. Perhaps, +thought the lawyer, she did not realize what this news meant. So he +remarked deliberately:-- + +"It's a big commission, fast enough, if you get it, and there's no +reason why you shouldn't have it. I don't know of another young fellow +in your line in this city who's had the same chance to make his +reputation at one stroke." + +Even this did not rouse the wife to speech. A flush stole over her +face at the lawyer's words; but her eyes remained buried in the +champagne glass, which she twirled gently between her fingers, thus +keeping up the effervescence. Jackson was jubilant enough for two. + +"Dr. Everest and I were talking about the site the other day," he said. +"You have only two blocks. There should be four, at least. You must +give dignity to the main building by some kind of approach. The thing +should be done in stone, if possible. But if that's too costly, we +might try a glazed tile; you can get very good effects in that. But +stone, of course, is the proper thing." + +"You may find the judge and Pemberton pretty stubborn on matters of +detail," Wheeler remarked cautiously. + +But the architect flirted his napkin buoyantly. He had dealt with +building committees before, and he had found that trustees usually took +their duties lightly. + +"Well, what do you think of it, Nell?" the lawyer asked finally. + +"Oh! I?" She looked up blankly from the glass of wine. "It is a +great chance, of course." + +This joyless attitude, unremarked by her husband, caused Wheeler to +suspect that there were deeper troubles in this household than money +worries. + +After a little more talk in which Helen did not take part the lawyer +left to take his train for the city, and Jackson walked to the station +with him. When he returned he found Helen still sitting at the empty +table. His eyes were aflame with the golden light of opportunity. He +put his hand over his wife's shoulder and pressed her cheek +affectionately. + +"It's great, isn't it, Nell?" he said. + +She looked up into his face with a wistful smile. The good news had +changed him wonderfully, even in this brief hour, erasing already some +lines from his face. It seemed as if his nature was not one to grow +strong in the storms of life, but needed, rather, the warmth of +prosperity. + +"It's great, isn't it?" he repeated, desiring to savor the good fortune +with her. + +"Yes, Francis," she replied slowly, and added almost pleadingly, "and +you must do it greatly." + +"Of course," he assented cheerily. "It'll be the best yet--don't you +worry!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +About six miles from the centre of the city on the South Side, not far +from the lake, might be seen the foundations and first two stories of a +considerable building that had been abandoned for several years. It +was to have been a hotel, but its promoters, who were small capitalists +from a distant city, had been caught in the real estate disasters of +'93. Litigation ensuing among themselves, nothing had ever been done +with the property. The unfinished walls, standing at the corner of one +of the boulevards and overlooking a large park, were a landmark in the +neighborhood. A thick growth of weeds partially covered the loose +piles of brick and stone that littered the ground and filled the hollow +shell. Desolate, speedily disintegrating, the ruin stood there, four +windowless walls, a figure of unsubstantial and abortive enterprise. + +Hart had often passed the ruin when his business called him to that +part of the city. One day this summer, as he was driving through the +park with Graves on his way to inspect the last string of cheap stone +houses that the contractor had built, Graves called his attention to +the place. + +"That pile must be pretty well covered with tax liens," the contractor +observed, as they turned into the boulevard and approached the ruin. +"It's a sightly piece of property, too, and the right spot for a family +hotel." + +"Who are the owners?" Hart asked. + +"A lot of little fellers out in Omaha; they got to fightin' among +themselves. It might be had cheap. Let's go over and take a look at +the place." + +He hitched his horse to a tree in front of the ruin, and the two men +pushed their way through the weeds and rubbish into the cellar. + +"Pretty solid foundations," the contractor observed, picking at a piece +of mortar with the blade of his clasp knife. "There's most enough +stone lying around here to trim the whole building. What do you think +of the walls? Has the frost eat into 'em much?" + +They scrambled in and out among the piers and first story walls, +testing the mortar, scraping away the weeds here and there to get a +closer view of the joints. The upper courses of the brick had been +left exposed to the weather and were obviously crumbling. The +architect thought that the outer walls might have to be rebuilt almost +from the foundations. But the contractor observed that it would be +sufficient to rip off half a dozen courses of the masonry, as the walls +were needlessly thick. + +"Those fellers thought they were going to build a jim-dandy Waldorf, +judging from the amount of stone they were putting in," the contractor +remarked, as they climbed into the buggy and resumed their way to the +city. "I guess it wouldn't be much of a risk to buy up the tax rights. +The land and material would be worth it." + +"I should say so," the architect assented, seeing how the matter was +shaping itself in his companion's mind. + +"Those foundations would take a pretty big building, eight or ten +stories." + +"Easily." + +They talked it over on their way back to the city. The contractor had +already formed a plan for utilizing the property. He had in mind the +organization of a construction company, which would pay him for +building the hotel with its bonds, and give him a large bonus of stock +besides. The architect was familiar with that method of finance. The +hotel when finished would be rented to another company for operation, +and by that time the contractor and his friends would have disposed of +their stock and bonds. + +"You must let me in on this," Jackson said boldly, as they neared the +city. "I'm getting sick of doing your dinky instalment-plan suburban +villas and getting nothing out of it. I want to make some money, and +this scheme looks pretty good." + +"There's no reason why you shouldn't make something, too," the +contractor answered readily. "You might interest some of your rich +friends in the company, and get a block of stock for yourself." + +Hart had a pressing need of ready money rather than such dubious +promoter's profits. Rainbow and Harris had not pushed him to pay the +balance against him on their books, but their leniency would not extend +beyond the first of the month. Then, if he could not get the money in +some other way, he should have to go to his mother, or take the little +legacy that his uncle had left Helen. That very day he had had it in +his mind to ask the contractor to let him have twelve thousand dollars +on his note, which would get him out of his immediate difficulties. He +could pay it with the first return from the school commission, on which +he was reckoning. + +But when Graves described the hotel project, he resolved to wait a +little longer, in the hope that somehow he might make more than enough +to pay his debts. What he needed was some capital. It was to obtain +this independent capital that he had ventured with the broker. Why had +he not had the wit to see the chance that lay in that old ruin and use +it on his own account? For the last five years many men that he knew +had been making fortunes, while he was working hard for precarious +wages. No matter what he might earn in his profession, he could never +feel at ease, have enough for his ambitions. He saw that his fees from +the practice of architecture would never satisfy him. He must have +capital,--money that would breed money independently of his exertions. +Latterly his mind had turned much about this one desire. + +"You'll want me to draw the plans for the hotel, I suppose?" he asked +the contractor. + +"Yes, you might get up some sketches for a ten-story building right +away--something to show the men I want to interest in the scheme," +Graves answered promptly. "When you have 'em ready, come around and +we'll see if we can't fix up some kind of deal." + +It was evident that the contractor had gone much farther in the hotel +matter than he had told Hart. Probably he had already taken measures +to get control of the abandoned property and had his corporation +organized. + + +At this point Jackson learned from Everett that the trustees were ready +to ask him for preliminary sketches for the school, and almost at the +same time he received a polite note from the brokers calling his +attention to his debt. He went at once to Graves's office and asked +the contractor for the loan, saying that he was to have the school and +should be put to extraordinary expenses in his office for the next few +months. The contractor let him have the money readily enough on his +personal note. Graves did not speak of the hotel, and for the moment +the school had driven all else from the architect's mind. He was kept +busy these days by consultations with the trustees and the director of +the school, getting their ideas about the building. One morning the +newspapers had an item, saying that "F. J. Hart, the prominent young +architect, nephew of the late Powers Jackson, had received the +commission for building the new Jackson Institute, and was engaged in +drawing plans for a magnificent structure, which in luxury and +completeness would outrank any similar institution in the country." +Before noon that same day Hart received a curt message from Judge +Phillips to call at his office, and foreseeing trouble with the +trustees about the newspaper paragraph, he went scowling into the +draughting-room. + +"Some of you boys must have been talking loose about what's going on in +this office," he said accusingly. + +"The Tribune man had the story straight enough when he came in here," +Cook replied in defence. "He must have got it from some one who knew +what he was talking about." + +Hart went over to the judge's office and tried to explain matters to +the old gentleman, who, besides having a great dislike of "newspaper +talk," felt that the trustees were being deliberately coerced into +giving their commission to this pushing young man. The architect was +forced to swallow some peppery remarks about indelicate methods of +securing business. When he left the judge, who was only half convinced +of his sincerity, he went to see Graves, and vented his irritation on +the contractor. + +"You let things leak out of your office. You got me into hot water by +giving out that story about the school." + +"How so? It's straight, ain't it? You've got the building? You said +so the other day when you came in here to borrow that money." + +"It amounts to the same thing, though it hasn't been formally settled. +They are touchy enough about their old job. They've asked me to +prepare the first sketches--that's all so far." + +"Oh! That's all, is it?" the contractor remarked coldly. "I thought +you had the job in your inside pocket from the way you talked the other +day." + +Hart's face reddened and he stammered:-- + +"It's all right. They are sure to take me, only they are a little +slow, and I don't want to seem to force them." + +Graves continued to examine the man before him with his shrewd little +eyes, and Hart realized that the contractor had given the news to the +papers for the precise purpose of finding out where the trustees stood. + +"Well, when you get ready to build the school I expect we shall be +doing a good deal of business together," Graves remarked tentatively. + +The architect moved back in his chair, more comfortable at the change +in the conversation. + +"I shall want you to bid, of course. But I don't know yet whether the +trustees mean to let the contract as a whole." + +"They'll do pretty much what you say, won't they? Ain't one of them +your cousin?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, I want that contract. Can't you fix it so's I can get it?" + +Hart knew altogether too well what the contractor meant by this blunt +request. An architect has it in his power to draw his specifications +in such a manner that only a few favored contractors will dare to bid. +If outsiders venture to bid for the work, they cannot with safety go +low enough to get the contract. In the case of a large building this +is a more difficult manoeuvre to manage than with less important work. +Yet even with a building of the importance of the projected school, +contractors would be chary of bidding against a man who was as closely +identified with the architect as Graves was with Hart. + +"They say now," Hart protested, "that nobody else gets a show in my +office." + +"I don't believe you see what there might be in this for you, Mr. +Hart," the contractor persisted, without replying directly to the +architect's objection. + +A stenographer interrupted them at this point, and the architect had a +few moments to think while Graves was engaged. He knew better than any +one else the devious methods of the contractor, and it had already +occurred to him that this would be a good opportunity to sever his +close connection with the Graves Construction Company. He would, of +course, allow Graves to bid on the school contracts, but would show him +no favors. Yet the contractor's last words made him reflect. There +was the hotel with its unknown possibilities of large returns. +Moreover, the Graves Construction Company was no longer the weak +enterprise that it had been five years before. Graves had made a great +deal of money these last prosperous years, and his "corporation" was +one of the largest of its kind in the city. It would be stupid to +break with the man altogether. + +"Come, this ain't quiet enough here. Let's step over to Burke's and +talk it out," the contractor suggested, looking up from the papers the +stenographer had brought in. + +So the two men went across the street to Burke's, which was a quiet +sort of drinking-place, frequented by the better class of sporting men. +In the rear there were a number of little rooms, where whispered +conversations intended for but two pairs of ears were often held. When +the negro attendant had wiped the mahogany table and brought them their +whiskey, Graves began:-- + +"Mr. Hart, I'm going to give you the chance of your life to make a lump +of money, sure and quick, and no gold-brick proposition, either." + +Graves poured himself a drink, and meditatively twirled the small glass +between his fat fingers before he explained himself. + +"You do the right thing by me in this school job, and I'll see that you +are properly fixed on the hotel scheme." + +The details of the plan came cautiously and slowly from the contractor, +while Hart listened in a non-committal frame of mind. The thing +proposed was really very simple. The architect was to draw the school +specifications so that only a few firms would bid, and of these only +one or two would be genuine competitors. The contractor would see to +it that there were enough bidders at approximately his own figure to +prevent suspicion on the part of the trustees. In return for this +favor, Graves offered a large block of stock in the hotel company, "for +doing the plans of the hotel," which he was ready to guarantee would be +worth a certain sum. + +Of course there was an unspecified item in the transaction, which was +perfectly obvious to the architect. If the contractor was ready to +make these terms in order to obtain the school, there must be enough in +the job above the legitimate profit on the contract to make it well +worth his while. The architect saw, less sharply, that this extra +profit would be made, more or less, with his professional connivance. +It would be impossible to get the trustees to accept bids so high that +the contractor could reap his profit and still do the work up to the +specifications. It would be necessary to specify needlessly elaborate +steel work, cut stone, and interior finish, with the understanding that +the Graves Company would not be forced to live up to these gilt-edged +specifications. It might be necessary, even, to prepare two sets of +specifications for the more important parts of the contract,--one for +the bidding, and one for the use of the subcontractors,--although that +would be dangerous. + +Hart smoked and listened, while Graves, having outlined his plan, spoke +of the profit to the architect. + +"If you want, I'll agree to take the hotel stock off your hands at par +from time to time as the two buildings go up. You can figure out now +what you'll make. It will not be far from seventy thousand dollars, +what with your commissions and the stock. And I'll guarantee, Hart, +that you'll have no trouble. That drunken Dutchman can work over any +details that have to be fixed--my own expense. Nothing need go through +your office that ain't first-class and regular." + +The plan seemed perfectly simple, and the architect's imagination +fastened on the big bait which the contractor held out. Graves +repeated slowly in his thick tones:-- + +"A year, or say eighteen months, from now, you'll have about +seventy-five thousand dollars in the bank." + +That would be capital! The lack of capital had tripped him at every +turn. With that amount of money, he could plant his feet firmly on the +earth and prepare to spring still higher. + +"Of course," Graves continued, "you'd stand by me--help me out with the +trustees if there was any kick." + +In other words, for the term of a year or eighteen months he would be +this contractor's creature. But the architect was thinking of +something else.... + +The line between what is honest and dishonest in business is a +difficult one to plot. From generation to generation standards alter +in the business world as elsewhere, and to-day men will do +unblushingly, and with the approval of their fellows, that which in +another generation will, doubtless, become a penitentiary offence. +Business is warfare, and whatever men may say on Sundays, the hardy man +of business will condone a thrifty sin of competition sooner than any +other sin. Every one of the fighters in the battle knows how hard it +is to make a dollar honestly or dishonestly, and he prefers to call +certain acts "indelicate" or "unprofessional," rather than dishonest. + +Of such "unprofessional" conduct Hart had been guilty a number of +times, and the matter had not troubled him greatly. But this +arrangement, which the contractor was urging, was of more positive +stripe. Although it was not clear how close a connivance with fraud +would be necessary, it might involve outright rascality, which, if it +became known in the community, would ruin his professional standing for +life. He would be taking a great risk to grasp that promised lump of +money. While Graves talked in his thick, guttural tones, Hart was +weighing this risk. The whiskey that he had been drinking had not +obscured his vision in the least, although it shed a rosier glow over +the desired capital. It must be admitted that the architect gave +little consideration to the trustees or to his uncle's bequest. It +would have pleased him, if he had thought much about it, to make a good +round hole in his uncle's millions, of which the old man had deprived +him. And as for the trustees, they were shrewd men of the world, quite +able to take care of themselves. + +But, instinctively, he recoiled from the act. He would much prefer a +clean, honorable, "high-class" career. If he could have secured money +enough to satisfy his ambitions, to lead the kind of life he liked, +without resort to such knavery as this, it would have been much +pleasanter. But in one way or another he must make money, and make it +more rapidly and more abundantly than he had been doing. That was +success. When he had come to this point, he had already consented with +himself.... + +They had been sitting there nearly two hours, but latterly little had +been said. The contractor was patient and diplomatic. Finally he +asked, "Well, Hart, what do you say?" + +Hart lighted another cigar before speaking, and then replied +deliberately: "I will think over what you say. I understand that the +stock is given me instead of my regular commission on the hotel, and +will be worth a fixed sum?" + +"That's it!" + +Then they went out into the street without further words. Hart +returned to his office, examined his mail, wrapped up his first +sketches for the school, and set out for the train. The deal with +Graves unconsciously filled his mind and made him feel strange to +himself. Yet he thought less of the practical detail of the +transaction than of certain specious considerations concerning the +morality of what he was going to do. + +Business was war, he said to himself again and again, and in this war +only the little fellows had to be strictly honest. The big ones, those +that governed the world, stole, lied, cheated their fellows openly in +the market. The Bushfields took their rake-off; the Rainbows were the +financial pimps, who fattened on the vices of the great industrial +leaders. Colonel Raymond might discharge a man on his road who stole +fifty cents or was seen to enter a bucket shop, but in the +reorganization of the Michigan Northern ten years previously, he and +his friends had pocketed several millions of dollars, and had won the +lawsuits brought against them by the defrauded stockholders. + +It was a world of graft, the architect judged cynically. Old Powers +Jackson, it was said in Chicago, would cheat the glass eye out of his +best friend in a deal. He, too, would follow in the path of the +strong, and take what was within his reach. He would climb hardily to +the top, and then who cared? That gospel of strenuous effort, which +our statesmen and orators are so fond of shouting forth, has its +followers in the little Jackson Harts. Only, in putting forth their +strong right arms, they often thrust them into their neighbors' +pockets. And the irresponsible great ones, who have emerged beyond the +reign of law, have their disciples in all the strata of society,--down, +down to the boy who plays the races with the cash in his employer's +till. + +The architect went home to his wife and children with the honest love +that he bore them. If they had entered his mind in connection with +this day's experience, he would have believed that largely for their +sakes, for their advancement in the social scheme of things, he had +engaged upon a toilsome and disagreeable task. For he did not like +slippery ways. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +Hart's design for the school had finally been accepted by the trustees, +and the plans were placed on exhibition in the Art Institute. Little +knots of people--students, draughtsmen, and young architects--gathered +in the room on the second floor, where the elevations had been hung, +and had their say about the plans. Occasionally a few older men and +women, interested in the nobler aspects of civic life, drifted into the +room, having stolen some moments from their busy days to see what the +architect had done with his great opportunity. + +"Gee! Ain't it a hummer, now!" exclaimed one of Wright's men, who had +known Hart in the old days. "He's let himself out this time, sure. It +will cover most two blocks." + +"The main part of the design is straight from the Hotel de Ville," one +of the young architects objected disdainfully. He and his friends +thought there were many better architects in the city than F. Jackson +Hart, and grumbled accordingly. "I bet I could find every line in the +design from some French thing or other. Hart's an awful thief; he +can't think for himself." + +"Where is the purpose of the structure expressed?" another demanded +severely. "It would do just as well for the administration building of +a fair as for a school!" + +"A voluptuous and ornamental design; the space is wickedly wasted in +mere display. The money that ought to go into education will be eaten +up in this pretentious, flaunting building that will cover all the +land." ... + +"What have I been telling you?" commented an admiring citizen to his +neighbor. "Chicago ain't a village any more. A few buildings like +this and the university ones, and the world will begin to see what we +are doing out here!" + +"What's the dome for?" ... + +"I say the people should have the best there is." + +"Pull, pull--that's what's written all over this plan! The architect +was some sort of relation to the man who gave the school, wasn't he?" + + +Even Wright, who happened to be in the city, stepped into the Institute +to look at the plans. He studied them closely for a few minutes, and +then, with a smile on his face, moved off. + +Hart had, indeed, "let himself out." It was to be a master work, and +by its achievement raise him at once into the higher ranks of his +profession. For the first time he had felt perfectly free to create. +As often happens, when the artist comes to this desired point and looks +into his soul, he finds nothing there. The design was splendid, in a +sense--very large and imposing: an imperial flight of steps, a lofty +dome which fastened the spectator's eyes, and two sweeping wings to +support the central mass. Nevertheless, the architect had not escaped +from his training; it was another one of the Beaux Arts exercises that +Wright used to "trim." Years hence the expert would assign it to its +proper place in the imitative period of our arts, as surely as the +literary expert has already placed there the poet Longfellow. Though +Hart had learned much in the past six years, it had been chiefly in the +mechanics of his art: he was a cleverer architect, but a more wooden +artist. For the years he had spent in the workshop of the great city +had deadened his sense of beauty. The clamor and excitement and gross +delight of living had numbed his sense of the fine, the noble, the +restrained. He had never had time to think, only to contrive, and +facility had supplied the want of ideas. Thus he had forgotten Beauty, +and been content to live without that constant inner vision of her +which deadens bodily hunger and feeds the soul of the artist. + +So Wright read the dead soul beneath the ambitious design. + + +Mrs. Phillips came rustling in with friends, to whom she exhibited the +plans with an air of ownership in the architect. + +"It's the cleverest thing that has been done in this city; every one +says so. I tell Harrison that he has me to thank for this. It was a +case of poetic justice, too. You know the story? One forgets so +easily here; it's hard to remember who died last month. Why, the old +man Jackson left pretty nearly every cent of his money to found this +school. I think he was crazy, and I should have fought the will if I +had been a relative. At any rate, it was a nasty joke on this Mr. +Hart, who was his nephew and every one thought would be his heir. + +"But he has made such a plucky fight, got the respect of every one, +gone right along, and succeeded splendidly in his profession. He +married foolishly, too. Poor girl, not a cent, and not the kind to +help him one bit, you know,--no style, can't say a word for herself. +She's done a good deal to keep him back, but he has managed to survive +even that. I wonder he hasn't broken with her. I do, really! They +haven't a thing in common. They had a pleasant home out in the Park, +you know, and a good position--every one knew them there. He is the +kind to make friends everywhere. And what do you think? She made him +give up his house and come into town to live! The Park was too far +away from her friends, or something of the sort--wanted to educate her +children in the city, and all that. I believe it was jealousy of him. +He was popular, and she wasn't. No woman will stand that sort of +thing, of course. + +"So now they have taken a house on Scott Street,--a little, +uncomfortable box, the kind of place that is all hall and dining-room. +Of course they don't have to live like that; he's making money. But +she says she doesn't want to be bothered--has ideas about simple +living. The trouble is, she hasn't any ambition, and he's brimful of +it. He could get anywhere if it weren't for her. It's a shame! I +don't believe she half appreciates even this. Isn't it splendid? He +has such large ideas! + +"Venetia is thick with her, of course. You might know she would be. +It's through Mrs. Hart she meets those queer, tacky people. I tell +you, the woman counts much more than the man when it comes to making +your way in the world; don't you think so?" ... + +And with further words of praise for the plans and commiseration for +the architect, the widow wandered into the next room with her friends, +then descended to her carriage, dismissing art and life together in the +prospect of dinner. + + +Helen made a point of taking the boys to see their father's work, and +explained carefully to them what it all meant. They followed her +open-eyed, tracing with their little fingers the main features of the +design as she pointed them out, and saying over the hard names. It was +there Venetia Phillips found her, seated before the large sketch of the +south elevation, dreaming, while the boys, their lesson finished, had +slipped into the next room to look at the pictures. + +"Have you seen my mother?" she asked breathlessly, seating herself +beside Helen. "I brought Dr. Coburn, and we almost ran into Mrs. +Phillips the first thing. So I dodged into the Greek room and left him +there to study anatomy. She had that horrid Rainbow woman with her and +would have been nasty to the doctor. Mother is such a splendid snob!" +she explained frankly. + +"Well, well, our Jackie has done himself proud this time, hasn't he? +He's a little given to the splurge, though, don't you think?" + +Helen did not answer. She did not like to admit even to herself that +her husband's greatest effort was a failure. Yet she was a terribly +honest woman, and there was no glow in her heart. Indeed, the school +and all about it had become unpleasant to her, covered as it was with +sordid memories of her husband's efforts to get the work. Latterly +there had been added to these the almost daily bickerings with the +trustees, which the architect reported. The plans had not been +accepted easily. + +"All the same, Jack's got some good advertising out of it," Venetia +continued encouragingly, noticing Helen's silence. "The newspapers are +throwing him polite remarks, I see. But I want to talk to you about +something else. Mamma has been losing a lot of money; bad investments +made in boom times; sure things, you know, like copper and steel. +She's very much pressed, and she wants to put my money up to save some +of the stocks. Uncle Harry is raging, and wants me to promise him not +to let her have a cent. Stanwood has come home--there doesn't seem to +be anything else for him to do. It's all rather nasty. I don't know +what to say about the money; it seems low to hold your mother up in her +second youth. And yet the pace Mrs. Phillips keeps would finish my +money pretty soon. It's a pity Mrs. Raymond won't die and give mother +a chance to make a good finish." + +"Venetia!" + +"What's the harm in my saying what all the world that knows us is +saying? It's been a ten years' piece of gossip. I feel sorry for her, +too. It must be rough to get along in life and see you have muckered +your game.... Do you know, I am terribly tempted to let her have the +money, all of it, and skip out myself. Perhaps some of these days +you'll read a little paragraph in the morning paper,--'Mysterious +Disappearance of a Well-known Young Society Woman.' Wouldn't that be +original? Just to drop out of everything and take to the road!" + +"What would you do?" + +"Anything, everything--make a living. Don't you think I could do +that?" She embroidered this theme fancifully for a time and then lapsed +into silence. Finally she burst forth again: "Good Lord, why can't we +get hold of life before it's too late? It's going on all around +us,--big, and rich, and full of blood. And folks like you and me sit +on the bank, eating a picnic lunch." + +"Perhaps," mused Helen, "it would be different if one had to earn the +lunch." + +"Who knows? Will you try it? Will you cut loose from Jackie?" + +A rather sad smile crossed the older woman's face, and Venetia seizing +her arm impulsively gave it a little squeeze. Just then Coburn +strolled into the room with the boys, whom he had found in the +corridor, and nodding abruptly toward Helen, stood before the plans, +studying them with his sharp, black eyes. His little ironical smile +hung on his parted lips. Turning to Venetia, he said good-humoredly:-- + +"Thinks he's doing something, don't he, Venetia?" + +Helen rose and called the boys. + +"A building is just four walls and a roof to me," he continued, +addressing Helen. "But Jack Hart seems to have got what he +wanted--that's the chief thing, ain't it?" + +Helen nodded, and they left the room without looking again at the +plans. As they descended the broad flight of steps to the street, +Venetia laid her hand on Helen's arm. + +"Tell Jack we are all proud of him. Mamma brags of him daily. And +look out for the paragraph in the paper. They'd give me a paragraph, +don't you think?" + + +The winter twilight had descended upon the murky city, filling the long +vistas of the cross streets with a veil of mystery. But the roar of +the place mounted to the clouds above, which seemed to reverberate with +the respirations of the Titan beneath. Here, in the heart of the city, +life clamored with a more direct note than in any other spot in the +world. Men were struggling fiercely for their desires, and their cries +ascended to the dull heavens. + +Helen walked home with the boys, soothed by the human contact of the +streets. There was something exhilarating to her in the jostle of the +throng,--the men and women leaving their labors, bent homeward for the +night. Her heart expanded near them--those who won their daily bread +by the toil of the day. + +It was in part true, what the widow had said. For it was she who had +willed to return to the city from the pleasant niche where she had +spent her married life, desiring in the growing emptiness of her heart +to get closer to the vast life of a human people, to feel once more the +common lot of man. So she had taken the little house on Scott Street, +and reduced their living to the simplest scale, declaring that she +wanted her time for herself and her children. Her husband was so busy +that as yet he hardly noticed any change in her. They went out less +than they had gone in previous years, and sometimes he thought the +people he found calling on his wife were "queer." Her interest in a +new kind of education for the children bored him. She seemed to be +going her own way without thought of him, and now and then he wondered +what it meant. He did not like aggressive, faddish persons; he wanted +women to be personal and sympathetic, with a touch of "style," social +tact, and a little dash. + +To-night he had come from his office early, and while he waited for +Helen he looked about the little drawing-room disapprovingly, with a +sense of aggrieved discomfort. Helen was taking to economy and +simplicity altogether too seriously to please him. To be sure, she +made no objection to his keeping his hunters at the Shoreham Club, or +his polo-playing, or other expensive diversions. + +In a vague way he was aware of the subtle separation of soul that +existed between them. He looked at his wife closely when she came in +with the boys. She seemed older, more severe in face than he had +thought, than her photograph on his office desk said. When this school +business was done with, he reflected, they must run over to Europe for +a few months' vacation, get shaken up, and then live differently on +their return.... + +"Nell," he said to her, when they were alone, "it's settled at last, +you will be glad to know, everything. We let the contracts to-day." + +"For the school?" she asked indifferently. "You must be relieved to +have it off your mind." + +Her lips, which curved so tenderly, had grown strangely firm. He put +his arm over her shoulder and drew her toward him. + +"Yes, it's a great relief. I thought at one time Pemberton would make +them throw the whole thing up and start again. But the others had more +sense. Well, when the building is finished, we must have a spree, and +get to be lovers once more." + +"Yes, dear. This afternoon I've been to the Institute with the boys to +let them see the plans." + +"They are well spoken of. I saw Wright to-day for a moment. He +stopped to congratulate me, but I couldn't tell what he really thought. +Well, after all the trouble with them, I got pretty much what I wanted, +thanks to Everett and the doctor. Everett's been a good friend all +through. The idea of their kicking so hard because the thing was going +to cost a little more than they had made up their minds to spend on the +building! Pemberton thinks he knows all about architecture. It's a +pity he couldn't have drawn the plans himself." + +"But you saved your design. There were only a few changes, I thought." + +"Yes, I've won the second round all right." + +In his joy over the thought he put his strong arms about his wife and +lifted her bodily from the floor, as he had often done, boyishly, in +the years before. Holding her close to him he kissed her lips and +neck. She returned his kisses, but the touch of her lips was cool. +She seemed limp in his arms, and he felt vaguely the want of something. +She was less loving, less passionate than ever before. He missed the +abandon, the utter self-forgetfulness, the rush of ecstatic emotion, +which from the first moment of their love had made her for him all +woman, the woman of women.... He let her slip from his embrace and +looked at her. Was it age? Was it the penalty of living, which +dampens the fire of passion and dulls desire? He was troubled, +distressed for the loss of something precious that was getting beyond +his reach, perhaps had gone forever. + +"Oh!" he exclaimed. "It's bad to be always on the dead push. Come! +Let's go out somewhere and have dinner and a bottle of champagne the +way we used to." + +She hesitated a moment, unwilling to disappoint him. + +"I can't very well to-night, Francis. I promised Morton Carr I should +be home this evening. He wants me to help him raise some money for his +new building, and we were to discuss it." + +"Oh!" he said, his egotism subtly wounded. "I remember you said +something about it." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +Late in March the corner-stone for the Jackson Institute was laid. It +was a desolate winterish day, and the prairie wind chilled to the bone +the little group of interested people seated on the platform erected +for the occasion. There were brief speeches by Judge Phillips and Dr. +Everest, and an address by a celebrated college president on the "new +education." To Helen, who sat just behind him in sight of the piles of +excavated sand and the dirty brick walls of the neighboring stores, the +scene was scarcely in harmony with the orator's glowing +generalizations. "The mighty energies of this industrial cosmopolis +will now respond to the higher call of man's ideals.... On industry +rests thrift, and on thrift must rest all education." As the neat +periods slipped forth, Cook, who was standing by the mason's windlass, +caught Helen's eye and smiled. He looked brisk and happy, and she +could fancy him calling out: "Hey! What does the guy know about +industry? But ain't this the best yet? F. J. Hart is all right!" + +The architect, smartly dressed for the occasion in a new frock coat and +shining silk hat, stepped forward at the proper moment, dusted the +upper surface of the great stone with a brush, and handed the judge a +silver trowel. Cook pushed up to them a bucket of mortar, into which +the old man thrust the trowel, and tremblingly bespattered the stone. +Then the windlass creaked, and down came the massive block of Indiana +limestone, covering the recess into which had been stuffed some records +of the present day. Then the architect and Cook busied themselves +adjusting the block, while the judge stepped backward to his seat, a +look of relief coming over his red face, as if he felt that he had +virtually executed the trust left him by his old friend. + +As the gathering dispersed, Helen's eyes fell upon a great wooden sign +surmounting the workmen's shed: THE GRAVES CONSTRUCTION +COMPANY--GENERAL CONTRACTORS--CHICAGO AND NEW YORK. + +So this was the company that had finally secured the general contract +for the building. As Helen knew, there had been vexatious delays over +the bids. The first figures had been very much in excess of the sum +the trustees had intended to spend upon the building. They had forced +the architect to modify his plans somewhat and to ask for new bids. +Pemberton had been especially obstinate, and Hart had grumbled about +him to his wife:-- + +"Why does the old duffer chew the rag over a couple of hundred +thousand, when they have over three millions, anyway? It doesn't come +out of _his_ pocket!" + +At last, after some wrangling, the trustees had accepted the lowest +bid, though it was still considerably beyond the figure they had set. +Hart regarded it as a triumph: he had saved substantially the integrity +of his design, and the Graves Company got the contract. + +Now all was serene. From the hour that the contract was signed, the +building rose from nothingness by leaps and bounds. Graves was always +rapid in his operations, and for this building he seemed to have made +every preparation beforehand. The labor situation, which was still +unsettled, caused him no delay. His rivals said that he had the +leaders in the unions on his pay-rolls, and could build when other +contractors were tied up by strikes. Other firms could not get their +steel from the mills for months, but Graves had some mysterious way of +securing his material when he wanted it. The day after the +corner-stone was laid he had an army of men at work; early in June the +walls were up to the roof trusses; by the end of July the great edifice +was completely roofed in, and the plasterers were at work. + +The contracts once signed, the judge and Wheeler seemed to regard that +their responsibilities were over. Hollister, who had been in poor +health latterly, had gone to Europe. But Pemberton was the bane of the +architect's life. He visited Hart's office almost daily, looked +carefully at every voucher before ordering it paid, and spent long +afternoons at the works. He examined the building from foundation to +roof with his thrifty New England eye, and let no detail escape him, +stickling over unimportant trifles, and delaying the numerous orders +for extras or alterations. The whole operation of modern building was +an unknown language to him. He knew that he was ignorant of what was +going on before his eyes, and his helplessness made him improperly +suspicious of the architect and the contractor. Many a time he +strained Hart's habitual tact. They nearly came to blows over some +window frames, which the architect had seen fit to alter without +consulting the building committee. + +One morning Hart found Pemberton at the school in company with a +stranger, who made notes in a little memorandum book. The trustee +nodded curtly to the architect, and, as he was preparing to leave, +remarked casually:-- + +"This is Mr. Trimble, Mr. Hart. Mr. Trimble is an engineer, who has +been in my employ from time to time. He will look through the works +and make a report. Mr. Trimble will not interfere with you in any way, +Mr. Hart. He will report to me." + +The architect's face grew white with suppressed rage, and his lips +trembled as he answered:-- + +"What is your reason for taking this step, Mr. Pemberton? When I was +given the commission, nothing was said about having a superintendent. +If there is to be one, he should report to me. As you know quite well, +I have devoted my entire time to this building, and given up other work +in order that I might be out here every day. I shall speak to the +other trustees about this, and I'll not stand the insult, Mr. +Pemberton!" + +"Tut, tut, no insult, Mr. Hart. You must know that it's quite usual in +work of this magnitude for the owners to have their representative at +the works. There will be no interference with you or the contractor, +if the building goes right." + +The architect swallowed his anger for the time, merely answering +sulkily: "Mr. Graves will take no orders except from me, of course. +The contracts are so drawn." + +"What's that!" Pemberton exclaimed. "I hope there will be no occasion +to alter that arrangement." + +The architect bowed and left the building. + +"Snarling, prying old fogy," he spluttered to his wife, who was waiting +outside in the automobile. "Let him put in his superintendent. I +guess we can give him a run for his money." + +The woman's heart sank. Somehow this school, this bit of great-hearted +idealism on the part of the old man she loved, had thus far stirred up +a deal of mud. + + +Pemberton did not think it necessary to discuss with the architect his +reasons for engaging Mr. Trimble as superintendent, but he had what +seemed to him sufficient cause to look into the building more +thoroughly than he was able to himself. After the contract had been +let, the trustees had received a number of anonymous letters, which +made charges that all had not been square in getting the bids for the +building. These letters had gone into the waste basket, as mere +cowardly attacks from some disgruntled contractor. Then, one day while +the building was still in the rough, and the tile was going in, +Pemberton overheard one of the laborers say to his mate:-- + +"Look at that stuff, now. It ain't no good at all," and the man gave +the big yellow tile a kick with his foot; "it's nothin' but dust. +Them's rotten bad tiles, I tell yer." + +And the other Paddy answered reflectively, scratching his elbow the +while:-- + +"It'll go all the same. Sure, it's more money in his pocket. Ain't +that so, boss?" + +He appealed to Pemberton, whom he took for one of the passers-by gaping +idly at the building. + +"What do you mean?" the trustee demanded sharply. + +"Mane? The less you pay the more you git in this wurld!" + +"Hist, you fule," the other one warned, twisting his head in the +direction of the boss mason, who was not far away. + +Pemberton was not the man to take much thought of a laborer's idle +talk. But the words remained in his mind, and a few weeks later, +happening to meet the superintendent of a large construction company in +the smoking-car of the Forest Park train, he asked the man some +questions about fireproof building. + +"Why did your people refuse to bid the second time?" he inquired +finally. + +"They saw it was just a waste of time and money," the man replied +frankly. + +"What do you mean by that?" + +"Why, the job was slated for Graves--that was all. It was clear enough +to us. There's mighty little that goes out of that office except to +Graves." + +"Is that so? I asked Mr. Hart particularly to have your company bid on +the contracts." + +Then the man became confidential, and explained how a certain ambiguity +in the wording of the specifications made it risky for a contractor to +bid unless he knew just how the architect would treat him; for the +contractor might easily "get stuck" for much more than the possible +profits, though bidding in perfect good faith. The man was willing +enough to talk, once started on the subject, and in the course of half +an hour he explained to the layman some of the chicanery of the +building business. + +"So you see, Mr. Pemberton, the contractor, to protect himself when he +doesn't know his man, bids pretty high, and then the favored contractor +can safely go a good bit lower. He has an understanding with the +architect, maybe, and it all depends on how the specifications are +going to be interpreted." + +And he told other things,--how some of the firms who had bid had since +got parts of the general contract from the Graves Company, but with an +altered set of specifications. + +"It's queer," he ended finally. "We can't see how they'll make a cent +on the contract unless Graves is goin' to rot it clear through." + +He explained what he meant by "rotting" it,--the use of cheap grades of +materials and inferior labor, from the foundation stones to the +cornice. In other words, the building would be a "job." + +"For those specifications called for a first-class building, and no +mistake,--awful heavy steel work, and cabinet finish, and all that. If +it's built according to specification, you're going to have a +first-class school all right." + +The result of this chance conversation was that after consultation with +Judge Phillips, Pemberton sent to Boston for the engineer Trimble, whom +he knew to be absolutely honest and capable. + + +When Hart left Pemberton, he went directly to Wheeler's office and +exploded to his cousin. His anger at the affront offered to him had +entirely hidden the thought of the disagreeable complications that +might follow. He took a high stand with Wheeler about the trustees' +lack of confidence in him. But the cool lawyer, after hearing his +remonstrances, said placidly:-- + +"If Pemberton wants this man Trimble to go over the building, I don't +see how you can prevent it. And I don't see the harm in it myself. I +suppose everything is all right. See that it is,--that's your +business. Pemberton would be a bad man to deal with if he found any +crooked work. You'd better look sharp after that fellow Graves." + +The architect assured his cousin that there was no need to worry on +that score. But he began to realize the dangers ahead, and felt a +degree of comfort in the fact that Graves had only that week paid him +in cash for the second block of his Glenmore hotel "stock." With the +previous payment he had now thirty-five thousand dollars lying in his +bank, and a large payment on the commission for the school would soon +be due him. + +Trouble was not long in coming. Trimble, who was a quiet little man, +and looked like a bookseller's clerk, was waiting for Hart one morning +at the office of the works. He made some pointed inquiries about the +plumbing specifications. There seemed to be important discrepancies +between the copy of the specifications at the works and the copy which +Pemberton had given him from the office of the trustees. + +"Yes, a good many changes were authorized. There were good reasons for +making them," Hart responded gruffly. + +The little man made no remarks; he seemed to have inquired out of +curiosity. Then he asked questions about some blue-prints which did +not correspond with the written specifications, explaining that he had +gone to the mill where the interior finish was being turned out and had +found other discrepancies in the details prepared for the woodwork. +Hart answered indifferently that he would find a good many such +changes, as was customary in all buildings. At this point Graves +arrived; he came into the little shanty and looked Trimble over without +speaking. After the engineer had left, Graves turned to the architect, +an ugly frown on his heavy face:-- + +"Say, is that little cuss goin' to make trouble here?" + +Hart explained briefly what had happened. + +"Do you think we could fix him?" the contractor asked without further +comment. + +The architect noticed the "we" and sulked. + +"I guess you'd better not try. He doesn't look like the kind you could +fix. It's just as well that most of the work is done, for it seems to +me he means trouble." + +"All the finish and decoratin' is comin', ain't it?" the contractor +growled. "I tell you what, if he holds up the mill work, and keeps +fussin' round, there'll be more than one kind of trouble. I won't +stand no nonsense from your damned trustees." He swore out his disgust +and fumed, until Hart said:-- + +"Well, you'll have to do the best you can. And I'll try to keep the +trustees quiet." + +The Glenmore hotel was going up rapidly, and he thought of the twenty +thousand dollars which would be coming to him on the completion of that +building--if all went well. But if there should be a row, there would +be no further profits for him on the hotel. + +"The best I can!" Graves broke forth. "I guess you'll have to take +care of them. You'd better see your cousin and get him to call this +feller off, or there'll be trouble." + +"I have seen Wheeler," the architect admitted. + +"Well," the contractor blustered, "if they want a fight, let 'em come +on. There'll be a strike on this building in twenty-four hours, I can +tell you, and then it'll be years before they can get their school +opened." + +With this threat the contractor left the office, and Hart went over to +the great building, which had become a thorn in his flesh these last +weeks. It was not a bad piece of work, after all, as Chicago building +was done, he reflected. Even if Graves had cut the work in places, and +had made too much money on the steel, the stone, and here and there all +over, the edifice would answer its purpose well enough, and the +architect had no special interest in the everlasting qualities of his +structures. Nothing was built to stand for more than a generation in +this city. Life moved too swiftly for that. + +For several weeks, as the end of August came near, there was a lull, +while Pemberton was in the East on his vacation. The work on the +school went forward as before; even the irritation of seeing Trimble's +face was removed, for he had ceased to visit the works. Then, the +first week in September, the storm burst. There came to the +architect's office a peremptory summons to meet the trustees the next +afternoon. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +Powers Jackson had given the old Jackson homestead and farm at Vernon +Falls in Vermont to Helen, and with it a small legacy of twelve +thousand dollars "as a maintenance fund." She had opened the house but +once or twice since her marriage, because Jackson was always too busy +to take a long vacation, and she did not like to leave him. Latterly +she had thought about the old man's gift a good deal, and there had +been some talk of her spending the summer in Vernon Falls with the +children and her mother. Instead of this they had gone to the Shoreham +Club for a few weeks in August, putting off the journey East till the +fall. + +She had never touched the legacy, leaving it in Everett Wheeler's +hands, securely invested, and had paid what was needed to maintain the +old place from her allowance. Now, however, a number of repairs on the +buildings had accumulated, and it occurred to her one day, when she was +in the city, to find out from Wheeler how much surplus she had at her +disposal. They had joked a good deal about her estate, and the lawyer +had scolded her for not coming to his office to examine the papers and +see what he was doing with her money. + +It was late in the afternoon when she had finished other, more urgent +errands, and, turning into the lofty La Salle Street building, was +whirled up to the twelfth floor. The middle-aged stenographer in +Wheeler's office looked up on her entrance, and said that the lawyer +had not left, but was engaged with some gentlemen. Would she wait? +She sat down in the quiet, carpeted outer office, from which radiated +several small offices. The doors of all these rooms were open except +one, and through the ground-glass panel in this door she could see the +dark forms of several men. Presently the stenographer pushed her +papers into the drawer of her desk, and fetched her hat and coat. + +"I think they must be 'most through," she remarked pleasantly. "You go +right in when they come out." + +Then she gathered up her gloves and left. Little noise came from the +hall, except the occasional sliding back and forth of elevator gates. +The vast hive seemed to be deserted at this hour, and few places in the +city were so quiet and lonesome as this sober law office. The murmur +of voices in the inner room was the only sound of life. Gradually the +voices grew louder, but Helen paid no attention to them until a man's +voice, clear and shrill with exasperation, penetrated distinctly to the +outer office. + +"No, Wheeler!" the man almost shouted. "We won't compromise this. I +won't have it covered up or whitewashed. We'll go to the bottom, here +and now. Let us find out what all this double-dealing means. Let us +know, now, whether the work on that building is being done honestly or +not, and whether our architect is working for us or for the contractor +against us." + +It was Pemberton's voice, and Helen recognized it. From the first +words she had grasped the arms of her chair--a sudden clutch at her +heart. She held herself rigid, while behind the door a confused murmur +of men all talking at once drowned Pemberton's voice. She tried to +think whether she ought to leave the office, but her strength had gone, +and she trembled in her chair. Presently Pemberton's high voice rang +out again:-- + +"No, sir! We've given you this opportunity to explain your conduct and +clear yourself. You haven't done it, sir! You try to bluster it +through. There is something wrong in this business, and we shall find +out what it is. Not another dollar will be paid out on your vouchers +until our experts have gone through all the papers and examined every +foot of the construction so far done. No, Wheeler, I will resign if +you like. You asked me to join you. I was glad to do so. I +considered it an honor and a duty, and I have made sacrifices for this +trust. But if I stay on the board, this thing must be cleared up!" + +Another high and angry voice answered this time:-- + +"You'd better not make loose charges, Mr. Pemberton, until you are in a +position to prove what you say. I won't stand your talk; I don't +propose to stay here and let you bully me--I'm going!" + +Helen recognized her husband's voice, and she got to her feet, still +clutching the chair. Then she stepped forward unsteadily toward the +inner office. The handle of the door moved a little, and against the +glass panel the form of a man stood out sharply. + +"What are you going to do about it? Sue Graves? Or sue me? You can +discharge me if you like. But I am your agent and have full powers. +Remember that! That's the way the contract is drawn. And if I back up +Graves, what are you going to do about it? He's got your agent's +signature for what he's done.... You'd better hold your temper and +talk sense." ... + +"Don't threaten me, sir!" Pemberton retorted. "I have all the proof I +want that you are a rascal, that you have entered into a conspiracy +with this man Graves to swindle." ... + +There were sounds of a scuffle within the office,--the noise of falling +chairs, the voices of excited men. Above all the clamor rose the cool +tones of Wheeler:-- + +"Come, come, gentlemen! This is not business." + +As he spoke, a weight fell against the door from the outside. The man +nearest the outer office, who happened to be Judge Phillips, opened the +door, and Helen fell, rather than walked, into the room, her face +white, her hands stretched before her. + +"Francis! Francis!" she called. + +It was not her husband, however, who sprang to her aid. He was too +startled to move. Wheeler, who was leaning against his desk with his +hands in his pockets, leaped forward, caught her, and carried her from +the room. + +"Nell, Nell!" he muttered to himself. "Why did you come here!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +Husband and wife did not speak while they were being driven across the +city to their home. That which lay between them was too heavy to be +touched upon at once in words. Several times the architect glanced +fearfully at his wife. She rested limply on the carriage cushion, with +closed eyes, and occasionally a convulsive tremor twitched her body. +The summer heat, which had raged untempered for weeks, had already +sapped her usual strength, and now her face had a bloodless pallor that +made the man wince miserably. When the cab stopped at the North Side +bridge, where a burly vessel was being pulled through the draw, Helen +opened her eyes languidly; once or twice she sought her husband's face, +which was turned blankly toward the crowded street. Her lips moved, +and then she closed her eyes again. As they got out of the cab, a +neighbor who was passing spoke to them and made a little joke, to which +Jackson replied pleasantly, with perfect self-control. The woman +leaning on his arm shivered, as if a fresh chill had seized her. + +The children were spending the month in Wisconsin with Jackson's +mother, and so the two sat down to a silent dinner. When the maid had +come and gone for the last time, Hart looked furtively across the table +to his wife and said gently:-- + +"Won't you go upstairs, Nell? You don't look able to sit up." + +She shook her head and tried to speak, but her voice was gone. Finally +she whispered:-- + +"Francis, you must tell me all about it,--everything!" + +He frowned and said nothing, until she repeated, "Everything, you must +tell me!" and then he replied:-- + +"See here, Nell, you'd better drop this thing and not think of it +again. That man Pemberton, who has pestered the life out of me all +along, has made a row. He's an ill-tempered beast. That's all. And +he'll repent it, too! He can't do anything to me. It's a business +quarrel, and I don't want you to worry over it." + +He was cool and assured, and spoke with the kindly authority of a +husband. + +"No, Francis!" She shook her head wearily. "That can't be all. I +must know what it is--I must help you." + +"You can't help me," he replied calmly. "I have told you enough. They +can't do anything. I don't want to go any further into that business." + +"I must know!" she cried. + +He was startled at the new force in her voice, the sign of a will +erecting itself with its own authority against him. + +"Know what? What that fool Pemberton thinks of me? You heard enough +of that, I guess." + +"Don't put me off! Don't put me away from you, now, Francis! If we +are to love each other, if we are to live together, I must know you, +all of you. I am in a fog. There is something wrong all about me, and +it gets between us and kills our love. I cannot--bear--it!" + +Her voice broke into pleading, and ended in a sob. But controlling +herself quickly, she added:-- + +"Mr. Pemberton is a fair man, a just man. But if he's wrong, I want to +know that, too. I want to hate him for what he said to you." + +"You would like to judge me, to judge your husband!" he retorted +coldly. "That is not the way to love. I thought you would believe in +me, all through to the end." + +"So I shall--if you will tell me all the truth. I would go with you +anywhere, to prison if need be, if you would be open with me." + +"We needn't talk of going to prison yet awhile!" he exclaimed in +exasperation. + +He went to the sideboard, and pouring himself a glass of whiskey, set +the decanter on the table. + +"They can't do anything but talk," he repeated. Then, warmed by the +liquor, he began to be more insolent, to speak defiantly. + +"Pemberton's been after me from the start. He wanted Wright to get the +work in the first place, and he's tried to put every obstacle he could +in my way. It was first one thing and then another. He has made life +unendurable with his prying and his suspicions. But I won't stand it +another day. I'm going to Everett to-morrow and tell him that I shall +get out if Pemberton is to interfere with my orders. And they can't +lay a finger on me, I tell you! Pemberton can just talk!" + +Helen had put her head between her hands, and she was sobbing. Every +hot word that he spoke drove conviction against him into her heart. At +last she raised her tear-stained face and cried out with a new access +of power:-- + +"Stop! Stop!" + +Then she rose, took the decanter of whiskey, replaced it on the +sideboard, and seated herself by his side, putting her hand on his arm. + +"Francis, if you care for me, if you want us ever to love each other +again, answer me honestly. Have you and that contractor done anything +wrong about the school?" + +"You can't understand," he replied roughly, drawing his arm from her +touch. "You are making a great deal out of your own imagination." + +"Answer me!" she said, in the same tense tone of pure will. "Have you +let that man Graves cheat the trustees,--do anything dishonest,--and +shut your eyes to it?" + +"Pemberton claims he hasn't lived up to the specifications," the +architect admitted sullenly. + +"And you knew it?" + +"So he says." + +There was a moment's silence between them while the vision of this +fraud filled their minds. She seemed to hesitate before the evil thing +that she had raised, and then she asked again, quickly:-- + +"Have you--did you make any money from it?" + +He did not reply. + +"Tell me, Francis!" she persisted. "Did this man give you anything for +letting him--cheat the trustees? Tell me!" + +He was cold and careless now. This new will in his wife, unexpected, +so totally unlike her gentle, yielding nature, compelled him to reveal +some part of the truth. In this last resort her will was the stronger. +He said slowly:-- + +"If he got the school contract, there was an understanding that he was +to give me some stock in a corporation. It was involved with other +business." + +"He was to give you stock?" + +"Yes; stock in a hotel that he's been building--another piece of work." + +"And he gave you this stock?" + +"Some of it." + +"What have you done with it?" + +"Sold it." + +"You have sold it?" + +"Yes. It was a kind of bonus he gave me for getting him the contract +and for doing the plans for the hotel, too." + +Further than that admission he would not go, and they left the subject +late at night. He was sullen and hard, and resented her new tone of +authority to him; for he had always counted on her acquiescence and +tenderness as his immutable rights. + +In the morning this feeling of resentment was more firmly fixed. He +regretted that in a moment of weakness he had admitted what he had the +night before. When she came to him as he was preparing to leave the +house, and, putting her hands on his arms, begged him to talk with her +again before going to the office, he listened moodily and said that he +was pressed for time. + +"Won't you go to them, to the trustees, to Everett, anyway, and tell +them everything you know? And give them that money--the money you got +from the stock?" + +"That's a woman's plan! That would make a nice mess, wouldn't it? I +told you I got that as a bonus. I have worked a lot for this +contractor, and he offered me this chance to make some money in one of +his schemes. It's often done, something like that. You'd like to see +me get into trouble--be disgraced for good and all?" + +"That can make no difference now," she answered quietly. "The disgrace +cannot be helped." + +"What rot!" he sneered. "You make me out a thief at once. Suppose you +look at what some of your acquaintances do,--the good, rich people in +this town,--and find out how they make their money. Ask people how +Silas Stewart gets his rebates from the railroads. Ask any one about +the way Strauss grades his wheat." + +"I don't want to know," she interrupted sadly. "That has nothing to do +with this matter." + +He left her impatiently. They did not reopen the sore that evening, +nor the next day. Her face was set and stern, with a kind of dreary +purpose in it, which made him unhappy. He went out of the city on +business, and did not return for several days. When he came home no +mention was made of his absence, and for another week they lived +silently. The night before the children were to return from their +vacation with their grandmother, while husband and wife lay awake, each +troubled by the common thought, she spoke again. + +"Francis," she said firmly, "we can't go on like this. The boys are +coming home to-morrow. They mustn't see us living this way. And it's +bad for you, Francis, and I can't stand it! I have been thinking it +over. I must go away with the boys. I shall go to uncle Powers's +house in Vernon Falls." + +"You are going to leave me and take the children with you because you +think I am in trouble," he said accusingly. + +"You know that isn't true. If you will only meet this trouble +honorably, like the man I loved and married, I will stay, and be with +you always, no matter what comes. Will you?" + +"So you want to make conditions?" + +"Just one." + +"You had better go, then." + +She turned her face to her pillow and wept in the dreary realization +that she could touch him in no way. The next day she telephoned her +mother to come to her, and when Mrs. Spellman arrived, she said +quietly:-- + +"Mother, I am going to Vermont, to the farm. It may be for a long +time. Will you come with me and the boys?" + +Mrs. Spellman, who was a wise woman, took her daughter's face between +her hands and kissed her. + +"Of course," she answered simply. + + +That day they made the necessary preparations for themselves and the +children. When the architect returned from his office and saw what was +going forward, he said to his wife:-- + +"So you are determined to leave me?" + +"Yes, I must go unless--" + +"I have seen Everett. They aren't going to do anything. I told you it +was all bluff on Pemberton's part." + +She hesitated, uncertain what to think, and then she asked +searchingly:-- + +"Why aren't they going to do anything? What does it mean?" + +"Oh, I guess the others have brought Pemberton to his senses," he +replied evasively. "At any rate, it's blown over, as I told you it +would." + +"No, Francis! It isn't made right yet. You would be different if it +were. Somehow, from the beginning, when first there was talk of this +school, it has all been wrong. I hate it! I hate it! And the trouble +goes back of that, too. It starts from the very beginning, when we +were married, and began to live together. We have always done as the +others do all around us, and it is all wrong. I see it now. We can +never go on again in the same way--" + +"What way? I don't understand you in the least," he interrupted. + +"Why, just earning and spending money, trying to get more and more, +trying to get things. It's spoiled your work; it's spoiled you; and I +have been blind and weak to let us drift on like the others, getting +and spending, struggling to get ahead, until it has come to this, to +this,--something dreadful that you will not tell me,--something base +that you have done to make money. Oh, how low and mean it is! How +mean it makes men and women!" + +"That's life," he retorted neatly. + +"No, no, never! That wasn't what you and I thought before we married. +I wish you were a clerk, a laborer, a farm-hand,--anything, so that we +could be honest, and think of something besides making money. Let us +begin again, from the very beginning, and live like the common people +from day to day--live for your work, for the thing you do. Then we +should be happy. Never this way, not if you make millions, millions!" + +"Well, I can't see why you are set on going away," the architect +answered, content to see her mind turn from the practical question. + +"Tell me!" she exclaimed passionately. "Tell me! Is it all right with +that building? With that contractor? Are you honest? Are you an +honest man? Tell me, and I will believe you." + +"I have said all that I am going to say about that matter," he answered +stubbornly. + +"Then, Francis, I go!" + +The next afternoon the architect met his family at the train and saw +them start, punctiliously doing all the little things that he could to +make their journey comfortable. He referred to their going as a short +vacation trip, and joked with the boys about the farm. Just before the +train started, while Mrs. Spellman settled the children in their +section, Helen walked up and down the platform with him. As the signal +for starting was given she raised her veil, revealing the tears in her +eyes, and leaning toward him kissed him. She put into his hands a +little card, which she had been holding clasped in her palm. He raised +his hat and stood on the platform until the long train had pulled out +of the shed. Then he glanced at the card in his hand, which read:-- + +"I shall wait for you to come to me when you really want me. H." + +He crushed the card in his fist and threw it into the roadbed. + + + + +PART III + +INTO THE RANKS + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +As the architect had said to his wife, nothing of a serious nature was +to happen. In the end Everett Wheeler settled the matter. After the +first gust of passion it was clear enough that the trustees could not +have a scandal about the building. If the contractor were prosecuted, +the architect, the donor's nephew, would be involved; and, besides, it +was plain that Wheeler could not continue as trustee and assist in +ruining his cousin. When it came to this point, Pemberton, not wishing +to embarrass his associates, resigned. + +Hart was to continue nominally as the architect for the school, but +Trimble was to have actual charge of the building henceforth, with +orders to complete the work as soon as possible according to the +original specifications. At first Graves had blustered and threatened +to sue if certain vouchers issued by Hart were not paid, but Wheeler +"read the riot act" to him, and he emerged from the lawyer's office a +subdued and fearful man. The calm lawyer had a long arm, which reached +far into the city, and he frightened the contractor so thoroughly that +he was content to be allowed to complete the contract. Whatever parts +of his work had been done crookedly, he was to rectify as far as was +possible, and Trimble was to see that the construction which remained +to be done came up to specification. As for the irrevocable, the bad +work already accepted and paid for, the lawyer said nothing. + +Thus the man of the world, the perfectly cynical lawyer, had his way, +which was, on the whole, the least troublesome way for all concerned, +and avoided scandal. He was the calm one of the men involved: it was +his business to make arrangements with human weakness and frailty and +"to avoid scandal." That at all costs! + +He made his cousin no long reproaches. + +"We've nipped your claws, young man," he admonished him. + +He was disappointed in Jackson. Privately he considered him a +dunderheaded ass, who had weakly given himself as a tool to the +contractor. In his dealings with men, he had known many rascals, more +than the public was aware were rascals, and he respected some of them. +But they were the men, who, once having committed themselves to devious +ways, used other men as their tools. For little, foolish rascals, who +got befogged and "lost their nerve," he had only contempt. + +"How's your wife?" he asked bruskly. "That was a dirty blow she got +here the other day--straight between the eyes. I never thought she'd +come in here that afternoon." + +"Helen has gone East with the boys and her mother,--to that place in +Vermont. She hasn't been feeling well lately, and she needs the rest." + +"Oh, um, I see," the lawyer commented, comprehending quite well what +this journey meant. He was a little surprised that Helen should desert +her husband at this crisis. In his philosophy it was the part of a +woman who had character to "back her husband," no matter what he might +do, so long as he was faithful to his marriage oath. Jackson had been +a fool, like so many men; there was trouble in the air, and she had run +away. He would not have thought it of her. + + +Hart swallowed his humiliation before his cousin. He was much relieved +at the outcome of the affair; it released him from further +responsibility for the school, which had become hateful to him. He was +chiefly concerned, now, lest the difficulty with the trustees should +become known and hurt his reputation, especially lest the men in his +office, to whom he was an autocrat and a genius, should suspect +something. He began at once to push the work on the last details for +the hotel, with the hope of forcing Graves to deliver another block of +the "stock," which he argued was due him for his commission. + +Now that the matter had been quietly adjusted without scandal, he was +inclined to feel more aggrieved than ever over his wife's departure. +"She might have waited to see how it turned out," he repeated to +himself, obstinately refusing her the right to judge himself except +where his acts affected her publicly. For some time he kept up with +acquaintances the fiction of Helen's "visit in the East"; he even took +a room at the Shoreham Club for the hunting season. But he soon +fancied that the people at the club were cool to him; fewer engagements +came his way; no one referred to the great building, which had given +him so much reputation; the men he had known best seemed embarrassed +when he joined them,--men, too, who would not have winked an eye at a +"big coup." The women soon ceased to ask about Helen; it was getting +abroad that there was "something wrong with the Jackson Harts." For it +had leaked, more or less, as such matters always will leak. One man +drops a word to his neighbor, and the neighbor's wife pieces that to +something she has heard or surmised. + +So before the season was over Hart gave up his room at the club, where +his raw self-consciousness was too often bruised. Then, finding his +empty house in the city insupportable, he went to live with his mother +in his uncle's old home. There was a lull in building at this time, +due to the high prices of materials, but fortunately he could keep +himself busy with the hotel and a large country house in the centre of +the state, which often made an excuse for him to get away from the city. + +Helen wrote to him from time to time, filling her letters with details +about the boys. She suggested that they should return to the city to +visit their grandmother during the Christmas holidays. She never +referred to the situation between them, apparently considering that he +had it in his power to end it when he would. He was minded often when +he received these letters to write her sternly in reply, setting forth +the wrong which in her obstinacy she was doing to herself and their +children. He went over these imaginary letters in his idle moments, +working out their phrases with great care; they had a fine, dignified +ring to them, the tolerant and condoning note. But when he tried to +write he did not get very far with them. Sometimes he thought of +writing simply, "I love you very much, Nell; I want you back; can you +not forgive me?" But he knew well that he could not merely say, "I +have done wrong, forgive me," if he would affect that new will in his +wife, so gently stern. Even if he could bring himself to confess his +dishonesty, that would not suffice. There was another and deeper gulf +between them, one that he could not clearly fathom. "From the very +beginning we have lived wrongly," she had cried that last time. "We +can never go on again in the same way." ... No, he was not ready to +accept her judgment of him. + + +Thus the winter wore away, forlornly, and early in April the first hint +of spring came into the dirty city. On a Sunday afternoon the +architect went to call on his old friend, Mrs. Phillips, who was one of +the few persons who gave him any comfort these days. He found her +cutting the leaves of an art journal. + +"There's an article here about that German--the one we are all trying +to help, you know," she said, giving him a hand. "Yes, I have taken to +patronizing the arts; it's pleasanter than charities. I have graduated +from philanthropy. And you have to do something nowadays, if you want +to keep up." + +She spoke with her usual bluntness, and then added a little cant in a +conventional tone:-- + +"And I think those of us who have the time and the position should do +something to help these poor artists who are struggling here in this +commercial city. People won't buy their pictures.... But what is the +matter with you? You look as if you had come to the end of everything. +I suppose it's the old story. That cold Puritan wife of yours has gone +for good. It's no use pretending to me; I knew from the start how it +would be." + +"But I don't know whether she has gone for good," he muttered. + +"You might as well make up your mind to it. Two people like you two +can't get along together." + +"It isn't that," he protested. "We have been very happy until lately." + +"Well, don't mope, whatever you do. Either go and eat your humble pie, +or arrange for a divorce. You can't go on this way much longer. Oh, I +know all your troubles, of course. Hasn't that pleasant brother-in-law +of mine been in here rehearsing that story about the school,--well, +what do you call it? And he seems to hold me responsible for the mess, +because I liked you, and gave you your first chance. I didn't corrupt +you, did I?" + +The architect moved uneasily. The widow's levity displeased him, and +roused his anger afresh against the trustees. + +"I don't know what rot Judge Phillips has been telling you, but--" + +"Come," she interrupted him in his defence, "sit down here by me and +let me talk to you. You know me well enough to see that I don't care +what the judge says. But I have something to say to you." + +She made a place for him on the lounge, and tossed him a pillow to make +him comfortable. Then, dropping her review on the floor, she locked +her fingers behind her head and looked searchingly at the man. + +"I don't know what you have been up to, and I don't care. Harrison +always said I hadn't any moral sense, and I suppose I haven't of his +sort. You should have had your uncle's money, or a good part at any +rate, and it's natural that you should try to get all you can of it +now, I say. But you must have been stupid to let that old square-toes +Pemberton get in your way." + +This cynical analysis of the situation was not precisely salve to the +architect's wound. He was not ready to go as far as the woman lightly +sketched. But he listened, for the sake of her sympathy, if for no +other reason. + +"Now, as I said, there's no use moping around here. Pick right up and +get out for a few months. When you come back, people won't remember +what was the matter. Or, if you still find it chilly, you can go to +New York and start there. It's no use fighting things out and all +that. Bury them." + +She paused to give emphasis to her suggestion, + +"Let your wife play by herself for a while; it will do her good. When +she hears that you are in Europe, having a good time, she'll begin to +see she's been silly.... I am going over, too. I've got to rent +Forest Manor this summer. That Harris man went wrong the last time he +advised me, and got me into all sorts of trouble,--industrials. +Venetia pensions me! She won't go abroad, but she kindly gives me what +she thinks I ought to spend for the summer and advises me to go over. +I sail on the _Kronprinz_, the 20th." + +The invitation to him was implied in the pause that followed. The +gleam in the man's eyes showed his interest in her suggestion, but he +made no reply. + +"There's nothing to do in your business just now, as you said, and you +should give these talky people a chance to forget. We could have a +good time over there. You might buy some things and sell them here, +and make your expenses that way easily. You know all the nice little +places, and if Maida and her husband come over, we could take an auto +and do them. Think of Italy in May!" + +She unclasped her hands and leaned forward, resting one arm on the +cushioned back of the lounge, and thus revealing a very pretty forearm +and wrist. Two little red spots of enthusiasm glowed in her cheeks. +What life and vitality at forty-three! the man thought, smiling +appreciatively into her face. For the first time she moved him +emotionally. He was lonely, miserable, and thoroughly susceptible to +such charm as she had. + +"It would be awfully pleasant," he said at last, leaning toward her, +"to get away from this place, with you!" ... + +His hand slipped to her beautiful arm. At that moment Venetia came +into the room, unnoticed by the two on the lounge. She stood for a +little while watching them, and then, with a smile on her expressive +lips, noiselessly withdrew. + +"Well, wire for a passage to-morrow," Mrs. Phillips murmured.... + +There was nothing more, nothing that would have offended the most +scrupulous; for the architect, at least, was essentially +healthy-minded. In a lonely moment he might satisfy the male need for +sympathy by philandering with a pretty woman, who soothed his bruised +egotism. But he did not have that kind of weakness--the woman +weakness. A few minutes later he was leaving the room, saying as he +looked into Louise Phillips's brown eyes:-- + +"Yes, I think you are right. I need to get away from this town for a +while and rest my nerves." + +"When you come back people will be only too glad to see you. They +don't remember their scruples long." + +"There isn't anything for them to worry over." + +"The _Kronprinz_, then." + +In the hall he met Venetia, who was slowly coming down the stairs, +wrapped in a long cloak. She hesitated a moment, then continued to +descend. + +"Hello, Venetia!" Hart called out. + +She swept down the remaining steps without replying, her eyes shining +hotly. As she passed him, she turned and shot one word full in his +face,--"Cad!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +The girl's word was like a blow in the face. It toppled over any +self-complacency that had survived these last disintegrating months. +Was he as mean a thing as that? So little that a girl whom he had +always treated with jovial condescension might insult him, unprovoked? +Probably others, all those people whose acquaintance he valued, had a +like contempt for him, which they refrained, conventionally, from +expressing. At first he did not resent their judgment; he was too much +dazed. + +In this plight he walked south on the avenue, without minding where he +was going, and then turned west, automatically, at Twenty-second +Street, walking until he came to the region of dance halls and flashy +saloons. In this unfamiliar neighborhood there was a glare of light +from the great electric signs which decorated the various places of +resort, and the street was crowded with men and women, who loitered +about the saloons and dance halls, enjoying the fitful mildness of the +April evening. At this early hour there were more women than men on +the street, and their dresses of garish spring colors, their loud, +careless voices, and air of reckless ease, reminded the architect +faintly, very faintly, of the boulevards he had loved in his happy +student years. In this spot of the broad American city coarse license +flourished, and the one necessity for him who sought forgetfulness was +the price of pleasure. The scene distracted his mind for the moment +from the sting of the girl's contempt. + +He entered one of the larger saloons on the corner of an avenue, and +sat down at a small table. When the waiter darted to him, and, +impudently leering across the table into his face, asked, "What's +yours, gent?" he answered quickly: "Champagne! Bring me a bottle and +ice." His heavy spirit craved the amber wine, which, in association at +least, heartens man. At the tables all about him sat the women of the +neighborhood, large-boned and heavy creatures, drinking beer by +themselves, or taking champagne with stupid-looking rough men, probably +buyers and sellers of stock at the Yards, which were not far away. The +women had the blanched faces of country girls over whom the city has +passed like the plates of a mighty roller. The men had the tan of the +distant prairies, from which they had come with their stock. Their +business over, the season's profit obtained, they had set themselves to +deliberate debauch that should last for days,--as long as the "wad" +held out and the brute lust in their bodies remained unquenched. + +Presently the waiter returned with the heavy bottle and slopped some of +the wine into a glass. The architect raised it and drank. It was +execrable, sweetened stuff, but he drank the glass at a draught, and +poured another and drank it. The girl's inexplicable insult swept over +him afresh in a wave of anger. He should find a way somehow to call +her to account.... + +"Say, mister, you don't want to drink all that wine by yourself, do +you?" + +A woman at the next table, who was sitting alone before an empty beer +glass and smoking a cigarette, had spoken to him in a furtive voice. + +"Come over, then," he answered, roughly pushing a chair to the table. +"Here, waiter, bring another glass." + +The woman slid, rather than walked, to the chair by his side, and drank +the champagne like a parched animal. He ordered another bottle. + +"Enjoying yourself?" she inquired politely, having satisfied her first +thirst. "Been in the city long? I ain't seen you here at Dove's +before." + +He looked at her with languid curiosity. She recalled to him the +memory of her Paris sisters, with whom he had shared many a +_consommation_ in those blessed days that he had almost forgotten. But +she had none of the sparkle, the human charm, of her Latin sisters. +She was a coarse vessel, and he wondered at the men who sought joy in +her. + +"Where do you come from?" he demanded. + +"Out on the coast. San Diego's my home. But I was in Philadelphia +last winter. I guess I shall go back to the East pretty soon. I don't +like Chicago much--it's too rough out here to suit me." + +She found Chicago inferior! He laughed with the humor of the idea. It +was a joke he should like to share with his respectable friends. They +drank and talked while the evening sped, and he plied her with many +questions in idle curiosity, touched with that interest in women of her +class which most men have somewhere in the dregs of their natures. She +chatted volubly, willing enough to pay for her entertainment. + +As he listened to her, this creature of the swift instants, whose only +perception was the moment's sensation, he grew philosophical. The +other world, his proper world of care and painful forethought, faded +from his vision. Here in Dove's place he was a thousand miles from the +respectabilities in which he had his being. Here alone in the city one +might forget them, and nothing mattered,--his troubles, his wife's +judgment of him, the girl's contempt. + +At last he had loosened that troublesome coil of things, which lately +had weighed him down, and it seemed easy enough to cut himself free +from it for good and walk the earth once more unhampered, like these, +the flotsam of the city. + +"Come! Let's go over to Grinsky's hall," the woman suggested, noticing +the architect's silence, and seeing no immediate prospect of another +bottle of wine. "We'll find something doing over there, sure." + +But he was already tired of the woman; she offended his cultivated +sensibilities. So he shook his head, paid for the wine, said good +evening to her, and started to leave the place. She followed him, +talking volubly, and when they reached the street she took his arm, +clinging to him with all the weight of her dragging will. + +"You don't want to go home yet," she coaxed. "You're a nice gentleman. +Come in here to Grinsky's and give me a dance." + +Her entreaties disgusted him. People on the street looked and smiled. +At the bottom he was a thoroughly clean-minded American; he could not +even coquette with debauch without shame and timidity. She and her +class were nauseating to him, like evil-smelling rooms and foul sights. +That was not his vice. + +He paid for her admission to the dance-hall, dropped a dollar in her +hand, and left her. Then where to go? How to pass the hours? He was +at an utter loss what to do with himself, like all properly married, +respectable men, when the domestic pattern of their lives is disturbed +for any reason. So, vaguely, without purpose, he began to stroll east +in the direction of the lake, taking off his hat to let the night wind +cool his head. He found walking pleasant in the mild spring air, and +when he came to the end of the street he turned south into a deserted +avenue that was starred in the dark night by a line of arc lamps. It +was a dull, respectable, middle-class district, quite unfamiliar to +him, and he stared inquiringly at the monotonous blocks of brick houses +and cheap apartment buildings. Here was the ugly, comfortable housing +of the modern city, where lived a mass of good citizens,--clerks and +small business men with their wives and children. He wondered vaguely +if this was what his wife would have him come to, this dreary monotony +of small homes, each one like its neighbor, where the two main facts of +existence were shelter and food. + +A wave of self-pity swept over him, and his thoughts returned to his +old grievance: if Helen had stayed by him all would have been well. He +wanted his children; he wanted his home, his wife, his neighbors, his +little accustomed world of human relationships,--all as it had been +before. And he blamed her for destroying his happiness, shutting his +mind obstinately to any other consideration, unwilling to admit even to +his secret self that his greed, his thirst for luxury, had aught to do +with the case. He had striven with all his might, even as the bread +winners in these houses strove daily, to get a point of vantage in the +universal struggle. Doubtless these humble citizens had their modicum +of content. But why should he, with his larger appetite, be condemned +to their level? The idea was utterly repugnant to him, and gradually +that heavy weight of depression, which the wine had temporarily lifted, +pressed on his spirits. + + +He must have walked many blocks on this avenue between the monotonous +small houses. In the distance beyond him, to the south, he saw a fiery +glow on the soft heavens, which he took to be the nightly reflection +from the great blast furnaces of the steel works in South Chicago. +Presently as he emerged upon a populous cross street, the light seemed +suddenly much nearer, and, unlike the soft effulgence from the blast +furnaces, the red sky was streaked with black. On the corners of the +street there was an unwonted excitement,--men gaping upward at the +fiery cloud, then running eastward, in the direction of the lake. From +the west there sounded the harsh gong of a fire-engine, which was +pounding rapidly down the car tracks. It came, rocking in a whirlwind +of galloping horses and swaying men. The crowd on the street broke +into a run, streaming along the sidewalks in the wake of the engine. + +The architect woke from his dead thoughts and ran with the crowd. Two, +three, four blocks, they sped toward the lake, which curves eastward at +this point, and as he ran the street became strangely familiar to him. +The crowd turned south along a broad avenue that led to the park. Some +one cried: "There it is! It's the hotel!" A moment more, and the +architect found himself at the corner of the park opposite the lofty +building, out of whose upper stories broad billows of smoke, broken by +tongues of flame, were pouring. + +There, in the corner made by the boulevard and the park, where formerly +was the weedy ruin, rose the great building, which Graves had finished +late in the winter, and had turned over to the hotel company. Its +eight stories towered loftily above the other houses and apartment +buildings in the neighborhood. The countless windows along the broad +front gleamed portentously with the reflection from the flames above. +At the west corner, overlooking the park, above a steep ascent of +jutting bay windows, there floated a light blue pennon, bearing a name +in black letters,--THE GLENMORE. + +At first the architect scarcely realized that this building which was +burning was Graves's hotel, his hotel. The excitement of the scene +stupefied him. Already the police had roped off the streets beneath +the fire, in which the crowd was thickening rapidly. From many points +in the adjoining blocks came the shrill whistles of the throbbing +engines, answering one another. The fire burned quietly aloft in the +sky, while below there rose the clamor of excited men and screeching +engines. The crowd grew denser every moment, and surged again and +again nearer the building, packing solidly about the fire lines. Hart +was borne along in the current. + +"They've pulled the third alarm," one man said in his ear, chewing +excitedly on a piece of gum. "There's more'n fifty in there yet!" + +"They say the elevators are going still!" another one exclaimed. + +"Where's the fire-escapes?" + +"Must be on the rear or over by the alley. There ain't none this side, +sure enough." + +"Yes, they're in back," the architect said authoritatively. + +He tried to think just where they were and where they opened in the +building, but could not remember. A voice wailed dismally through a +megaphone:-- + +"Look out, boys! Back!" + +On the edge of the cornice appeared three little figures with a line of +hose. At that height they looked like willing gnomes on the crust of a +flaming world. + +"Gee! Look at that roof! Look at it!" + +The cry from the megaphone had come too late. Suddenly, without +warning, the top of the hotel rose straight into the air, and from the +sky above there sounded a great report, like the detonation of a cannon +at close range. The roof had blown up. For an instant darkness +followed, as if the flame had been smothered, snuffed out. Then with a +mighty roar the pent-up gases that had caused the explosion ignited and +burst forth in a broad sheet of beautiful blue flame, covering the +doomed building with a crown of fire. + +Hart looked for the men with the hose. One had caught on the sloping +roof of a line of bay windows, and clung there desperately seven +stories above the ground. + +"He's a goner!" some one near him groaned. + +Large strips of burning tar paper began to float above the heads of the +crowd, causing a stampede. In the rush, Hart got nearer the fire +lines, more immediately in front of the hotel, which irresistibly drew +him closer. Now he could hear the roar of the flame as it swept +through the upper stories and streamed out into the dark night. The +fierce light illumined the silk streamer, which still waved from the +pole at the corner of the building, untouched by the explosion. Across +the east wall, under the cornice, was painted the sign: THE GLENMORE +FAMILY HOTEL; and beneath, in letters of boastful size, FIREPROOF +BUILDING. Tongues of flame danced over the words. + +The policeman at the line pointed derisively to the legend with his +billy. + +"Now ain't that fireproof!" + +"Burns like rotten timber!" a man answered. + +It was going frightfully fast! The flames were now galloping through +the upper stories, sweeping the lofty structure from end to end, and +smoke had begun to pour from many points in the lower stories, showing +that the fount of flame had its roots far down in the heart of the +building. Vague reports circulated through the crowd: A hundred people +or more were still in the hotel. All were out. Thirty were penned in +the rear rooms of the sixth floor. One elevator was still running. It +had been caught at the time of the explosion, etc.... For the moment +the firemen were making their fight in the rear, and the north front +was left in a splendid peace of silent flame and smoke--a spectacle for +the crowd in the street. + +Within the lofty structure, the architect realized vaguely, there was +being enacted one of those modern tragedies which mock the pride and +vanity of man. In that furnace human beings were fighting for their +lives, or, penned in, cut off by the swift flames, were waiting in +delirious fear for aid that was beyond the power of men to give them. +A terrible horror clutched him. It was his building which was being +eaten up like grass before the flame. He dodged beneath the fire line +and began to run toward the east end, driven by a wild impulse that he +could not control. He must do something,--must help! It was his +building; he knew it from cornice to foundation; he might know how to +get at those within! A policeman seized him roughly and thrust him +back behind the line. He fought his way to the front again, while the +dense crowd elbowed and cursed him. He lost his hat; his coat was half +torn from his shoulders. But he struggled frantically forward. + +"You here, Hart! What are you after?" + +Some one stretched out a detaining hand and drew him out of the press. +It was Cook, his draughtsman. Cook was chewing gum, his jaws working +nervously, grinding and biting viciously in his excitement. The fierce +glare revealed the deep lines of the man's face. + +"You can't get out that way. The street's packed solid!" Cook bellowed +into his ear. "God alive, how fast it's going! That's your steel +frame, tile partition, fireproof construction, is it? To hell with it!" + +Suddenly he clutched the architect's arm again and shouted:-- + +"Where are the east-side fire-escapes? I can't see nothing up that +wall, can you?" + +The architect peered through the wreaths of smoke. There should have +been an iron ladder between every two tiers of bay windows on this side +of the building. + +"They are all in back," he answered, remembering now that the +contractor had cut out those on the east wall as a "disfigurement." +"Let's get around to the rear," he shouted to the draughtsman, his +anxiety whipping him once more. + +After a time they managed to reach an alley at the southwest angle of +the hotel, where two engines were pumping from a hydrant. Here they +could see the reach of the south wall, up which stretched the spidery +lines of a single fire-escape. Cook pointed to it in mute wonder and +disgust. + +"It's just a question if the beams will hold into the walls until they +can get all the folks out," he shouted. "I heard that one elevator boy +was still running his machine and taking 'em down. As long as the +floors hold together, he can run his elevator. But don't talk to me +about your fireproof hotels! Why, the bloody thing ain't been burning +twenty minutes, and look at it!" + +As he spoke there was a shrill whistle from the fire marshal, and then +a wrenching, crashing, plunging noise, like the sound of an avalanche. +The upper part of the east wall had gone, toppling outward into the +alley like the side of a fragile box. In another moment followed a +lesser crash. The upper floors had collapsed, slipping down into the +inner gulf of the building. There was a time of silence and awful +quiet; but almost immediately the blue flames, shot with orange, leaped +upward once more. From the precipitous wall above, along the line of +the fire-escape, came horrid human cries, and in the blinding smoke and +flame appeared a dozen figures clinging here and there to the window +frames like insects, as if the heat had driven them outward. + +Cook swayed against the architect like a man with nausea. + +"They're done for now, sure, all that ain't out. And I guess there +ain't many out. It just slumped, just slumped," he repeated with a +nervous quiver of the mouth. Suddenly he turned his pale face to the +architect and glared into his eyes. + +"Damn you, you son of a bitch! Damn you--you--" he stammered, shaking +his fist at him. "There wasn't any steel in the bloody box! It was +rotten cheese. That's you, you, you!" He turned and ran toward the +burning mass, distracted, shouting as he ran: "Rotten cheese! Just +rotten cheese!" + +But the architect still stood there in the alley, rooted in horror, +stupefied. High above him, in a window of the south wall, which was +still untouched by the fire, he saw a woman crouching on the narrow +ledge of the brick sill. She clung with one hand to an awning rope and +put the other before her eyes. He shouted something to her, but he +could not hear the sound of his own voice. She swayed back and forth, +and then as a swirl of flame shot up in the room behind her, she fell +forward into the abyss of the night.... A boy's face appeared at one +of the lower windows. He was trying to break the pane of heavy glass. +Finally he smashed a hole with his fist and stood there, dazed, staring +down into the alley; then he dropped backward into the room, and a jet +of smoke poured from the vent he had made. + +In front of the hotel there were fresh shouts; they were using the +nets, now. The architect covered his face with his hands, and moaning +to himself began to run, to flee from the horrible spot. But a cry +arrested him, a wail of multitudinous voices, which rose above the +throb of the engines, the crackle of the fire, all the tumult of the +catastrophe. He looked up once more to the fire-eaten ruin. The lofty +south wall, hitherto intact, had begun to waver along the east edge. +It tottered, hung, then slid backward, shaking off the figures on the +fire-escape as if they had been frozen flies.... He put his hands to +his eyes and ran. He could hear the crowd in the street groaning with +rage and pity. As he ran he saw beside the park a line of ambulances +and patrol wagons ready for their burdens. + + +How long he ran, or in what direction, he never knew. He had a dim +memory of himself, sitting in some place with a bottle of whiskey +before him. The liquor seemed to make no impression on his brain; his +hand still shook with the paralysis of fear. He remembered his efforts +to pour whiskey into the glass without spilling it. After a time a +face, vaguely familiar, entered his nightmare, and the man, who carried +a little black bag such as doctors use, sat down beside him and shouted +at him:-- + +"What are you doing here? What do you want with that whiskey? Give it +to me. You have had all the booze that's good for you, I guess." + +And in his stupor he said to the man tearfully:-- + +"Don't take it away, doctor. For heaven's sake don't take the whiskey +away! I tell you, I have killed people to-night. Eight, ten, +forty--no, I killed eight people. Yes, eight men and women. I see 'em +dying now. Give me the whiskey!" + +"You're off your nut, man," the doctor replied impatiently. "You +haven't killed any one. You have been boozing, and you'll kill +yourself if you don't quit. Here, give me that!" + +He remembered rising to his feet obediently and saying very solemnly:-- + +"Very well, my friend, I won't drink any more if you say so. But +listen to me. I killed a lot of people, eight of 'em, and I don't know +how many more besides--over there in a great fire. I saw 'em dying, +like flies, like flies! Now give me one more drink." + +"All right, you killed 'em, if you say so." + +"Don't leave me, doctor! It's a terrible thing to kill so many people, +all at once, like flies, like flies!" + +And he burst into tears, sobbing and shaking with the awful visions of +his brain, his head buried in his arms. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +The next morning Hart found himself on a sofa in a bare, dusky room +that looked as if it was a doctor's office. He sat up and tried to +think what had happened to him overnight. Suddenly the picture of the +burning hotel swept across his memory, and he groaned with a fresh +sense of sharp pain. Some one was whistling in the next room, and +presently the door opened, and Dr. Coburn appeared in trousers and +undershirt, mopping his face with a towel. The architect recognized +him now, and knew that he was the one who had struggled with him in his +dreams. + +"Hello, Jack Hart!" the doctor called out boisterously. "How are you +feeling? Kind of dopey? My, but you were full of booze last night! I +had to jam a hypodermic into you to keep you quiet, when I got you over +here. Do you get that way often?" + +"Was I drunk?" the architect asked dully. + +"Well, I rather think. Don't you feel it this morning?" + +He grinned at the dishevelled figure on the sofa and continued to mop +his face. + +"You were talking dotty, too, about killing folks. I thought maybe you +might have a gun on you. But I couldn't find anything. What have you +been doing?" + +"It was the fire," Hart answered slowly, "a terrible fire. People were +killed--I saw them. My God! it was awful!" + +He buried his face in his hands and shuddered. + +"Shook you up considerable, did it? Your nerves are off. Here, wait a +minute! I'll fix you something." + +The doctor went back into the inner room and returned presently with a +small glass. + +"Drink this. It will give you some nerve." + +The architect took the stimulant and then lay down once more with his +face to the wall. Before long he pulled himself together and drank a +cup of coffee, which the doctor had prepared. Then he took himself +off, saying that he must get to his office at once. He went away in a +daze, barely thanking the doctor for his kindness. When he had left, +Coburn began to whistle again, thinking, "There's something more'n +drink or that fire the matter with _him_!" + + +Hart bought a newspaper at the first stand. It was swelled with pages +of coarse cuts and "stories" of the "Glenmore Hotel Tragedy." On the +elevated train, which he took to reach the city, all the passengers +were buried in the voluminous sheets of their newspapers, avidly +sucking in the details of the disaster. For a time he stared at the +great cut on the first page of his paper, which purported to represent +the scene at the fire when the south wall fell. But in its place he +saw the sheer stretch of pitiless wall, the miserable figures on the +iron ladder being swept into the flames. Then he read the headlines of +the account of the fire. Seventeen persons known to have been in the +hotel were missing; the bodies of ten had been found. Had it not been +for the heroism of a colored elevator boy, Morris by name, who ran his +car up and down seven times through the burning shaft, the death list +would have been far longer. On the second trip, so the account ran, +the elevator had been caught by a broken gate on the third floor. +Morris had coolly run his car back to the top, then opened the lever to +full speed, and crashed his way triumphantly through the obstacle. It +was one of those acts of unexpected intelligence, daring, and devotion +to duty which bring tears to the eyes of thousands all over the land. +The brave fellow had been caught in the collapse of the upper floors, +and his body had not yet been found. It was buried under tons of brick +and iron in the wrecked building. + +The newspaper account wandered on, column after column, repeating +itself again and again, confused, endlessly prolix, but in the waste of +irrelevancy a few facts slowly emerged. The Glenmore, fortunately, had +not been half full. It had been opened only six weeks before as a +family hotel,--one of those shoddy places where flock young married +people with the intention of avoiding the cares of children and the +trials of housekeeping in modest homes; where there is music twice a +week and dancing on Saturday evenings; where the lower windows are +curtained by cheap lace bearing large monograms, and electric candles +and carnations are provided for each table in the dining-room. Another +year from this time there would have been three or four hundred people +in the burning tinder box. + +The fire had started somewhere in the rear of the second floor, from +defective electric wiring, it was supposed, and had shot up the rear +elevator shaft, which had no pretence of fireproof protection. The +east wall had bulged almost at once, pulling out the supports for the +upper three floors. It was to be doubted whether the beams, +bearing-walls, and main partitions were of fireproof materials. The +charred remains of Georgia pine and northern spruce seemed to indicate +that they were not. At any rate, the incredible rapidity with which +the fire had spread and the dense smoke showed that the "fireproofing" +was of the flimsiest description. And, to cap all, there was but one +small fire-escape on the rear wall, difficult of access! "The +Glenmore," so the Chicago _Thunderer_ pronounced, "was nothing but an +ornamental coffin." + +Editorially, the _Thunderer_ had already begun its denunciation of the +building department for permitting a contractor to erect such an +obvious "fire-trap," and for granting the lessees a license to open it +as a hotel. There had been too many similar horrors of late,--the +lodging-house on West Polk Street, where five persons had lost their +lives, the private hospital on the North Side, where fourteen men and +women had been burned, etc. In all these cases it was known that the +building ordinances had been most flagrantly violated. There was the +usual clamor for "investigation," for "locating the blame," and +"bringing the real culprits before the Grand Jury." It should be said +that the _Thunderer_ was opposed politically to the City Hall. + + +In the architect's office there was an air of subdued excitement. No +work was in progress when Hart let himself into his private room from +the hall. Instead, the men were poring over the broad sheets of the +newspapers spread out on the tables. When he stepped into the +draughting-room, they began awkwardly to fold up the papers and start +their work. Cook, Hart noticed, was not there. The stenographer came +in from the outer office and announced curtly:-- + +"The 'phone's been ringing every minute, Mr. Hart." She looked at the +architect with mingled aloofness and curiosity. "They were mostly +calls from the papers, and some of the reporters are in there now, +waiting. What shall I say to 'em?" + +"Say I am out of town," Hart ordered, giving the usual formula when +reporters called at the office. Then he went back to his private room +and shut the door. He dropped the bulky newspaper on the floor and +tried to think what he should do. There were some memoranda on the +desk of alterations which he was to make in a country house, and these +he took up to examine. Soon his desk telephone rang, and when he put +the receiver to his ear, Graves's familiar tones came whispering over +the line. The contractor talked through the telephone in a subdued +voice, as if he thought to escape eavesdropping at the central office +by whispering. + +"Is that you, Hart? Where have you been? I've been trying to get you +all the morning. Say, can't you come over here quick?" + +"What do you want?" the architect demanded sharply. The sound of the +man's voice irritated him. + +"Well, I want a good many things," Graves replied coldly. "I guess we +had better get together on this business pretty soon." + +"You can find me over here the rest of the morning," Hart answered +curtly. + +There was a pause of several seconds, and then the contractor +telephoned cautiously:-- + +"Say, I can't leave just now. That Dutchman's in here pretty drunk, +and I don't want him to get loose. Come over, quick!" + +"All right," the architect muttered dully, hanging up his telephone. +He was minded to refuse, but he realized that it would be best to see +what was the matter. Some plan of action must be decided upon. Meyer +was one of the officers and directors of the Glenmore Hotel +Corporation. The architect and a couple of clerks in the contractor's +office were the other dummies in this corporation, which had been +organized solely to create bonds and stock and to escape personal +liability. + +Hart gathered up the memoranda on his desk, and telling the +stenographer that he was going out to Eversley to see the Dixon house, +he left the office. As he stepped into the hall, he met Cook, who had +just come from the elevator. He nodded to the draughtsman and hailed a +descending car. + +"Say, Hart," Cook said in a quiet voice, "can I have a word with you?" + +Hart stepped back into the hall and waited to hear what the draughtsman +had to say. + +"I must have been pretty near crazed last night, I guess," Cook began, +turning his face away from the architect, "and I said things I had no +call to say." + +"Come in," Hart murmured, unlocking the door to his private office. + +"Of course, it wasn't my business, anyway," Cook continued, "to accuse +you, no matter what happened. But I saw a friend of mine this morning, +a man on the _Thunderer_, and he had just come from the city hall, +where he'd been to examine the Glenmore plans. He says they're all +right. Same as ours in the office. I can't understand what happened +to the old thing unless Graves-- Well, that's not our business." + +There was a pause, while the two men stood and looked at each other. +Finally Cook added:-- + +"So I wanted to tell you I was wrong,--I had no call to talk that way." + +"That's all right, Cook," the architect replied slowly. Somehow the +man's apology hurt him more than his curses. They still stood waiting. +Suddenly Hart exclaimed:-- + +"You needn't apologize, man! The plans are all right. But that +doesn't let me out. I knew what Graves was going to do with 'em. I +knew it from the start." + +"What do you say?" the draughtsman demanded, bewildered. + +"The hotel was a job from the start," Hart repeated. + +There was another pause, which was broken by Cook. + +"Well, I suppose after this you won't want me any more?" + +"I suppose not," the architect answered in a colorless tone. + +"All right; I'll go to-day if you say so." + +"As you please." + +And they parted. Cook was an honest, whole-souled man. It was best +that he should leave the office, Hart reflected, as he went down in the +elevator--best for Cook and for him too. The draughtsman's admiration +for him had been his daily incense, and it would be intolerable to see +him daily with this matter between them, even if Cook would stay. + +Hart found Graves in his inner office, while a clerk held at bay a +roomful of men who wanted to get at the contractor. Graves looked +serious, but undisturbed, manifesting no more outward emotion than if +he had come from the funeral of a distant relative. + +"It's a pretty bad mess, ain't it?" he said to the architect, offering +him a cigar. "I guess you were right. Those first story walls weren't +solid. They must have bulged and pulled the whole business down.... +Of course the papers are hot. They always yap considerable when +anything happens. They'll spit fire a week or so, and then forget all +about it. Everything is straight over at the city hall so far. +There'll be the coroner's inquest, of course. But he won't find much. +The only danger is this cuss Meyer. He's been on a spree and is pretty +well shook up. If they get hold of him, and ask him questions at the +inquest, he's liable to tell all he knows, and more too. What I want +you to do is to take care of the Dutchman." + +"What do you mean to do about the inquest?" Hart asked abruptly. + +"Do? Well, the best thing for all of us who have been concerned with +the Glenmore is to be called out of the city for two or three weeks or +so. I have got to go to Philadelphia to-night or to-morrow, if I can +get away. Gotz will be here to go on the stand if they want to get +after the hotel corporation. They won't make much out of him. Now, if +you can take care of the Dutchman--" + +"What do you mean?" + +Graves looked at the architect critically before answering. + +"Don't lose your nerve, Hart. It'll come out all right. I've seen my +lawyer this morning, and I know just what they can do with us, and it +ain't much. They can get after the building department, but they're +used to that. And they can bring a civil suit against the corporation, +which will do no harm. You keep out of the way for a while, and you +won't get hurt a particle. Take the Dutchman up to Milwaukee and drown +him. Keep him drunk--he's two-thirds full now. Lucky he came here +instead of blabbing to one of those newspaper fellers! Keep him drunk, +and ship him up north on the lakes. By the time he finds his way back, +his story won't be worth telling." + +Hart looked at the big mass of a man before him, and loathed him with +all his being. He wanted to take him by one of his furry ears and +shake the flesh from his bones. The same impulse that had prompted him +to admit his guilt to Cook, the impulse to free his mind from the +intolerable coil of fraud, cost what it might, was stirring again +within him. + +"Well?" Graves inquired. + +"I am going to quit," the architect said, almost involuntarily. "I'm +sick of the business, and I shan't run away. You can look after Meyer +yourself--" + +"Perhaps you're looking for some money, too?" the contractor sneered. + +"No more of yours, I know that!" Hart answered, rising from his chair +and taking his hat. "I'm sick of the whole dirty job, and if they want +me to, I'll talk, too, I suppose." + +"You damned, white-livered sneak! Ain't you got enough gut in you to +sit tight? You--" + +But the contractor was swearing at the blank wall of his office. + +When the architect reached the street he hesitated. Instead of taking +the train for Eversley, as he had intended to do, he got on an electric +car that ran far out into the northern suburbs. He kept saying to +himself that he wanted time to think, that he must think it all out +before he returned to his office. For he was not yet sure that it +would be best to stay and bear the brunt of the coming investigation, +as he had said to the contractor. He was not clear whether that would +do any good. + +But he did not think. Instead, he brooded over the visions of the past +night, which beset him. When the car stopped he got out and walked +north along the lake shore, vaguely intending to reach Eversley in that +way. He was still trying to think, but he saw nothing clearly--nothing +but that terrible picture of the burning hotel, the dying men and +women. Thus he walked on and on, still trying to think, to find +himself.... + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +... He had been lying there long hours close to the warm earth that was +preparing for a new life. The thin branches of the trees rose bare and +severe between him and the blue sky, mementos of the silent winter. +The ground about their trunks was matted with dead leaves, through +which nothing green had yet pushed its way. Nevertheless, the earth +seemed yeasty with promise. The intense, unwonted heat of the April +days had broken the crust of soil and set the sap of life in motion +once more. The air was heavy with earthy odors,--a fragrant forecast +of Nature's regeneration. Deep down in the little ravines, and among +the pools of the meadowland beyond, frogs were croaking harshly, +filling the solitude of the still slumbering woods with the clamor of +awakening life. And through the brown tree trunks, above the tracery +of the topmost branches, over the flat fields, there swam the haze of +earliest spring--a vague atmosphere of renascence, the warm breath of +mother earth. + +The man lay there, empty of thought, feeling remotely the mighty +movement of things around him--an inert mass in a vital world. The +odors of the earth stirred in him faintly old sensations of vivid +springtimes in his youth, when the ecstasy of the great world of sun +and sky and cloud, of distant fields and mounting uplands, had thrilled +his heart. He saw again the morning mist swimming above the little +Wisconsin lakes where he used to hunt, and felt the throb of joy for +the on-coming spring. And he remembered how this outer world had +spoken to him one day while he was sitting at his work in Paris. +Something imperceptible had crept into the room over the endless roofs, +and called to him in a low, persistent voice. Then he had listened, +joyously putting aside his task, and obeyed the invitation, wandering +idly forth into the germinating fields, which in some mysterious way +had purified his soul of all petty things. In his youth that +experience had come to him again and again, an impulse from beyond his +world, which had led him forth from himself, from the soil of living, +to fresh vigor and purity. Latterly there had come to him no call like +this; he had known no abandonment of self in the enveloping force of +Nature, no purification of spirit. The trees and the grass, the earth +and the sky, all the multitudinous voices of unconscious life, had not +spoken to him. Shut within himself, driven by the bitter furies of his +own little being, he had worked from season to season, forgetting the +face of Nature. True, he had lived the outdoor life of the world, +passed through the beautiful fields each season, just as he had gone to +the theatre or the opera. But the earth had not spoken to him, alone, +personally, out of her abundant wisdom, garnered through the limitless +years. For all the period of his maturity he had forgotten the great +mother of life. + +Now, wrecked and bruised, he lay there on her breast, as a sick man +might lie in the silent room of a hospital and listen to the large +commotion of life without. He was content to rest there on the warm +earth, waiting and listening for the voice which should come from +beyond, content to forget himself,--a creature that had been +industriously shaped for eight busy years, a creature of the city and +of men, with a self that was his in part only, and was mixed with all +those others whom he had touched. That figure of deformity, made in +the strife of the city, he no longer recognized to be his. The richer +heart of youth, with its pictured hopes, the beauty of early days, came +back to him and blessed him.... The sun sank into the deepening blue +haze of the heavens; the thin shadows of the trees faded from the brown +earth; the south wind from the prairies began to rise, blowing +strongly, scented by the breeding land over which it had come. And as +the day drew to its close, the murmuring voices of re-created life +ascended from all parts of the earth with a strengthened note. The +tree-toads were chorusing in the damp hollows, and the spice of roots +and mould sucked out by the hot sun was descending once more in damp +fragrance to the earth. The moist, crumbling soil beneath the man's +body was opening itself--stirring, awakening, preparing, for the +gigantic tasks of renewal, of re-creation, of conception and birth. An +immense, powerful, impersonal life, the greatest Life of all, was going +forward all about him. In the midst of this large mystery he felt that +he was but an atom--an accident which counted for nothing. + +That terrible vision of dying men and women no longer haunted the man's +mind. The catastrophe which had shaken him to the roots of his being +sank into its place behind the long procession of those acts, which had +made him what he was. Now, at last, he began to think coherently, to +see himself in the whole of his being, step by step, as he had come to +be. The old man's death and funeral rose before him, and he remembered +his restless preoccupation with the money so soon to be his, while +others sorrowed and prayed. Then came the will, which he had resented, +and the growing lust for the money that had slipped from his grasp. +Born of that lust, bred in envy and hot desire, was the will to +succeed. From the first day of his struggle for success there came +before his eyes the man Graves. The contractor's fat, bearded face was +the sordid image of his sin, familiar in its cupidinous look. It was +the image of that greed to which he had submitted himself, with which +he had consented to do evil. From the very hour when he had caught the +contractor's eye in the Canostota, and the two had committed fraud over +the weight of steel in an I-beam, there had set forth a long, long +train of petty dishonesties, which had created in him the vitiating +habit of insincerity. One by one he recalled the fraudulent works in +which he had had a part,--the school from which he had tried to steal +some of the money his uncle had denied him, and finally this hotel, +which had crumbled at the touch of fire. That was the strange, +dramatic climax of the story, fated so to be from the first petty lust +for money, from the first fraud. + +Greed, greed! The spirit of greed had eaten him through and through, +the lust for money, the desire for the fat things of the world, the +ambition to ride high among his fellows. In the world where he had +lived this passion had a dignified name; it was called enterprise and +ambition. But now he saw it for what it was,--greed and lust, nothing +more. It was in the air of the city which he had breathed for eight +years.... In his pride he had justified knavery by Success. He had +judged himself mean and small merely because he had failed to cheat and +steal and trick "in a large way." Only the little and the weak need be +honest; to the strong all things were right--he had said glibly. Now, +for the first day since the strength of his manhood, he saw acts, not +blurred by his own passions, not shifting with the opinions of the day; +but he saw them fixed and hard,--living, human acts, each one in its +own integrity, with its own irrevocable fate; acts expressed in lowered +eyelids of consent, in shrugs, in meaningful broken phrases; acts +unprofessional, sharp, dishonest, criminal. + +He lay in the gathering twilight, listened, and saw. And at last the +soul of the man, which had been long in hiding, came back, and flowed +into him once more. A deep, new longing filled his heart, a desire to +be once again as he had been before, to rise from his debasement and +become clean, to slough off this parasitic self into which he had grown +all these years of his strife in the city, to be born anew like the +springtime earth--such longings as come to men when they are sickened +with the surfeit of their passions. + +... He knew now why his wife had left him. She had felt the leper +taint, which had been eating at his heart all the years of their +marriage, and had repudiated it. She had cried out against the mere +getting and spending of money, to which low ebb those lofty ambitions +of his youth had descended before her eyes. She had loved him as the +creator, the builder; and he had given her no visions, but only the +sensualities of modern wealth. "Let us begin again and live the common +life," she had cried out to him. "Let us live for work and not for +money." He had put her aside with contempt, and refused to open the +dark places of his life to her. Now he knew that she had done well to +leave him to his own day of judgment. And the first impulse in the +man's new soul was to go to her, humbly, and say to her: "You were +right. I have sinned against myself, against you, against life, all +along the way. Will you accept my repentance, and love me again from +the beginning, knowing now the truth?" Ardently he desired to hear her +answer; but his heart left him in doubt as to what that answer might +be. For he understood at last that he had never known this woman, who +had been his wife for eight years. + +Nevertheless, despite this hunger of his heart for the woman he loved, +there rose in him slowly a purging sense of relief from crime and sin +committed. It had passed away, was put off from himself. Surely he +was to come once more into peace! The upspringing life of the +reincarnated earth chanted all about him but one song: "Here I leave my +uncleanness. Life is strong and good. There is, for all, forgiveness +and peace. Here I bury the filth of my deeds, and renew my hope." +Thus man rises again and again from the depths of his abasement; thus +springs in him a new hope, a vital, imperishable element, the soul of +his being; and he is prepared afresh for the struggle. Deep within him +there lies forever the unconquerable conviction of his power to rise, +to renew himself. + +So, after the tempest of debauch, little men wake from their carnal +desires, and, leaving behind them the uncleanness of their flesh, go +forth into the pure morning, subdued and ashamed, yet irresistibly sure +that life is good and holds forgiveness and hope for them. With the +new day they will become like their dreams, clean and pure. Thus, +also, those larger men, not eaten by bodily lusts, those greater +sinners who are caught on the whirling spikes of bolder passions, who +are torn and twisted--these, also, return at certain hours to the soul +within them, and renew there the pure fire of their natures, so that +they may enter again the endless contest having hope and health. Thus, +above all, the great heart of things, the abundant mother of life, the +earth, renews herself eternally according to the laws of her being, and +comes forth afresh and undiminished for the business of living. + +The mere lump of man lying there inert upon the ground felt this great +process of renewal all about him, and sucked in fresh life and health. +In like manner, years before, in his youth, he had gone down to the +sea, and there had known something of this mysterious sensation of +renewal. His body plunged in cool, black sea-water, he had drawn +through the pores of his flesh the elemental currents of life. He +longed now to escape again from men, to go down to the sea and touch +those waters washing in from their remote tidal courses up and down the +earth. By such means Nature cleanses and teaches man. Heedless of +man, unconcerned with his follies and vices, impersonal, irresistible, +majestic, she receives his head upon her breast, and renews within him +his spirit,--the power to battle, the power to live. + + +The fruitful earth holds in her bosom death and life, both together, +and out of her comes health. In like manner there lie in the heart of +man diverse instincts,--seeds of good and evil, ready to germinate. +For long seasons seeds of one kind burst forth in the soil of a man's +nature and thrive. Accident, the intricate web of fate, gives them +their fit soil, their heat, their germinating impulse. And the world +about them, seeing the fruit of these seeds alone, calls the man good +or bad, and thus makes its rude analysis of character, as something set +and fixed, stamped upon the soul forever. But in their own time other +seeds, perchance ripening late and slowly, come to their day of +germination, seeds of unlike nature, with diverse fruit. Such sprout +and send their life forth into the man, creating a new nature which the +world will not recognize as his. Thus it was happening with this man: +commingled in his heart and brain there had lain diverse seeds of many +kinds,--seeds of decay and seeds of life. Impulses of creative +purpose, of unselfish work--these had been long dormant; impulses of +lust and greed and deceit--these had grown rankly in the feverish life +of the city until they had flowered in crime. Now had come to him the +time of fate; the first harvest of his acts was garnered; and the new +seeds of his life were ready to wake from their sleep in the depths of +his being, to put forth their energies, their demands. Some great +shock--the agony of dying men and women--had quickened this new growth. +So happened the miracle of rebirth, hidden far away from all human +observation, first revealing itself in the consciousness of +purification and renewed health. + + +The song of the springtime earth rose ever upward, calming and healing +the man, who at last had caught its message. It said to him: "Another +sun, a new day, an earth ever fresh from the hand of God! Eternal +hope--the burial of the corrupt body with its misdeeds; health, and not +decay; life, and not death. For life is good. There is forgiveness +and renewal for all those who heed." ... Through the misty heavens +above the trees the stars glimmered faintly. Over the prairie, fields, +and woodland the night wind passed, soft, odorous, charged with the +breath of the earth in the conceiving time of life.... + +Under the starlight of the spring night there might be seen the figure +of a man walking southward toward the black horizon of the great city. +He walked neither fast nor slow, but steadily, evenly, as if urged by +one powerful purpose,--some magnetic end that set his nerves and his +muscles to the rhythm of action. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +The architect had a long time to wait in Wheeler's office that morning. +The lawyer rarely came in before ten, so the stenographer said, looking +suspiciously into the man's white, unshaven face. She knew Hart quite +well, and she was wondering what was the matter with him--whether he +was in trouble or had been on a spree overnight. He sat in one of the +armchairs of the outer office provided for waiting clients, and, +absorbed in his own thoughts, stared at the square of green carpet +beneath his feet. When Wheeler finally entered, he threw a careless +glance at the seated figure and said blankly:-- + +"Come in here!" + +The lawyer opened the door to his little office, where he had confessed +many a man, and without a word pointed to a chair beside his littered +desk. Then he sat down and waited, examining the architect's face with +his dispassionate eyes. + +"Everett, I wanted to see you about something," Hart began. Then he +stopped as though surprised by his own voice, which sounded far away, +unfamiliar, and unused. The lawyer waited a moment for him to +continue, and then he asked in his indifferent manner:-- + +"So you wanted to see me?" + +"Yes, I want to tell you something," Jackson began again. + +The lawyer wheeled toward his desk, and picked up a little silver +letter-opener, which he fingered. + +"About that fire?" he asked. + +"Yes--that and other things." + +Wheeler went to the door, closed it, and returning to his chair, +wheeled his face away from his cousin. + +"Well, what about it?" + +"You know--you saw it in the papers--how the Glenmore burned? It was +one of Graves's buildings, and I did the plans for him. Well, the +newspapers were right; there was crooked work. The plans were all +altered after they had been through the building department. Graves is +in with the whole gang over there. He has all the inspectors in his +pocket." + +Then Hart paused again. He was not saying what he came there to tell. +His mind seemed strangely unreliant and confused. While he stumbled, +the frown on his cousin's face deepened into an ugly crease between the +eyes. It said as plainly as words, "What in hell do you come here for, +blabbing this to me?" Jackson, reading the look, caught himself and +continued more steadily:-- + +"But I didn't come here to talk of the fire. It's about the school. +Pemberton was right about that. It was crooked, too. I want to tell +you what I know about that." + +Wheeler put down the letter-opener and rested his chin on the tips of +his fingers. The architect told his story slowly, without excitement, +trying to give all the details and the exact figures, busying himself +with being precise. The matter was complicated, and it led him to +speak again of the hotel and of other affairs, of his entire connection +with the contractor,--to tell the complete story of his business career +in the city. The lawyer did not try to stop him, although his face +betrayed no special interest or desire to comment. + +"Well, the upshot of the matter is," Hart ended, "that I am through +with the whole business, Everett. I am going to get out of it somehow +and square what I can. And first, I wanted you to know the truth about +the school, and to take this for the trustees." + +He laid on the desk a large, fat envelope, which he had filled that +morning from his safety deposit box. + +"There's about thirty thousand there, in stocks and bonds and some +land. I thought I wouldn't wait to put it into cash," he explained. +"It's pretty nearly all I have got, Everett. Part of that stock in the +Glenmore which Graves gave me represented my legitimate commission on +the building, but I have put that in, too. You can force Graves to +make good the rest. I can figure out for you what he should pay. And +I'll do what I can to help you make him do the right thing. If you +can't get hold of Graves, why, I'm ready to give you my personal note +for the rest and pay it as soon as I can." + +Wheeler poked the envelope on the desk without taking it up. + +"Conscience money?" he remarked slowly. "I don't want your wad. I +wish you had chucked it in the river, done anything with it but brought +it here, fixed that matter up once, didn't I?" + +Hart was able to realize the contempt, the ironical humor, with which +the lawyer's tone was charged, and his lips tightened. But he made no +reply. After the experiences of the last two days he cared little for +what his cousin might say or think. In some manner he had passed +completely outside of the world where such matters counted. He was for +the time dulled to all but a few considerations. + +"Say," the lawyer iterated, "I thought we'd closed that little matter +for good. But I can tell you there's one person who'll be tickled," he +laughed disgustedly. "And that's old Pemberton. He thought you were a +scamp from the word go. Now he'll be well set up when the judge tells +him this. He'll take an irreligious pleasure in it." + +Jackson said nothing, and the two men faced each other sombrely. +Finally the lawyer exclaimed:-- + +"So you lost your nerve!" + +It had not presented itself to the architect in that way, and he winced +perceptibly as he replied:-- + +"Well, you can call it that. And I guess that if you had seen those +people dropping into that burning building, and known what I knew about +the way it was put together-- Well, what's the use of talking! I am +done with the whole thing--done with it for good." + +The lawyer eyed him sharply, unsympathetically, curious, in a cold +manner, of the psychology of the man before him. Hart's sturdy body, +which was a trifle inclined to fleshiness, seemed to have shrunken and +to be loose in his clothes. The bones of his jaw came out heavily in +his unshaven face, and below his eyes the skin was black, shading into +gray. His tweed office suit was rumpled out of shape, and there were +signs of the muddy roads on his trousers and boots. Usually so careful +and tidy in dress, he seemed to have lost for once all consciousness of +his appearance. + +Wheeler had never felt much respect for his cousin as a young man. +Then the lawyer considered him to be somewhat "light-weight," given to +feminine interests in art and literature, feeling himself to be above +his homely American environment. But since their uncle's death Jackson +had won his approval by the practical ability he had shown in pushing +his way in the Chicago world, in getting together a flourishing +business, and making a success of his profession. Now that there was +revealed to him the uncertain means by which this outward success had +been obtained, he reverted easily to his earlier judgment. The man was +really a light-weight, a weakling, he concluded. The lawyer despised +weaklings; they made the real troubles in this life. He could not see +to its depth the tragedy before him, even as the stern Pemberton might +have seen it. He merely saw another nasty mess, a scandal that would +probably get about the city, even if his cousin and the contractor +escaped the Grand Jury for this Glenmore affair. He had little use for +men who went wrong and "lost their nerve." + +"Well," he said at last, "you needn't bother about that note just yet. +You'll have troubles enough for one while, I expect. I suppose I shall +have to take this, though,"--he tapped the fat envelope,--"and lay the +matter before the trustees. I'll let you know what they decide to do." + +"All right," Hart answered. As he did not rise immediately from his +chair, the lawyer turned to his desk with an air of dismissal. When +the architect at last got wearily to his feet, Wheeler asked, without +looking up:-- + +"Have you seen that man Graves this morning?" + +"No, I went to the bank and then came here the first thing." + +"He was in here to see me late yesterday. He seemed afraid that you +might split on him in this Glenmore business." + +Hart listened, his eyes looking over his cousin's head far out through +the office window, his mind concerned with other matters. + +"Hadn't you better get out of the city for a few weeks?" the lawyer +suggested casually. "Take a vacation. You seem to need a rest, bad. +The papers'll quiet down after a while--they always do," he added +explanatorily. + +As a matter of fact, he had promised the contractor that he would do +what he could to keep Hart from making any trouble. It was obviously +best for the architect to be out of sight for the present, in some safe +place where he could not be got at for awkward explanations. + +"I've been thinking of going away for a few days," Jackson replied +slowly, a flush spreading over his pallid face. "I'm going on to the +Falls to see Helen. But I shan't hide, if that's what you mean. They +can find me when they want me. And I shall be back before long, +anyway." + +Wheeler did not tell him that the coroner had already formed his jury, +and that the first inquiry into the Glenmore fire was to begin the next +day. If the architect had made up his mind to go to Vermont, it was +just as well that he should get away before he could be summoned by the +coroner. + +"Well," he said, taking another look at his cousin, "whatever you do, +get your nerve together. Men like you shouldn't play with fire. +They'd better stick to the straight game." + +The architect knew well enough what that meant. If he had been some +cunning promoter who had had the wit to swindle the public out of any +sum of money that ran into the millions, or if he had been some banker +who had known how to ruin the credit of an enterprise which he wished +to buy cheaply, Wheeler would have extended to him a cynical tolerance, +and if his honesty were questioned, would have admitted merely that +"there were stories about, of course--there always were stories when a +man was smart enough to make some money quick." But, unfortunately, he +belonged to the category of unsuccessful, petty criminals, and he "had +lost his nerve." + +He realized all this, and yet in the wreck which he had made of his +life, he was indifferent to the world's injustice. What men thought or +said about him had marvellously little importance just now. This +crisis had wonderfully simplified life for him; he saw a few things +which must be done, and to these he was setting himself with a slow +will. His face, as he gazed down at his cousin, held new, grave lines, +which gave it a sort of manliness that it had not possessed before. + +"You'd better see Graves before you leave, and get together on this +thing," Wheeler concluded. "You won't do any good by making a bad +matter worse and spreading the stink, you know." + +"I can't see any use in talking with Graves," Jackson protested slowly. +"I saw him yesterday and told him my views. He made me the treasurer +of his company, and I was the architect for the building. If they get +me up and ask me questions--why, I shall tell what I know about it. +That's all there is to that." + +"Well, we'll see about that when the time comes," the lawyer replied, +and then asked bluntly:-- + +"Are you going to tell Helen the whole story, too?" + +"Yes. That's why I'm going down there." The architect's face turned +red with humiliation for the first time since he had begun his story. + +"I suppose she'll have to know," Wheeler admitted softly. "It will cut +her pretty deep." + +He was wondering whether she could forgive this weak fellow, crawling +back to her now, his courage gone, broken for life, as he judged. He +suspected that she might pardon him even now, though she had left him +inexplicably. She would forgive her husband when he was at the end of +his rope; she was made that way. The softness of character in such +women irritated him, for the moment. There were other women whom he +liked and admired less than her,--Mrs. Phillips was one,--who would not +tolerate a flabby sinner like this man. But to Helen, disgrace would +make little difference, perhaps would cause her to cling more closely +to the dishonored man. And he was sorry for it all, because he loved +the woman, and he could feel her tragedy, though he was impervious to +the man's. + +"Women have bum luck sometimes," he reflected aloud. "They have to +take all the man's troubles as well as their own." Then he added not +unkindly: "You had better think well what it means to her and to the +children before you do anything to make matters worse. I'll keep an +eye on what goes on here and let you know if you're needed--if you can +do any good." + +Neither offered to shake hands, and Hart went out of the office without +replying to the last remark. In the vestibule of the building he +hesitated a moment, as if to get his bearings, and then slowly walked +down the crowded street in the direction of his office. The city +sights were curiously foreign to him, as if he had come back to them +after a long period of absence. The jostle of human beings on the +pavement, the roar of the streets, were like the meaningless gyrations +of a machine. With a repugnance that weighted his steps, he turned in +at the door of his building and crowded into one of the cages that were +swallowing and disgorging their human burdens in the mid-forenoon. In +his office there had settled an air of listless idleness, now that +Cook, the mainspring of the place, was no longer at his post. Without +looking at the accumulated mail on his desk, Hart called the +stenographer and dictated to her some instructions for his partner, +Stewart, who had just landed in New York on his way home from a +vacation in Europe. The girl received his dictation with an offish, +impertinent glance in her eyes that said, "Something's wrong with this +place, I guess." When the architect had finished, she said:-- + +"Say, Graves was in here twice this morning and wanted me to let him +know as soon as you came in. He wanted to know where you were. What +shall I say to him?" + +Hart thought a moment before replying. He did not wish to see the +contractor,--that was very clear,--and yet he was unwilling to seem to +run away, to avoid the man. Moreover, he realized vaguely since his +talk with his cousin that there was a certain claim in complicity. +There was trouble ahead for them both, surely, and Graves had his right +to be considered. + +"If Mr. Graves calls, bring him in here," he said to the stenographer, +as he turned to his mail. + +He had some final matters to attend to, and then he should take the +train. If the contractor came back before he got away, he would see +him. Half an hour later, while he was still tearing open his letters +and jotting notes for the answers, his door opened and Graves walked +in. He had less assurance than on the afternoon before; the strain of +the situation was beginning to tell even on his coarse fibre. + +"So you've come to!" he exclaimed with an attempt to be at his ease, +taking a chair beside the desk. + +"What do you want?" the architect demanded sharply. + +"Say, did you see the papers this morning?" Graves asked, ignoring the +question. + +Hart shook his head; he had no curiosity to know what the newspapers +were saying. + +"They're making an awful kick, worse than I expected. It's mostly +politics, of course. They've got the mayor on the run already. He's +suspended the head of the department, and Bloom was a good friend of +mine. That'll scare the rest considerable. And then there's talk of +bringing civil suits against the hotel company and the officers +individually." + +He paused to see what impression this news might make on the architect. + +"They can't get much out of me," Hart answered quietly. "I turned over +to Wheeler pretty nearly every dollar I have got. That's on account of +the school business," he added, thinking the contractor would not +comprehend rightly his meaning. "It came out of the school and might +as well go back to the trustees." + +Graves stared at him in disgust. He had had some idea of forcing the +architect to pay part of the expense of "keeping the City Hall quiet." +Now the man had outwitted him and put his money beyond his reach. + +"So you've seen Mr. Wheeler?" + +"Just come from there." + +"He told you he'd help us out of this hole?" + +"We didn't discuss it." + +"I've seen to Meyer myself. He's where he can't do no harm. And I +guess it's all right over there,"--he pointed with his thumb in the +direction of the city hall,--"though it'll cost a sight of money if +those fellers lose their jobs. Now, if we keep quiet, they can't do +nothing but bring their suits for damages. I ain't afraid of that." + +"I suppose not," Hart replied dryly. "It doesn't touch you. They're +all straw names in the corporation papers but mine, aren't they?" + +"Just now there's this damned coroner," Graves went on, ignoring the +last remark. "The inquest begins to-morrow. He'll try to fix the +blame, of course, and hold some one to the Grand Jury. He's got to, to +quiet the papers." + +"I suppose so," Hart assented wearily. + +"But they've got nothing to go on if you only hold your tongue," Graves +ripped out incautiously. "And you've got to hold your jaw!" + +The man's dictatorial manner angered the architect. He rose hastily +from his desk, gathering some papers and putting them into his bag. + +"I told you yesterday, Graves, that I would have nothing more to do +with you in this Glenmore business. I don't see what you came in here +for. Let them go ahead and do what they can. I'll stand for my share +of the trouble." + +"You--" Graves burst out. "You--" + +"I've got an engagement now, Mr. Graves, and there's no use in our +talking this matter over any more." + +He reached for his coat and hat. + +"But I tell you, Hart, that you can't be a quitter in this business. +Didn't your cousin tell you that, too?" + +"It makes no difference to me what he might say," Hart retorted +doggedly, holding open the door into the hall. + +"I'll smash you, sure thing, if you do me up in this dirty way!" + +The contractor crossed the room to where Hart stood, as if he meant to +strike then and there. Hart looked at him indifferently. The man +disgusted and irritated him; he wondered how he could ever have +submitted himself to him. He held the door open, and Graves passed out +into the hall, which was empty. + +"I'll smash you!" he repeated, less loudly. + +"All right!" the architect muttered. "I guess that won't matter much +now." + +Graves kept by his side in the elevator, and followed him out into the +street. + +"Say! Step over to Burke's place with me," he urged in a more +conciliatory tone. + +"See here!" the architect answered, stopping on the sidewalk. "It's no +use talking, Graves, I've done with you and your methods. Can't you +see that? I don't intend to get you into trouble if I can help it. +But I don't mean to sneak out of this or tell any lies to save your +hide. I'm on my way out of the city now, to see my family, and shall +be away for a few days. Wheeler knows where I shall be, and he'll let +me know when I am wanted. They won't get around to me for some little +time yet, probably. If they summon me, why, I suppose I shall come +back." + +The contractor, hearing that Hart was about to leave the city, felt +relieved for the moment. It would be easier to deal with his cousin, +the lawyer, who might be able to keep the architect from making a fool +of himself. So he walked on with Hart toward the station in a calmer +frame of mind. As if he realized the mistake he had made in trying to +bully his accomplice, he began to put forward his personal difficulties +apologetically. + +"This fire has hit me hard. Of course the Glenmore will be a dead +loss, and the banks have begun to call my loans. Then it'll take a lot +of ready money to keep those fellers over there quiet, in case the +Grand Jury takes a hand. I was just getting where I couldn't be +touched when this fire came, and now I shall have to begin over pretty +nearly. You don't know, Hart, what hard sledding it's been to build up +my business with nothing back of me to start on." + +The architect realized that Graves was making an appeal to his +sympathies, and although the wheedling tone, so unlike the man's usual +blustering self-confidence, roused his contempt, he began to see more +dispassionately the contractor's point of view. The man was fighting +for his life, and there could be nothing reasonable to him in a +determination to make a bad matter worse. For no amount of truth now +could save those hapless victims of greed who had lost their lives in +the wretched building. + +"I don't want to ruin my family no more than you do, Mr. Hart," the +contractor persisted. "And you can't make me so much trouble as you +will yourself. You can see that," he added meaningly. + +Hart turned on the man angrily:-- + +"I have heard about enough, Graves! It's no use your going on. I tell +you I mean to come back and stand my share of the trouble--yes--if it +breaks me! Do you hear? If it breaks me! Now good day." + +The contractor turned away, scowling like a dog that had been kicked +into the street. Hart hurried into the station and bought his ticket. +He had not looked up his eastern connections, remembering merely that +Helen had left Chicago by this road, and he took the first train east +in his overwhelming desire to get to her, to tell her all, to submit. +And already, as the heavy train moved slowly out of the station, he +felt strangely relieved from the perplexities of the morning. The +unconscious physical influence of mere motion, of going somewhere, +soothed his irritated nerves. + +He had been goaded into his final declaration to the contractor, for he +had felt the ground slipping from his resolution under the persistent +appeals of the man. As the train shot out into the prairie, however, +he turned the matter over in his mind again and again, trying to +consider it in all its varying aspects. After all, was it necessary +that he should come back as he had said in his first singleness of +resolution and bring on himself and his family the shame and disgrace +of public exposure? He comforted himself with the thought that he had +the courage to tell his story, that in leaving the city he was not +merely running away to escape the consequences of his connivance with +fraud. Yes, he could go back--if it were necessary; but for the time +being he put the question out of his mind. While the train moved +across the states, his heart grew calmer, stronger; whatever might be +the outcome, he knew that his instinct had been right--that he had done +well to go first to his wife. Then, whatever might seem best, he could +bring himself somehow to do it. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +The old Jackson homestead at Vernon Falls was a high, narrow, colonial +house with three gables. Upon the broad terrace facing the south side +there was a row of graceful, "wineglass" elms. Below the terrace +stretched a broad, level meadow, which was marked irregularly by a dark +line where a little brook wandered, and beyond the meadow passed the +white road to Verulam, the nearest station. From this highway a lane +led through copses of alder and birch along the east side of the meadow +to the old house, which was withdrawn nearly an eighth of a mile from +the public road. + +It was an austere, silent, lonely place. Powers Jackson, during the +last years of his life, had built a great barn and sheds behind the +house with the purpose of making a stock farm, but since his death +these had been shut up. He had also built along the terrace a broad +veranda, which contrasted strangely with the weather-beaten, hand-made +clapboards of the old building. The gaunt, lofty house seemed to be +drawing itself away disdainfully from this frivolous addition at its +base. + +Jackson had often spent his long vacations at the farm with his mother +when he was at college. Yet that April afternoon, when he came upon it +from the bend in the Verulam road, it seemed to him singularly unreal. +His memories of the house and the meadow in front of it had grown and +flowered, until in his imagination it had become a spot of tender, +aristocratic grace, a harmony of swaying elm branches and turfy lawn, +lichened stone walls and marvellous gray clapboards. To-day it rose +bare and severe across the brown meadow, unrelieved by the leafless +branches of the elms that crisscrossed the south front. The slanting +sun struck the little panes of the upper windows, and made them blaze +with a mysterious, intensely yellow fire. Involuntarily his pace +slackened as he turned from the highroad into the lane. The place +appeared strangely silent, deserted. Was Helen there in the old house? +Could she understand? Could she forgive him? ... + +The northern spring had barely begun. It was cold, grudging, +tentative, scarcely touching the brown meadow with faint green. Hiding +its charm, like the delicate first bloom of Puritan women, it gave an +uncertain promise of future performance--of a hidden, reticent beauty. + +Jackson lingered in the lane, watching the sun fade from the window +panes, until the air suddenly became chill and the scene was blank. +Then, as he stepped on toward the house, he caught sight of a woman's +figure stooping in the thicket beside the road. His heart began +suddenly to beat, telling him, almost before his eyes had recognized +the bent figure, that this was his wife. She looked up at last, and +seeing him coming toward her, rose and stood there, her hands filled +with the tendrils of some plant that she had been plucking up by its +roots, her face troubled and disturbed. + +"Nell!" he called as he came nearer, "Nell!" + +And then he stopped, baffled. For long hours on the train he had +thought what he should say when he met her, but now his premeditated +words seemed to him futile. He saw the gulf that might lie between +them forever, and he looked hesitatingly into her troubled face. She +was wonderfully, newly beautiful. Her hair was parted in the middle +and rippled loosely over the temples to the ears, in the way she had +worn it as a girl, a fashion which he had laughed her out of. She had +grown larger, ampler, these last months, and in her linen dress, with +its flat collar revealing the white neck, without ornament of any sort, +her features came out strong and distinct. That curve of the upper +lip, which had always made the face appealing, no longer trembled at +the touch of emotion. There was a repression and mature self-command +about her, as if, having been driven back upon her own heart, she had +recovered possession of herself once more, and no longer belonged to a +man. She was beautiful, wholly woman, and yet to her husband waiting +there she seemed to be his no longer. + +"Nell," he began once more, still standing at a little distance from +her, "I have come here to you, as you said." + +Her arms hung limply at her sides, with the trailing plant drooping +across her skirt, as though, thus taken by surprise, she were waiting +for him to declare himself. He stepped nearer quickly, his heart sick +with the fear that, after all, it was too late, that she had passed +beyond his reach. + +"You know what I mean! I have come to tell you that you were right +when you went away. You were right all along, and I have been wrong." + +But as he spoke she reached out her arms to him, beseeching him, +drawing him to her, in commiseration for him. She put her arms on his +shoulders, clasping them behind his neck, thus drawing him and holding +him from her at the same time. Her lips trembled, and her breath +fluttered as she looked into his eyes.... + +"Francis! Francis!" she murmured, holding him a little from her when +he tried to take her in his arms.... + +And in her eyes and trembling mouth he knew that she could forgive him; +but he felt strangely humble and little beside her. He saw himself in +her eyes as he had never seen himself before. Slowly she drew him to +her and kissed his lips, tenderly, unpassionately. + + +"The boys are over there by the brook," she said, nodding across the +meadow. + +They sat down on the crumbling stone wall to wait for them, and +presently, catching sight of their father, they came tumbling over the +wall with cries of "Dad, it's dad--he's come!" and together they all +went on to the house. + +Mrs. Spellman received her son-in-law in her equable, unknowing manner, +as if she had expected him to arrive on that day. After supper she +took the boys to their room while husband and wife sat in the west +parlor, which the architect remembered just as it was this day, with +the same faded drab carpet, the brass fire-irons, and worn furniture. +The high-backed walnut writing-table stood in its familiar corner +beside the window. Outside, a drooping elm branch swept softly across +the glass pane. Nothing here was altered, nothing added, save the new +lives of the modern generation. They watched the leaping flames lick +the fire-eaten bricks of the old fireplace for a time, and then he +turned to her with a sigh:-- + +"Now I must tell you the whole story, Nell." + +"Yes," she answered, letting her hand fall softly on his arm. "Tell me +everything." + +And he began slowly to tell her the story as he had lived through it +that night when he lay exhausted on the earth beneath the stars--the +story of his work in the city, of the acts which for eight years he had +hidden from all, even himself. He explained as well as he could the +tangled web of his dealings with the contractor from the day when he +had met him in the Canostota until the time of the arrangement over the +school and the hotel. When he came to the end, to the horrible fire +which had licked up the fraudulent Glenmore before his own eyes, hot +tears fell upon his hands, which his wife held tightly in hers, and he +could feel her body tremble against his. + +"And that was the end! It made me see in one flash what it all meant. +Of course, those men and women might have been caught anyway, no matter +how well the building was put up,--there's no telling,--and Graves +would have done the same job whether I had been in with him or not. +Still, that doesn't count. When I saw them there, trapped, fighting +helplessly for their lives, I felt as if I had stood by and let them be +murdered--and made money by it, too!" + +The horror of those minutes revived as he went over the story, and he +paused wearily. + +"Somehow," he resumed, "it was all of a piece--dirty work. Everything +I had touched, pretty nearly, since I had started seemed rotten. It +made me sick all over.... Well, that was the end. I went to Everett +and tried to square the school matter as well as I could. I gave him +all I had made out of it and more,--about every dollar I had. It +leaves us where we started. But, Nell, I knew you would want me to do +that first before I came here." + +It seemed a pitifully trivial act, now that he had told it, yet he was +glad that he could give her this proof of his sincerity. She said +nothing, but she raised her eyes, still filled with tears, to his face +with a calm, answering look. + +"It's a bad story, as bad as it could well be," he resumed. "I see it +clearly enough now. I wanted uncle's money, wanted the easy time, and +the good things, and all that. Then when I didn't get it, I went in to +make a big success and have the things I was after, anyhow. I saw men +out there no more able than I who were making a lot of money, and +nothing seemed to count so long as somehow you made good. I wanted to +make good. It was a pretty cheap ambition." + +"Yes!" she exclaimed fervently, "cheap! Oh, so cheap!" + +Nevertheless she did not despise him as she might have despised him at +the time of their marriage for his sordid soul. During these eight +months that she had lived by herself she had come to see more justly +the causes of things--she had grown wiser. She held him now less +rigidly, less remorselessly, to her own ideal of life. For she had +begun to understand that the poison which had eaten him was in the air +he had breathed; it was the spirit of the city where he worked, of the +country, of the day--the spirit of greed. It presented itself to men +in the struggle for existence at every turn of the road, insidiously +and honorably disguised as ambition and courage. She saw the man's +temptation to strive with his competitors, as they strove for the +things which they held desirable. And she had come to realize that to +stand firmly against this current of the day demanded a heat of nature, +a character that the man she had married and worshipped, had never +possessed. He was of his time neither better nor worse than his +fellows, with their appetite for pleasure, their pride--that ancient +childish pride of man in the consideration and envy of his kind.... + +"So you have it all, and it's bad enough, God knows. Nell, can you +ever really forgive it, forget it, and love me again?" + +For answer she leaned toward him and kissed him, understandingly. Now +that her heart knew him utterly, with all his cowardice and common +failings, she might still love him, even foreseeing the faltering and +unideal way of his steps, giving him, like many women, her second love, +the love that protects in place of the love that adores. And with that +kiss there began for her a new marriage with the man she had seen large +in her dreams, the man who had been her hero.... + +The elms swayed softly in the night wind, brushing across the window by +their side. The old house was very still with the subdued calm of age, +and man and wife sat there together, without words, looking far beyond +them toward the future that was to be theirs. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +The next day and the next went by in the peace of the old house. Now +that the event which had so wholly occupied the man's mind since the +night when the Glenmore burned had come about; now that he was here in +the old place, and had his wife and children once more, he began to +consider personally the wreck of his affairs which had been left behind +in Chicago. And he began to ask himself whether, after all, it was +necessary for him to return to the city and make public his shame at +the hearing before the coroner. He was not clear what service to +justice or to the dead who had been sacrificed, as much through the +corruption of civic government as by his own wrong-doing, his testimony +would accomplish. That it would surely ruin him professionally was +beyond the shadow of a doubt. He could picture to himself well enough +the ferocious glee with which the _Thunderer_ would receive his +evidence! Was it necessary to give his wife and his children into the +merciless hands of the malicious newspapers? + +The evening mail of the second day brought a letter from Wheeler. The +coroner's inquest, the lawyer wrote, was likely to drag on for a week +or more. The coroner was a Republican, and "had it in for the city +administration." He was trying, also, to make all the personal and +political capital that he could out of the affair. At present, as +Jackson could see from the newspapers, they were engaged in examining +minor witnesses,--the servants and employees of the Glenmore, the +police and the firemen,--trying to account for the origin of the fire. +So the architect could be of no use now, at any rate, and had better +stay quietly where he was until the matter took more definite shape. +As far as the coroner's inquest was concerned, it was a public +farce,--trial by newspaper,--and it would be well to wait and see +whether the affair was to reach a responsible court. In the meantime +it was understood that he was ill at his summer home. Graves, so +Wheeler added, had been in to see him again before he left the city. +It was foolish to irritate the contractor and make the matter worse +than it was already, etc. + +Then Hart opened the bundle of newspapers, and glanced through their +padded pages. His eye was caught immediately by an editorial caption:-- + +WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE GLENMORE TRAGEDY? + + +The article was a sarcastic summary of the results thus far from the +inquest, done in the _Thunderer's_ best manner. So far, the editorial +writer pointed out, the inquiry had been confined to examining +chambermaids, bell-boys, and the police, and to quarrelling about the +exact location of the fire when it started. The _Thunderer_ hoped that +before closing the inquest the coroner would have the courage to go +higher, and to probe the building department, and to ascertain what Mr. +Bloom's connection with the matter was, and whether his inspectors had +ever made a report on the Glenmore. Further, the coroner might to +advantage summon the officers of the hotel company, who had erected +this fire-trap, and the architect whose plans for a fire-proof +structure had been so lamentably inadequate. The _Thunderer_ +understood that the Glenmore Hotel Corporation was one of those paper +corporations, officered by clerks, behind which unscrupulous +capitalists so often shielded themselves. Of the officers whose names +appeared in the papers of incorporation, three were clerks in the +employ of a contractor named Graves, who had built the hotel, and a +fourth was a prominent young architect, who had prepared the plans for +the building. The people of Chicago wanted to hear what these men had +to say about the Glenmore hotel, especially Bloom, Graves, and Hart. +"Look higher, Mr. Coroner!" the _Thunderer_ concluded solemnly. + + +When Helen came into the room a little later, she found her husband +plunged in thought, the sheets of the newspaper scattered about him. + +"What is it?" she asked quickly. + +He picked up the paper and handed it to her. She read the article in +the _Thunderer_, her brow wrinkling in puzzle as she went on. When she +had finished it, she let it fall from her hands, and looked at her +husband inquiringly. + +"They want you to go out there and tell about the building of the +hotel?" she asked. + +"Yes," he answered dully. "I knew it would come sooner or later. You +see I was not only the architect, but Graves made me the treasurer of +the corporation. I was only a dummy like the others," he explained. +"The corporation was just Graves! But I told Everett that I should go +back and tell what I knew. Only he doesn't think it necessary, now!" + +"What would happen? What does it all mean?" + +He explained to her what the legal results might be in case the +coroner's jury held him and others to the Grand Jury, as criminally +liable for the disaster. Then, if the Grand Jury found a true bill +against him, whenever he returned to Chicago he could be tried for +manslaughter. But even if in his absence he should be held to the +Grand Jury, there were many steps in the complex machinery of legal +justice, and he could probably escape without trial. Evidently +Wheeler, who knew the involutions of the district attorney's office, +was counting on the probability that no one would be brought to trial +in this hotel case,--that the disaster would be buried in that gulf of +abortive justice where crimes against the people at large are smothered. + +"And in that case," Hart concluded, "there would be no use in letting +them tear me to pieces in the papers!" + +"But you must go back!" she exclaimed, brushing aside his reasoning. +"You must tell them all you know!" + +"Everett doesn't think so," he protested, "and I can't see the good of +it, either. They won't do anything, probably. It's just politics, the +whole investigation. But the newspapers are full of it just now, and +they would hound me to a finish. It would be impossible for me to get +work in Chicago for a long time, if ever again. And it would cover you +and the boys with disgrace--that's the worst! I have paid enough!" + +"But it must be done," she repeated in a low voice. + +She was not clear what good might come of his testimony: she was +ignorant of the legal conditions. But she had a fundamental sense of +justice: men must pay for the evil they do,--pay fully and pay +publicly. A private repentance and a private penance were to her +incomplete and trivial. + +"I've got to earn our living," he urged. "You must think of that! If +I am shut out of Chicago, we must begin somewhere else at the bottom." + +She was not ready yet to consider that question. + +"You mustn't think of us," she answered. "Francis, you can't really +pay for all the wrong that has been done. But perhaps the truth will +do some good. And unless you are ready to face the open +disgrace,--why, you have done nothing! The money you gave back to the +trustees was nothing. This is the only way!" + +It was the only way for him, at least. With his buoyant, pliant +nature, as she understood it, some final act, definite, done in the +eyes of the world that knew him, was needed to strengthen the fibre of +his being, to record in his own soul its best resolve. For already he +had begun to waver, to quibble with his repentance. + +He had been ready enough in the stress of his first feeling after the +catastrophe to stand before the world and confess his share in the +wrong that had been done. Then he was eager to free his mind of its +intolerable burden. But now that the excitement had faded, leaving him +to face the difficulties of his future, he saw in all its fatal detail +what public disgrace would mean, and he drew back. It was folly to +invite ruin! + +Yet in the end the woman held him to her ideal. Late that night he +consented to telegraph Wheeler of his immediate return, and to take the +first train on the morrow for the west, there to await the coroner's +summons. + +"I shall go on with you, of course," she said. "We will all go,--the +boys, too. Mamma will stay and close the house. Perhaps you can't get +away very soon after it is over. And I want to be there with you," she +answered to all his objections. + +"You know what it will mean!" he exclaimed warningly, as the last log +burst into ashes on the hearth. "Nell, it's worst for you and the +boys. It means ruin, nothing less!" + +"Never!" she protested with flashing eyes. "Other people, the +newspapers, can't make ruin. Ruin is in ourselves. It merely means +that we shall have to do without friends, and society, and things, +especially things. And I have come to hate things. They make one +small and mean. I never thought we should have them, when we were +married. And I don't want them for the boys, either. There is work! +the best thing in life,--work for itself, without pay in things, +without bribes! We'll have that and bread, Francis!" + +"But the public disgrace," he objected, still sensitive to the opinion +of the world in which he had lived. + +"Better even that than the disgrace between us," she whispered. "No, +no! There is no other way." + +At least there was no other way to her love, and that love he could not +live without, cost him what it might. + +"You are strong, Nell!" he confessed his admiration. + +"And you, too!" she whispered back, her face illumined with the courage +of her nature. + + +Little Powers, the younger boy, had not been well, and the next +morning, when he was no better, Jackson urged that it would be unwise +to take him, that he had best go back alone. But Helen would not +consent, knowing that he made the most of the child's illness to spare +her the trial which was to come. + +"It is nothing," she said. "Mother thinks it will do no harm to take +him. And if he is going to be really sick, it would be better for us +to be there in the city than here." + +So they drove over to Verulam and took the train. After the boys had +been put to bed for the night, Helen came back to the section where the +architect was sitting, looking dully into the blank fields. + +"What do you think of this?" she exclaimed, putting a letter into his +hands. "I got it just as we were leaving. It's from Venetia,--read +it!" + +He took the thick envelope from her hands, remembering suddenly the +girl as he had last seen her, when she had summed him up in one bitter, +opprobrious word. The sting of that word had gone, however, effaced by +the experience which he had suffered since, and he opened the letter +listlessly. + + +MY DEAR MOTHER SUPERIOR,--Do you recognize the Forest Park postmark? I +am not going abroad after all. At least not just yet. Mother's gone, +sails this week with Mrs. Ollie B. Now listen, and I'll make your hair +stand on end. + +First, mother! She's had a grievous disappointment lately. Colonel +Raymond,--you know him of course,--the little gray-whiskered railroad +man, mother's pet indulgence for I can't say how long,--has at last +been freed from the legal attachment of one wife and is about to take +another at once. Whom do you think? The youngest Stewart girl!!! The +wedding is for the 3d of June. We are not going, naturally. Of +course, it was a crushing blow to poor mamma,--she put her sailing +forward a whole week to escape from her friends. She was positively +growing old under it. + +I know you don't like this, so I cut it very short. Now, prepare! I +am going to embrace the serious life, at last,--I mean matrimony. +Really and truly, this time. You know the man, but you'd never guess: +he's our doctor. Dr. Coburn. Yes! Yes!! Yes!!! + +Mother threw a fit when I told her, and then, of course, I knew I was +quite right. We are to be married any time, when he finishes up the +work he has on hand, so that he can give me some attention. We might +look in on you in your convent retirement, if sufficiently urged. Then +I'll tell you all about it, and make him show you all the little tricks +I have taught him. Mamma still calls him "that fellow," but he's by +way of being a very distinguished man on account of some bug he's +discovered. The medical journals are taking off their hats to him. I +read the notices,--don't you believe I am fast enough in love? + +Well, I have had to send mamma abroad to recover her nerves, and I am +out here putting the place in order as it is to be rented to some awful +people, whom you never heard of. By the way, the doctor isn't going to +let me use my money,--mother ought to thank him for that!--and he won't +promise to earn much money, either. He has no idea of keeping me in +the state to which the Lord called me. He says if I want that, I can +marry Stephen Lane or any other man. He means to earn enough for a +sensible woman to live on, he says, and if I am not content with what +he chooses to do for me I can go out and learn how to earn some more +for myself! Did you ever hear of a man who had the nerve to talk that +way to the woman he wants to marry? ... + +We are going to have a laboratory on the West Side,--that gave Mrs. P. +another fit,--and over it we'll have our rooms. Then when he's made +enough rabbits dotty with his bug, and has written his papers, maybe +we'll go abroad.... + +There are lots of other things, _your_ things, I want to talk over, but +I am afraid my pen is too blunt for them. Only, I hope, oh, so much, +dear, that you are to be happy again. Mr. Wheeler told me that Jack +was with you now. My love to the Prodigal Man. Good-by, dear... + + +"Isn't it good!" Helen exclaimed, with the readiness of good women to +welcome a newcomer to that state which has brought them such doubtful +happiness. + +"I shouldn't think he would have been the man to satisfy her," Jackson +answered slowly. + +"I think Dr. Coburn has changed a good deal since you knew him. He had +fine things in him, and Venetia could see them." + +"I always thought she was ambitious, and the reason she didn't marry +was because she couldn't find any one out there to give her everything +she was after." + +"Perhaps Venetia has seen enough already of that kind of thing!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +There was a stir among the reporters gathered in the little room where +the coroner's inquest on the Glenmore fire was being held, when it +became known that the architect was present and was to be examined. +Graves's man, Gotz, the president of the hotel company, had finished +his testimony on the previous day, having displayed a marvellous +capacity for ignorance. Under advice from his employer's lawyer he had +refused to answer every important question put to him, on the plea that +it was irrelevant. The coroner had been scarcely more successful with +other witnesses in his endeavors to determine the exact causes for the +large loss of life in the new hotel, and his inquest was closing in +failure. The yelping pack of newspapers had already raised their cry +in another field; public interest in the Glenmore disaster had begun to +wane; and it was generally believed that nothing would come of the +inquest, not even a hearing before the Grand Jury. The whole affair +appeared to be but another instance of the impotence of our system of +government in getting at the real offenders against society, if they +are cunning and powerful. + + +That morning, as the Harts were preparing to go to the hearing the +doctor had called to see little Powers, for the child's feverish cold +threatened to develop into pneumonia. After the doctor had gone, the +architect went upstairs to the sickroom, where Helen was seated on the +bed playing with Powers, and trying to soothe him. As he stood there +silently watching them, he was tormented by a sudden fear, a terrible +presentiment, that the child was to die, and thus he was to pay for his +sins, and not only he, but Helen. She was to pay with him, even more +than he! He tried to rid himself of the hysterical and foolish idea, +but it persisted, prompted by that rough sense of retribution--an +acknowledgment of supreme justice--that most men retain all their lives. + +"I shall have to go now," he said to her at last. "But you mustn't +think of coming. You must stay with the boy." + +"Oh, no!" Helen exclaimed quickly, looking closely at the child. "The +doctor says there is nothing to fear yet. Everything has been done +that I can do, and your mother will stay with him while we are away. +It won't be long, anyway!" + +"Why do you insist upon coming?" he protested almost irritably. "It +won't be exactly pleasant, and you may have to hang around there for +hours." + +"Don't you want me to go with you, and be there, Francis?" she asked a +little sadly. + +He made no reply, feeling ashamed to confess that it would make the +coming scene all the more painful to know that she was hearing again in +all its repulsive detail the story of his participation in the criminal +construction of the Glenmore hotel. + +"I think I had better go," she said finally, "and I want to go!" + +She wished to be near him at the end, after he had performed this +difficult act; to be near him when he came out from the hearing and +walked home with the knowledge of the public disgrace preparing for him +at the hands of the hungry reporters. Then, she divined, would come +upon him the full bitterness of his position. + + +The hearing proceeded slowly, and it was the middle of the afternoon +before the architect was called. The coroner, a grizzled little +German-American with an important manner, put on his spectacles to +examine the new witness, and the members of the coroner's jury, who +knew that the architect had left the city immediately after the fire +and were surprised at his return, evinced their curiosity by leaning +forward and staring at Hart. + +The first questions put to him were directed toward gaining information +about the corporation that owned the building. As Mr. Hart was the +treasurer of the Glenmore company, presumably he held stock in the +corporation? A large amount? No, he had had some stock, but had +disposed of it. Recently? Some time ago. To whom? The witness +refused to answer. Had he paid cash for his stock? The witness +refused to answer: he had been told by his lawyer that all such +questions were not pertinent to the present inquiry. But who, then, +were the chief stockholders? who were, in fact, the Glenmore company? +Again the architect refused to answer; indeed, he was not sure that he +knew. The coroner, baffled on this line, and knowing well enough in a +general way at least from previous witnesses that nothing was to be +unearthed here, turned to more vital matters. + +"Mr. Hart," he said, clearing his throat and looking gravely at the +witness, "I understand that you were the architect for this hotel?" + +"Yes." + +"You drew the plans and specifications for the Glenmore?" + +"Yes, they were prepared in my office." + +"Were they the same that you see here?" + +The coroner motioned toward the roll of plans that had been taken from +the files of the Building Department. + +"Yes," the architect answered readily, merely glancing at the plans, +"those were the plans for the hotel as originally prepared by me." + +"Now I want to ask if the Glenmore hotel was built according to these +plans?" + +The architect hesitated. Every one in the room knew well enough by +this time that the building destroyed by fire had not been erected +according to these plans, but, nevertheless, they waited eagerly for +the reply. + +"Few buildings," Hart began explanatorily, "are completed in all +respects according to the original plans and specifications." + +"Ah, is that so?" + +"But these plans were very considerably altered," the witness continued +voluntarily. + +"By whom? By you? With your consent, your approval?" + +The architect hesitated again for a few moments, and then answered +rapidly:-- + +"With my knowledge, certainly; yes, you may say with my consent!" + +There was a little delay in the inquiry at this point, while the +coroner consulted with his counsel as to the next questions that should +be addressed to the witness. The architect gazed doggedly before him, +keeping his eyes on the dirty window above the heads of the jury. In +the dingy light of the little room, his face appeared yellow and old. +His mouth twitched occasionally beneath his mustache, but otherwise he +stood with composure waiting for the next question, which he knew would +pierce to the heart of the matter. + +"Mr. Hart," the coroner resumed, "will you describe to us what those +alterations in the plans for the Glenmore were, what was the nature of +them?" + +The witness considered how he was to answer the question, and then he +proceeded to explain the most important discrepancies between the +building as it had been erected by Graves and the plans that had been +filed with the Building Department. He described the use of the old +walls and foundations, the reduction in the thickness of the +bearing-walls and partitions, the chief substitutions of wood for steel +in the upper stories, the omitting of fireproof partitions and +fire-escapes, etc.,--in short, all the methods of "skinning" the +construction, in which the contractor was such an adept. He referred +from time to time to the plans, and used technical terms, which he was +asked to explain. But the jury listened with absorbed interest, and he +kept on until he had answered the question thoroughly. + +"As an architect," the coroner asked, when Hart had completed his +explanation, "will you state whether, in your judgment, these changes +that you have described, especially the substitution of inflammable +material for fireproofing and the weakening of the main walls, were +sufficient to account for the great loss of life in the fire?" + +The answer to such a question could be only speculative,--an individual +opinion,--and the witness might properly refuse to commit himself. The +architect hesitated, and then with a quick motion of the head, as if he +were sick of evasions, said:-- + +"There are a good many buildings here in Chicago and in other large +cities that are no safer than the Glenmore was. But if you want my +opinion, I will say that such alterations as I have indicated tended to +weaken the walls, and in other ways to bring the building below the +danger limit." + +"It was what might be called a fire-trap, then?" + +"I did not say that!" + +Feeling that at last he had found an easy witness, the coroner began to +bully, and there ensued a wrangle between him and the architect, in +which both men became heated. + +"Well, Mr. Hart," a member of the jury finally interposed with a +question, "can you say that the Glenmore as it was built conformed to +the building ordinances of the city of Chicago?" + +"It would take a number of experts and a good lawyer to interpret those +ordinances!" the architect answered testily. "I should say that they +were drawn for the express purpose of being violated." + +There was a laugh along the reporters' bench at this retort. But the +witness quickly added in his former contained manner:-- + +"No, the Glenmore violated the ordinances in a number of important +particulars." + +There was a sudden hush in the room. This point had been established +before by different persons who had been examined. Nevertheless, the +admission coming from the architect of the ill-fated building was an +important point. It might lead to other interesting admissions. + +"You were aware, then, when the Glenmore was being erected that it +violated the ordinances?" + +"Yes." + +"Did you make any protest?" + +"No." + +"Did you know when you undertook the plans that the hotel was to be +built in this manner?" + +"I knew that it was to be put up for a certain sum, and that a +first-class fire-proof building conforming to the ordinances could not +be built for that money." + +A number of questions followed in regard to the actual cost of the +hotel and the connection of the Graves Construction Company with the +owners of the building, many of which the architect refused to answer. +At last the coroner returned to the one point on which he had been +successful in eliciting vital information,--the character of the burned +building, and the circumstances of its construction. + +"I suppose the building was inspected during the construction?" + +"Certainly." + +"By whom?" + +"As usual, by different inspectors from the building department. Mr. +Murphy was there several times, I remember, and Mr. Lagrange, among +others. But I think chiefly Mr. Murphy." + +"Were you present during their inspection?" + +"Not always." + +"Did either of these gentlemen find anything to object to in the method +of construction?" + +"I never heard of any objection. Nothing was ever said to me. The +inspectors might have talked to the contractors. But I don't think any +one of them did." + +"Have you reason to believe that there was any collusion between the +inspectors and the Graves Company?" + +Every one in the room knew that there must have been collusion. +Nevertheless, the architect, after hesitation, said:-- + +"I shan't answer that, sir." + +"You refuse to reply?" + +"See here, Mr. Coroner! I am here to tell you what I know about the +Glenmore,--at least so far as it concerns my own responsibility, my own +work. But I am not here to testify against the Graves Construction +Company. Understand that!" + +"Well, I should say that you and the Graves Company were pretty well +mixed in this matter. You were an officer of the corporation which +employed the Graves Company to build a hotel on your plans. Could +there be any closer connection than that, do you think?" + +To this observation Hart made no reply, and finally the member of the +jury who had interposed before put another question to the witness:-- + +"You have told us that the Glenmore was not properly built, was not +what it pretended to be, a fire-proof building, and generally violated +the ordinance for that class of building. Do you consider yourself in +any way responsible for those violations?" + +"Yes," the architect replied slowly, "I suppose so. At least I knew +all about it!" + +"You considered it a dangerous building?" + +"I can't say that I did. I should consider it so now. I didn't think +much about it then." + +The witness's admission came with evident effort; the juryman continued +insinuatingly:-- + +"Mr. Hart, I believe that you were present at the fire?" + +"Yes." + +"Did you then believe that if the hotel had been built according to +these plans"--he pointed to the roll of blue prints on the table--"the +large loss of life would not have occurred?" + +"I felt so,--yes, I believe so now!" + +"May I ask one more question? Was it for your interest to make these +changes? Did you make any money out of the job beyond your customary +commission?" + +It was a question that the witness might properly refuse to answer as +having no direct bearing on the object of the inquest. But the +architect was weary of quibbles,--indeed, eager to make his testimony +as thorough as might be, and to have it over. + +"Not directly, but I was an officer of the company, and beside--" + +"Indirectly, then, you benefited?" + +"Yes, indirectly." + +"That is all, Mr. Hart." + +A few more questions were asked by the coroner about the inspection of +the building by Murphy and Lagrange, and also in regard to the +architect's previous relations with the Graves Company. Then the +witness was excused. + +When the architect stepped back into the room, he saw Wheeler sitting +beside Helen in the rear. They waited for him at the door, and +together the three went out to the street. The lawyer, who had reached +the hearing in time for most of the testimony, smiled rather grimly as +he remarked to his cousin:-- + +"Well, Jack, you gave them about everything they were after! You +needn't have turned yourself quite inside out." + +"It was perfect!" Helen exclaimed, taking her husband's arm. +"Everything you said was right. I wouldn't have had you change a word." + +Wheeler buttoned his coat against the east wind and smiled tolerantly +at the woman's fervor. + +"Will that be all, Everett?" she asked a little defiantly. + +"For the present," he replied after a pause, and then he nodded good-by. + +"What did he mean?" she asked her husband, as they threaded the crowded +street leading to the North Side bridge. + +"That they will hold me to the Grand Jury, I suppose." + +Her hand which clasped his arm tightened involuntarily at the words, +and they continued their way silently to the old Ohio Street house. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +When they entered the house, Helen hurried upstairs to the child, who +had been calling for her, Mrs. Hart said. Presently the doctor came +for his evening visit, and when, after a long time, he left the +sickroom, Jackson met him in the hall, but lacked the courage to ask +any question. The doctor spoke bruskly about the bad weather, and +hurried off. Then Hart walked to and fro in the gloomy dining-room +until his mother came down for dinner, which they ate in silence. + +Before they had finished their meal the bell rang, and in reply to the +maid's excuses at the door there sounded in the hall a strong woman's +voice. + +"But I must see them!" + +Jackson, recognizing Venetia Phillips's voice, stepped into the hall. + +"Oh, Jack! I have just heard that you were all here. We met Everett +at the station, and he told me all about it. Jack, it was fine! I +didn't think you had it in you, Jackie, dear. To stand up there and +give everything away,--it took real stuff. I know it!" She held out +her hand in enthusiastic heartiness, repeating, "It was fine, fine!" +Suddenly she turned back to the door, where Coburn stood. + +"You know Dr. Coburn, Jack! I brought him along, too--I was in such a +hurry to see you all. Where's Helen?" + +"Yes, I just butted in," Coburn said, laughing. "I wouldn't let her +come without me. I wanted to shake on it, too!" + +"But where's that sainted wife of yours?" Venetia persisted. + +When Jackson told her of the boy's illness, she hurried upstairs +without another word, leaving the two men standing in the library. At +first, when they were alone, with the common memory of that last +meeting in the doctor's rooms barely a week before, there was an +awkward silence. Coburn had now an explanation for the architect's +erratic behavior on that occasion, and he refrained from his usual +blunt speech. And the architect, seeing through the mist of +accumulated impressions, as in a long vista, that night after the fire +when Coburn had found him half-crazed, a prey to horrible visions, +could not speak. Yet that experience seemed removed from the present, +as if it rose from distant years, and somehow belonged to another +person. Although he had never liked Coburn in the old days, he felt a +kind of sympathy in the doctor's bearing, and was grateful for it. + +"You must have thought I was crazy the other night," the architect +remarked apologetically at last. "I didn't know much what I was up to!" + +"That's all right, man," Coburn interrupted warmly. "Don't think about +it again. It was damn good luck my running across you, that's all. If +I'd known, of course-- Say! that took sand, what you did to-day. +Wheeler told Venetia all about it, and she told me. It makes a man +feel good to see some one who has got the nerve to stand up and take +medicine, and not try everlastingly to sneak out of things! If more +folks nowadays would do that, it would be better for us all. Don't you +mind what the papers say. They have to fling mud,--that's their game!" + +"Well, it doesn't make much difference now what they say +except,--except for my wife," Jackson answered dully. "And that can't +be helped." + +"Oh, I guess it won't last long. And somehow women don't mind those +things half as much as you'd think, at least the best ones don't. And +from what Venetia says, yours is one of the best!" + +"Yes! That doesn't make it any easier. But I haven't congratulated +you!" he exclaimed, repressing the confession of his own pain. "She is +a splendid woman, lots of spirit," he remarked awkwardly. + +"I rather think so!" A pleased smile illuminated the doctor's grave +face. "She's just about the best ever!" + +"I hope you will be happy," Jackson continued conventionally. + +"Well, we expect to--don't see why we shouldn't. I guess we know +pretty much what's to be found on both sides, and won't make ourselves +uncomfortable looking for what ain't there." + +Venetia came down the stairs very quietly, her exuberance all gone, and +as she entered the room she was still wiping away the traces of tears. + +"Poor little Powers!" she exclaimed. "Oh, Jack! I am terribly sorry." + +"What's the matter?" Coburn demanded. + +"It's pneumonia, poor little man!" + +Jackson's lip trembled beneath his mustache, as he murmured to +himself:-- + +"Yes, I supposed it would be. It's as tough as it well could be, for +her!" + +"I know he'll come through,--he must!" Venetia exclaimed helplessly, +and added in a burst of admiration, "That trouble couldn't happen to +Helen--it just couldn't! She's so splendid, Jack! It's a big thing to +know there are such women about. She's holding him up there now, with +a smile on her face!" + +Jackson turned away from her eager eyes. + + +Again and again during the days that followed, while they worked for +the child's life, and when all was done watched and waited together for +what might come, that miserable foreboding of the first day came back +to the man. An evil fate seemed close on his heels, ready to lay hand +on him here or there. The illness of the child related itself in some +unseen manner with the great catastrophe of his life. The old idea of +retribution, that barbaric conception of blood sacrifice, tormented +him, as it torments the most sceptical in the hour of crisis. It +appeared to him that for his cowardice of nature, for all his weak and +evil deeds, for the unknown dead in whose death he had connived, he was +about to be called to pay with the life of his own child. And the +mother, guiltless, in the inscrutable cruelty of fate, must pay with +him and pay the larger share of the price of his evil, of his nature! + +But during these days of dread the woman went her way calmly, serenely, +prepared, outwardly at least, for any event. What the child's death +would mean to her was known only to herself, for she consumed her grief +patiently in the silence of the watch. The house grew more sombre, as +day by day the struggle for life moved on to its crisis. Little +Powers, like his mother, made his fight with unchildish patience. He +had always been the quieter, less demonstrative one of the two boys, +possessing a singular power of silence and abstraction, which had been +attributed to physical weakness. Yet under the stress of disease he +showed an unexpected resistance and vitality. The father, when he saw +him lying in the great bed, with pathetic moments of playfulness even +in the height of his fever, could not stay by his side.... + +The suspense of the child's illness mercifully threw all outer +happenings into shade. Jackson was able to keep the newspapers away +from Helen, and she asked no questions. His testimony at the inquest +had revived to some extent the waning public interest in the Glenmore +fire. Especially the _Buzzard_, which had assumed to itself all the +credit for airing the conditions in the building department, made merry +over Hart's replies to the coroner. It printed full-page cuts of +scenes at the inquest that last day, when the architect was on the +stand,--dramatic sketches of "tilts between the coroner and Hart," +"Hart's insolent retorts," etc.; and it denounced editorially, with its +peculiar unction of self-esteem, the "systematic corruption of the +nation by such men as Graves, Hart, and their allies." But the +_Thunderer_ and the more respectable papers refrained from all such +bitter insinuations. For some reason they forbore to pillory the only +man who had voluntarily come forward and told all that he knew. +Perhaps they respected the courage of the act; perhaps they were aware +that their patrons had tired of "the Glenmore tragedy"; perhaps they +felt that the real guilt lay too deep to be reached by their editorial +darts. However that might be, the matter rested now with the district +attorney and the Grand Jury. + +For the inquest had been concluded and the coroner's report was +published. It covered lengthily all the points touched upon by the +many witnesses, and it contained much "scoring" of the city +authorities. The contractor, Graves, the inspectors, Murphy and +Lagrange, Gotz, the president of the defunct corporation, and Hart, +were held to the Grand Jury for complicity in the death of the +seventeen persons who had perished in the Glenmore fire.... + + +Meanwhile the worst hour of anxiety for the child's life came, and +Helen knelt by the bed holding the little body in her arms, devouring +his face with her shining eyes. The hour passed, the child lived, +there was hope of his recovery. Yet for a period they went to and fro +softly, with that peculiar hush of fear scarcely relieved, lest their +hopes might be too strong. + +At last, however, Jackson was obliged to tell Helen what had happened +at the inquest. She listened as to a message from a far land, her face +blanched and set from the hours of fear through which she had passed. +When he said that he, with the others, had been held to the Grand Jury, +she merely asked:-- + +"When will that be?" + +"Very soon, less than a fortnight, Everett says. He called here +yesterday. He advised me to leave the city,--he came to see about +that." + +"What will they do?" she asked, not heeding the last remark. + +"If they find a true bill, it will go to the trial jury. And," he +added slowly, "the charge will be manslaughter." + +She started as he pronounced the word. In her ears it was the legal +synonym for murder, and before the awfulness of that conception her +heart recoiled. + +"Manslaughter!" she repeated involuntarily. + +"Yes, but Everett thinks it is very doubtful whether the Grand Jury +will find a true bill against any one. It would be almost an +unheard-of thing to do. Of course, Graves will stay away until he sees +how it will turn out, and probably the others will keep out of reach. +Everett wants me to go--" + +"No, no!" she cried, "never! You have come all this way on the hard +road, and we must go on to the very end, no matter what that is." + +"So I thought you would feel," he answered gently. "I said the same +thing to Everett. Of course, the justice of it isn't very clear. It's +mixed up with politics, anyway. I don't know that it would do much +good to any one to stay and be tried. But if you feel that way--" + +She laid her hand on his arm, imploring him mutely not to give her all +the responsibility for the decision. + +"Think what it might mean, if--if they found me guilty!" he muttered +gloomily. + +"I know," she shuddered. "But Francis, we must pay somehow, you and I. +We must pay!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +But if in her heroic soul she was ready to pay, and to make him pay, at +the price of public shame for her and her children, the full penalty of +his misdeeds, it was not to be so. He was to escape the full measure +of retribution, shielded by the accident of his class. Unknown to him, +the tangled threads of his fate were being sorted in the great city, +and the vengeance of society was being averted, so far, at least, as +legal punishment was concerned. Everett Wheeler, once recovered from +his disgust at the sentimental folly of the architect's confession at +the inquest, had no mind to see his cousin on trial for manslaughter. +His mood was invariably to settle things, to cover them up, to bury +them! As has been said, he had political influence, enough to reach +even to the district attorney's office, enough to close the mouth of +the Chicago _Buzzard_, to quiet the snarls of the _Thunderer_. So the +case against the men held to the Grand Jury for the hotel disaster was +quietly dropped. The mayor put another man in Bloom's place as chief +building inspector, and very soon things went merrily on in their old +way. And that was the end of it all! The seventeen human beings who +had lost their lives in the fire had not even pointed a moral by their +agonizing death. For a few summer months the gaunt, smoke-blackened +pit of ruins on the boulevard served to remind the passers-by of a +grewsome tale. Then, by the beginning of the new year, in its place +rose a splendid apartment building, faced with cut stone and trimmed +with marble. + +Wheeler notified the architect in a curt note that the case had been +dismissed, and Jackson showed the letter to his wife. + +"Thank God!" he exclaimed fervently, "that is the end. I shan't drag +you into the mud any farther." + +Helen looked up from the lawyer's letter with a troubled face. She had +hardened herself to the coming trial, which she had fully expected. +Now that it had been spared, all was not yet right to her scrupulous +perception. A terrible wrong had been committed, a wrong to the poor +souls who had lost their lives, a wrong, too, to the city and to +society, making an evil pool of corruption. And in some mysterious way +this had been covered up, hidden, and all was to go on as before! She +had a primitive idea that all evil necessitated exact payment, and as +long as this payment was deferred, so long was the day of light, of +health, put off. + +But the man, realizing more clearly than she the indirect penalties +which his situation inevitably imposed, gave no further thought to the +abstract question of justice. The outlook was bad enough as it was. +He saw nothing before him in this city where he naturally belonged. + +"What would you think of our moving to St. Louis?" he asked, a few days +after he had received the lawyer's letter. "There is some sort of an +opening there for me. Of course I had rather be in New York, but it is +out of the question. It would take too long to get started. Or we +might try Denver. I have done some work there, and it's a growing +place." + +"Do you think that we must leave Chicago?" she asked. + +"Why!" he exclaimed, surprised that she should consider for a moment +the possibility of their remaining where he had made such a failure of +his life. "Do you want to stay here and be dropped by every soul you +have known?" + +"I don't care very much for that!" + +"Well, there's nothing here for me. Stewart will take the office. He +let me know mighty quick that we had better part! I am a dead dog in +Chicago. Only yesterday I got a letter from the Kicker Brothers +turning me down after telling me last month to go ahead. They pay for +the work done so far, and that is all. You see it is out of the +question to stay here!" + +He spoke gloomily, as if in spite of all that had happened he had some +grounds for feeling a little sore. + +"But I don't mean to let this down me, not yet," he continued more +buoyantly. "I owe it to you, at least, to make good. And I can do it +somewhere else, where the sight of this mess isn't always in my eyes! +It'll only be a matter of a few years, Nell." + +Already the bitterness of the crisis was passing away, and he was +beginning to plan for the future, for a career, for success,--built on +a surer foundation, but nevertheless success and repute in the world. +His wife realized it and understood. She was standing by his side, as +he sat with his elbows resting on his knees, studying the faded figure +in the carpet. She put her hands on his head and drew it toward her, +protectingly, pityingly, as she would the bruised head of a child. + +"So you think you must begin somewhere else?" she said gently, sitting +down by his side. + +"It's the only thing to do. The question is where!" + +She made no reply and seemed buried in her thoughts. + +"By the way," he remarked, "whom do you think I saw on the street +to-day? Wright. He was staring at Letterson's new store,--you know +Frank Peyton did it. The old man stopped me and seemed really glad to +see me. I suppose he knows everything, too," he added musingly. + +The incident comforted him greatly. He had seen Wright in the crowded +street, and had looked away from him, meaning to hurry past, but the +older man had stretched out his long arm and good-naturedly drawn Hart +to one side out of the press of the street. + +"How are you, Hart?" he had said cordially, with his boyish smile. +"What do you think of this thing? Bold, isn't it? That Peyton's got +nerve to put up this spiderweb right here in State Street. Now, I +couldn't do that! But I guess he's on the right track. That's what we +are coming to. What do you think?" + +They had walked down the street together, and Wright had continued to +talk of Peyton and the other young architects in the city, and of their +work. + +"I tell you, those youngsters have got the future. They have the +courage to try experiments. That won't do for an old fellow like me. +My clients would kick, too, if I took to anything new. But I like to +see the young ones try it.... What are you doing?" he had asked +abruptly. "Come in to see me, won't you? I shall be here two or three +weeks. Be sure to come in, now!" + +They had shaken hands, and the older architect had looked searchingly +into Hart's face, his boyish smile changing subtly into an expression +of concern and sweetness, as if there was something on the tip of his +tongue which he refrained from saying there in the crowded street. The +memory of the little meeting came back to the man now, and he felt more +grateful for Wright's cordiality than he had at the time. + +"Wright asked me to come in and see him. I think I will do it some +day," he remarked presently. + +"Why not give up the idea of starting your own office?" Helen asked +suddenly, her thoughts having come to a definite point. + +"What do you mean? Try something else? It would be pretty risky," he +answered doubtfully, surprised that she should want him to abandon his +profession, to admit defeat. + +"I didn't mean that, exactly. It wouldn't do at all for you to give up +architecture. That never entered my mind. Only--listen!" + +She slipped from the lounge where she had been sitting and knelt beside +him, taking the lapels of his coat in her hands, her face aglow with a +sudden enthusiasm. + +"I've been thinking of so many things these last months, and lately, +while Powers has been so sick, I've thought of everything since we were +in Italy together, since I loved you,--all those talks we had, and the +plans we made, the work you did, the sketches--those first ones." She +paused, trying to put her tumultuous thoughts in order. + +"I grow so slowly! I was so ignorant of everything, of myself and you +in those days. It has taken me a long time, dear, to understand, to +grow up!" she exclaimed, her lips trembling in a little smile. + +"We stumbled almost at the start, you and I. You started your office +and worked hard, always striving to get ahead, to get us comforts and +position, and not because you liked the things you were doing. You +took anything that promised to bring in money. And it got worse and +worse, the more we had. It used to trouble me then, 'way back, but I +didn't know what was the matter with it all. We lived out there with +all those rich people around us. And those we knew that weren't very +rich were all trying to get richer, to have the same things the others +had. We did what they did, and thought what they thought, and tried to +live as they did. It wasn't honest!" + +"What do you mean by that?" he asked blankly. + +"I'll say it clearly; just give me time, dear! It is true, but it is +made up of so many little, unimportant trifles. You worked just to get +money, and we spent it all on ourselves, or pretty nearly all. And the +more we had, the more we seemed to need. No man ought to work that +way! It ruins him in the end. That's why there are so many common, +brutal men and women everywhere. They work for the pay, and for +nothing else." + +"Oh, not always." + +"Most of those we knew did," she replied confidently. + +"Well, it's the law of life," he protested with a touch of his old +superiority in his tone. + +"No, it isn't, it isn't!" she exclaimed vehemently. "Never! There are +other laws. Work is good in itself, not just for the pay, and we must +live so that the pay makes less difference, so that we haven't to think +of the pay!" + +"I don't see what this has to do with our going to St. Louis!" he +interjected impatiently, disinclined for a theoretic discussion of the +aims of life, when the question of bread and butter was immediately +pressing. + +"But it has, Francis, dear. It has! If you go there, you will try to +live the old way. You will try to get ahead, to struggle up in the +world, as it is called, and that is the root of all the trouble! That +is what I have come to see all these months. We are all trying to get +out of the ranks, to leave the common work to be done by others, to be +leaders. We think it a disgrace to stay in the ranks, to work for the +work's sake, to bear the common lot, which is to live humbly and labor! +Don't let us struggle that way any longer, dear. It is wrong,--it is a +curse. It will never give us happiness--never!" + +He began to see the drift of her purpose, and resented it with all the +prejudice of his training,--resented, at least, the application of it +to him. + +"The ranks are crowded enough as it is! I don't see the call for a man +to put himself into them if he has the ability to do any better, I must +say!" + +"Not if--not after all that has happened?" she asked mournfully. + +"Oh! that's it. You think that it's only _I_ who should go down, +meekly give up all ambition, because I can't be trusted? You are +afraid that I will go wrong?" he retorted bitterly. + +"No, not that quite! Yet--" she hesitated, aware that the new love +between them hung in the balance. Then she went on courageously: "No, +I have no fear of that. You couldn't! But the temptation to make +money will be before you every moment, and to-day few men can resist +that. It is better to be in the ranks than to struggle to lead, and +then lead falsely, trying for false things,--false things!" + +"That is what you think of me!" he repeated mournfully. + +In spite of all the experience which had come to him the last weeks, +all that he had confessed to himself and to his wife, it was bitter to +realize that she refused him now that absolute faith and blind +confidence in his guidance which had made courtship and the first years +of marriage such a pleasant tribute to his egotism. He had come back +to her repentant; he had said, "I have erred. I repent. Will you +forgive me and love me?" And she had taken him to herself again with a +deeper acceptance than at first. Yet when it came to the point of +action, she seemed to be withdrawing her forgiveness, to be judging and +condemning him. + +In this he wronged her. What she was trying hesitantly and imperfectly +to say to him was not merely the lesson of his catastrophe, but the +fruited thought of her life,--what had come to her through her +imperfect, groping education, through the division of their marriage, +through her children, through the empty dinner parties in the society +he had sought, through the vacancy in her heart,--yes! through the love +that she had for him. While she was silent, clinging to him, baffled, +he spoke again:-- + +"Don't you see that I want to retrieve myself, and make some amends to +you for all that I have made you suffer? You would kill every ambition +in me, even the one to work for you and the boys!" + +"That would not make me happy, not if you made as great a fortune as +uncle Powers! Not that way!" + +"What would, then?" + +"Do you remember some of those first things you did? The little +country club at Oak Hills? I was awfully happy when you showed me +that," she said softly, irrelevantly. "Somehow I know you could do +that again and better things, too, if--if you could forget the money +and all that. Real, honest work! You could be the artist I know you +are, the maker of honest, fine buildings!" + +In the enthusiasm of her face he read dimly once more the long-past +dream of his youth, the talk of young men in the studios, the hours by +her side on the steamer, when they had come together in the imperfect +attraction of sex. It was but the flicker of a distant light, however; +he had learned the lesson of the city too well. + +"That sounds very well. But it isn't practical. If you want to do big +work, you have to be your own master, and not work for some one else! +And art, especially architecture, lives on the luxury of the rich, whom +you seem to despise!" + +"What does it matter whose name goes on the plans? It's the work that +makes it that counts, and no one can have that but the one who does it." + +"Now, you're talking poetry, Nell, not sense!" he exclaimed +good-naturedly, getting up from the lounge and walking to and fro. +"This world doesn't run on those lines, and you and I aren't going to +make it over, either. You're talking like a romantic girl!" + +"There isn't much else of the girl left in me!" she smiled wistfully +back to him. + +"Just look at it practically. If I go out of business for myself, I +couldn't earn more than two hundred a month working for some firm. +That's as much as Wright ever pays his best men. What would that be to +live on? For you and me and the boys?" + +"We could make it do. There are many others who have less." + +"Next you will want to take in washing." + +"I had rather do the cooking, when it comes to that," she flashed back. + +"I can see us in a four-room flat somewhere south on one of those +God-forsaken prairie streets. One slovenly maid, and the food! A +cigar on Sundays and holidays! You would buy your clothes over the +counter at Letterson's and go bargain-hunting for your weekly +amusement. No, thank you! I am not quite so far gone yet as that, my +dear. You don't realize the facts." + +His mind was not open to her conception, even in its simplest +application. To him a small income with its manner of life meant +merely degradation. She saw, as never before, how Chicago had moulded +him and had left his nature set in a hard crust of prejudice. The +great industrial city where he had learned the lesson of life throttled +the finer aspirations of men like a remorseless giant, converting its +youth into iron-clawed beasts of prey, answering to the one hoarse cry, +"Success, Success, Success!" + +"And how should we educate the boys? Think of it! How could we give +them as good a start in life as we had? Why, it would be criminal to +them. It's nonsense!" + +"I have thought of them," she replied calmly. "And I am willing to +take the risks for them, too. I am willing to see them start in life +poor, with just what we could do for them. Perhaps in the world to +which they will grow up, things will be different, anyway." + +He had tested her in the tenderest point, and she was stanch. He began +to see how far this theory of living and working in the world went with +her. She was ready to put herself outside her own class, and her +children also, for the sake of an idea, a feeling that she had about +man's true purpose in life. + +"I must go to Powers, now," she said at last, a little sadly. Before +she left the room she went up to him impulsively and leaned her head +against his breast for a moment. "Perhaps in time you will come to +feel more as I do. And, Francis, there's another reason why I should +hate to have us leave this place. I don't want to think that you are +running away from the disgrace, from the trouble which has happened +here!" She raised her head proudly. "That is what all cheap people +do, go to some place where they aren't known; as if it mattered to us +now what people think or say! I want you to stay right here, where it +happened, and make a new life here." + + +After she had left him, he continued to walk to and fro in his uncle's +old library, between the heavy black-walnut bookcases, where it was +permitted to him now to smoke as many cigarettes as he liked. The +house had been left very much as it was during the old man's life. Now +that Mrs. Amelia Hart was free to make those domestic changes which had +been denied to her while the owner lived, she had never come to the +necessary resolution. Powers Jackson's will was still effective with +her, even in death. + +The architect thought of the old man, wondering vaguely what he would +have said to Helen's argument. He was not so sure as formerly that he +understood the rough old fellow, who apparently had grasped the main +chance and wrung it dry. His uncle's purpose in endowing that school +struck him suddenly as complex, and also his treatment of himself. +Possibly he, too,--the successful man of his day,--having exploited the +world for forty years, had come to the belief that ambition in the +ordinary sense of the word was futile.... + +The architect had not thought to sneak away from the place where he had +gone to failure when he suggested to his wife starting life once more +in a new city. It had seemed merely ordinary good judgment to go where +he should not be hampered by a clouded past. And he resented his +wife's feeling that he should remain and do a kind of penance for the +sins that he had confessed, repented, and repaired so far as he was +able. She asked too much of him! He had given up all the money he +had, and was ready to begin the struggle for bread with a fairer view +of his duties. But it seemed that that was not enough for her: she +demanded now that he sacrifice his ambition, that he return to the +ranks, as a draughtsman, a clerk, a hireling! + +Nevertheless, her words worked unconsciously in him, for hers was the +stronger nature. He had lived his own way and had failed, rather +miserably. What she wanted must, perforce, guide him increasingly and +determine his life. Presently he went upstairs to the child's room. +There in the darkened chamber Helen was kneeling beside the bed holding +little Powers in her strong arms. The child was asleep, his thin arms +stretched above his head along the pillow. In the large bed the little +figure, white and wasted with the lingering fever of his disease, lay +peacefully. Helen turned her face to her husband as he entered, and he +could see the smile that belied the tears in her eyes. And as he stood +there in the silent room watching the two, the calm of elemental +feeling stole over him. The woman and the child! These were the +ancient, unalterable factors of human life; outside of them the +multitudinous desires of men were shifting, trivial, little. For the +first time in his life an indifference to all else in the world swept +over him in gratitude for these two gifts.... + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +Dr. Coburn had at last found time for the episode of matrimony, so +Venetia announced to Helen one afternoon. She had run in on her way to +the city, and her eyes sparkled mischievously as she added:-- + +"It's just as well to have it over before Mrs. P. returns--it will save +her so much embarrassment, you know. She won't have to strike an +attitude. And it's lots easier this way, no fuss, no bother, and you +have it all to yourself. Can you and Jack come 'round to-morrow +afternoon about four? Dr. Knowles's Church--you know where it is. +Don't be late." As she started for the door, she turned swiftly, threw +her arms about the older woman, and kissed her vehemently. + +"Do you know, puss, I think we are going to be awfully happy!" And +then she darted out of the door. + +They met Venetia and the doctor at the door of the church. Coburn, who +had on a new brown business suit that betrayed its origin by its +numerous creases, grinned very broadly as he raised his hat to Helen. + +"Come here, Pete," Venetia called busily to the old terrier, who +hobbled after her. "Pete had to come to see us married," she +explained, as she tied him to the iron fence near the entrance. "But I +don't suppose Dr. Knowles would like to have him come in and sit in the +corner of a pew. I'm sure he'd behave very well, though! Uncle Harry +couldn't come, poor dear; he's over in Carlsbad taking the cure,--but +he wrote such a nice letter to my man. We didn't ask anybody else. +Well, are we all ready?" + +"Just about!" the doctor answered briskly. "Fine day for a wedding, +isn't it?" + +"Don't whimper, Pete," Venetia said for a last warning, turning to the +dog, and patting him once more. "Your missy won't be gone long, and +when she comes back, you'll have cream for your supper and fruit-cake, +too." + +Then the four walked up the long aisle of the great bare church, and +presently Dr. Knowles came from the vestry and performed the ceremony. +Venetia stood very still and straight, drawing in her breath in little +gasps, looking very hard at the broad face of the minister. Coburn, +too, stood very straight, but Helen, who watched the two lovingly while +the words of the contract rolled forth in the empty church, saw the +look of tenderness in the man's face as his glance rested steadfastly +on the woman by his side. + +In a few minutes they were out again in the sunlight. Pete was +surrounded by a group of small boys, who were debating whether he would +bite if they got near enough to him. + +"Here, boys," Venetia called, as she untied Pete's leash. "This is the +day you must celebrate! Give me some money, Sayre." + +And she distributed to the delighted urchins all the silver that the +doctor had in his pockets. Then the four went to a restaurant in the +city, where they had dinner together, Jackson ordering the champagne, +and they talked until Helen rose and declared it was time to leave the +bride and bridegroom. The doctor and Venetia walked off westward to +their new home, arm in arm, Pete dangling in the rear from his leash, +which his mistress held. + +"What good times they will have!" Helen exclaimed, watching them bob +across the gayly lighted thoroughfare, dragging the terrier after them. +"I suppose it's because they're both what Venetia would call 'real +clear sports.'" + +After the newly married couple had disappeared, the Harts walked +leisurely northwards, and as the night was calm and warm, they kept on +beyond Ohio Street, strolling along the shore of the lake towards the +Park. The great houses across the boulevard were already deserted by +their occupants, who had begun the annual migration. The architect's +eye roved over the gloomy façades of these monstrous piles of brick and +stone, to which the toilsome steps of some successful ones in the city +had led; and he began to wonder, as he had when a boy, why in this +world, which seemed to hold so many pleasant things, the owners of +these ugly houses could be content to live in them. To the boy's mind +the ambition to encase one's self in a great dwelling had seemed so +inadequate! Again, to-night, he looked at their burly shadows, and +speculated over them without envy. + +They loitered arm in arm beside the sea-wall, listening to the heaving +lake, the cool splash of water on the concrete embankment below the +walk. + +"Nell, I saw Wright to-day," he remarked thoughtfully, "and had a long +talk with him." + +She turned her head and waited. + +"He's a good deal more of a man than I used to think him!" he went on +slowly. "There were a lot of people waiting to see him, and he had to +go somewhere, but he didn't seem to mind that I was there with him a +long time. I guess he knows pretty nearly all that has happened to me." + +Wright had said nothing about the Glenmore or Graves, however, and +Jackson had not gone into his story very far. But the older man had +heard, it is true, something here and there, from this man and that, +over the lunch table at his club, from one or two men in his office. +And he had imagination enough to picture the whole story. + +"I told him I was thinking of going somewhere else," Jackson continued +slowly. + +"What did he say?" + +"Oh, a good many things,--he's a pretty human fellow,--looks at many +sides of a matter. Well, in the end he offered me a place with him! +Not the old thing,--he's got some new men in, and can't put any one +ahead of them. I guess he would have to make a place!" + +She leaned forward, repressing the question that rose swiftly to her +lips. But after a few moments, Jackson answered it slowly. + +"I told him that I would like to think it over for a day or two." + +She refrained still from questioning him, and they strolled on slowly +into the park. There on the benches facing the lake sat many couples, +crowded close together, resting after the warm day's work. Along the +stone embankment outside the glare of the arc lights the lake heaved in +an oily calm without a ripple, and from the dark surface of the water +rose a current of cold air. The architect and his wife turned back +instinctively into the empty darkness of the boulevard. + +"It's pretty good of the old boy to be willing to take back a man who's +been on his knees," Jackson mused, breaking the long silence in which +they had walked. + +"Don't!" she murmured. "That hurts--don't think that!" + +"Suppose we try it, Nell," he said quickly. "I know you would like to +have me--and perhaps it is best." + +"But you mustn't do it just for my sake!" + +"I think you are rather fussy!" he retorted. "Why else should I do it, +my dear, dear wife?" + +"But you might regret it, then! You must be sure,--not do it just to +please me, but because you see things as I do, and know that it's the +only way for us to live and have peace." + +Doubtless she asked too much of the man she loved, for most +beings--instinctive creatures--act from a philosophy of purely personal +influences. Jackson Hart, certainly, would never have considered +relinquishing his ambition to thrust himself forward, to have a career +in this world, out of any intellectual convictions. Nor could it be +said that his wife's half-formulated arguments had persuaded him. But +she herself had convinced him, the strong, self-contained womanhood in +her, her undaunted spirit, with which he lived daily, and which +perforce colored his soul. Especially, these latter weeks of suspense +and despair, while their child's life was in the balance, she had made +him hers. If it were a victory for the woman, it was an emotional +victory, which she had won over her husband,--and such victories are +the only ones that endure in these matters. He felt her spirit as he +had never felt anything else, and realized at last dimly that in all +the big questions of life she was right. Beautiful, loving, strong, +and fearless, she was his! And what was his "career" against her heart +and soul? + +"Perhaps you will regret it," he remarked half playfully, "and will +want me to change later and do better by you and the children." + +"Never, never!" She drew his arm closer to her breast, as if +symbolically to show him her absolute content with what she had. + +"Well, those fellows will grin when I walk into that office after my +little splurge!" He swept his left arm through the air in an arc to +describe the upward and downward course of a rocket "Into the ranks, at +last!" + +"To work, and live, and love, a little while," she added softly. + +"It isn't exactly the way uncle Powers solved the problem!" he remarked +teasingly. "I suppose you would have had him stay milking cows on that +Vermont farm?" + +"I didn't marry him!" she retorted swiftly. "And perhaps if he had it +to do again, he would stay to milk the cows." + +"You think so!" he exclaimed sceptically. + +For her, at least, there was neither doubt nor hesitation. She +answered surely the inarticulate call of the larger world, the call of +the multitudes that labor and die without privilege, to share with them +the common lot of life. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +That small fragment of Chicago society which had known the Jackson +Harts, and interested itself in their doings, was mildly stirred over +the news that the brilliant and promising young architect had been +obliged to close his office, and had gone to work for his old employer. +Indeed, for some weeks the Harts furnished the Forest Park +dinner-tables with a fresh topic of conversation that took the place of +the strikes and poor Anthony Crawford's scattered fortune. It +contained quite as much food for marvel and moral reflection as either +of the others. + +More information about the architect's troubles than that provided by +the press had got abroad in Forest Park and the Shoreham Club. It was +well known, for instance, that Hart had been obliged to dissolve his +partnership with Freddie Stewart, owing to grave business +irregularities, which extended beyond his connection with the recent +disaster. It was generally agreed that his offences must have been +very grave indeed to necessitate, at his age, with his influential +connection, such a radical change of caste as had happened. Men +commonly expressed their contempt because at a crisis he had shown such +a deplorable "lack of nerve." They said, and among them were some of +the architect's more intimate friends, that nothing he had done could +justify this tame submission. "Why!" Mrs. Phillips exclaimed when she +heard of it, "we've seen men live down things ten times worse. There +was Peter Sewall, and old Preston, and the banker Potts, and a dozen +more. They are as good as any of us to-day! And he needn't have told +everything he knew, anyhow, to that old coroner." The measure of a +man's guilt, in her eyes and those of many others, was what he was +willing to admit to the world. "But it's that wife of his!" the widow +continued bitterly. "She never had any spirit; she was cut out for a +clerk's wife. I have always felt that she was responsible for +Venetia's trouble. Well, she's got to her level at last!" + +Finally, this portion of the great public held that under the +circumstances the architect had shown singularly little judgment in +staying on in the city: there was no "future" for him, under the +circumstances, in Chicago. If he felt himself unable to hold his own +against scandal, they argued, he should have the wit to leave the city +where he had gone wrong and seek his fortune under new skies, where the +faces of his successful friends would not remind him constantly of +ignoble defeat. + +Not that Jackson Hart had many opportunities of encountering his +successful friends in the great city of Chicago. He had resigned from +his club, and the Harts had moved very far away from the pleasant +suburbs along the lake which were filled with their old acquaintances. +They had gone to live in one of those flimsy flat-buildings in the +southern part of the city, concerning which the architect had +speculated the night the Glenmore was burned. It was near the +street-car line, for the matter of a nickel fare was now of importance +in their domestic economy. Occasionally, some one of the Forest Park +ladies would report on her return from the city that she had run across +Mrs. Hart at Steele's, "looking old and queerer than ever, dressed in +the old things she wore out here, as if she didn't care whether school +kept or not, poor thing!" But in the murky light of Steele's great +shop, they could not have seen the serene, almost radiant beauty of the +woman's face, the beauty of a soul content with its vision of the +world, in harmony with itself. + +And Jackson, "reduced to the ranks" by a few grades, in that career of +his, which he dubbed good-humoredly "From shirt-sleeves to +shirt-sleeves, in three acts," was developing certain patient virtues +of inestimable charm in the domestic circles of plain life, though not +essential for brilliant success. In his box of an office next Wright's +large draughting-room, he worked almost side by side with his former +draughtsman Cook, who had also come back to the old firm. For some +months they hardly spoke to each other; indeed, the men in Wright's +generally held aloof from Hart. But they have accepted him at last. +Cook has begun, even, to regain some of his old admiration for his +chief, comprehending, perhaps, that in the office by his side there is +slowly working out a career of real spiritual significance, if of +little outward display. + +As to Wright, who knows more of the man's real story than the others, +he treats his old employee with a fine consideration and respect, +realizing that this man is doing handsomely a thing that few men have +the character to do at all. His admiration for Hart's work has grown, +also, and he frankly admits that the younger man has a better talent +for architecture than he himself ever possessed, as well as great +cleverness and ingenuity, so necessary in an art which is intimately +allied with mechanics. For it is true that after sluggish years there +has revived within Hart the creative impulse, that spirit of the +artist, inherent to some extent in all men, which makes the work of +their hands an engrossing joy. The plans of a group of buildings, +which the firm have undertaken for a university in a far Western state, +have been entrusted very largely to Hart. As they grow from month to +month in the voluminous sheets of drawings, they are becoming the pride +of the office. And Wright generously allots the praise for their +beauty where it largely belongs. + +Thus the social waters of the fast-living city are rapidly rolling over +the Jackson Harts. In all probability they will never again in this +life come to the surface, and call for comment; for the architect and +his wife have already sunk into the insignificance of the common lot, +so much praised by the poets, so much despised by our good Americans of +the "strenuous" school. They have had their opportunities to better +themselves in the worldly scale, but there has never been any question +between husband and wife of a change in their social or material +condition. They even contemplate with equanimity leaving their +children in the universal struggle no better equipped than with the +possession of health and a modest education,--there to meet their fate +as their parents have done before them. + + +Almost the last public appearance of the Jackson Harts in that portion +of the Chicago world which had formerly known them occurred at the +elaborate dedicatory exercises of the JACKSON INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTE. +When the handsomely engraved invitation came to them, the architect was +disinclined to attend; but Helen, who thought only of the old man's +probable wish in the matter, induced her husband to take her. The +exercises were held in the pretty little auditorium which occupied one +wing of the large school building. There was much ceremony, and +numerous speeches, besides the oration delivered by the director, Dr. +Everest, on "Modern Industrialism," which was considered a masterpiece +of its kind and was afterwards printed and circulated by the trustees. +A bust of the founder, which fronted the stage, was first unveiled amid +great applause. Dr. Everest in the introduction of his oration turned +from time to time to apostrophize its rugged marble features, while he +paid his tribute to the founder of the institution. What the old +man--who had always avoided voluble people like the pest--would have +thought of the liberal eulogy scattered on his head, and of the +eloquent discourse that followed, on the future of education and the +working-man, no one will ever know. The rough old face looking +inscrutably down on the little, bald-headed figure of the director gave +no sign. + +During the lengthy oration the architect's thoughts went wandering far +astray back into his past, so closely involved with this handsome +building. But Helen listened attentively to the director's flowing +periods, searching his phrases for an interpretation of his purposes in +regard to the school. Dr. Everest, however, was far too wary an +educator to commit himself to positive ideas. Yet in the maze of his +discourse there might be gathered hints of his attitude toward the +problem of industrial education. After the opening tribute to the +founder, "whom we may call a typical leader of our triumphant +industrial democracy," the speaker dwelt glowingly on the advanced +position of our country among the nations of the earth, attributing its +phenomenal progress to the nature of its political and educational +institutions, which had developed and encouraged the energies of such +men as Powers Jackson:-- + +"We lead the nations of the world in the arts of peace, owing to the +energy and genius of men like our noble benefactor, owing, I may say, +still more to the character of our institutions, political and +educational, which produce such men as he was!" Then followed a +flattering contrast between the "aristocratic and mediæval education" +of the English universities and the older American colleges, and the +broad, liberal spirit of newer institutions, especially technical +schools. The intention of the founder of the Jackson Industrial +Institute, he said, was to broaden the democratic ideal, "to bring +within the reach of every child in this greatest of industrial +metropoli, not only the rudiments of an education, but the most +advanced technical training, by means of which he may raise himself +among his fellows and advance the illimitable creative ingenuity of our +race. Here will come the boy whose father labors at the bottom of the +industrial ladder, and if he be worthy, if he have the necessary talent +and the industry, here in our workshops and laboratories he may fit +himself to mount to the very top of that ladder, and become in turn a +master and leader of men, like our great benefactor! And we may well +believe that the sight of those benignant features will be an +inspiration to the youth to strive even as he strove. That face will +kindle the noble ambitions of the learner, who will remember that our +good founder once labored with his own hands at the forge not far from +this monument to his greatness, and that he rose by his own unaided +industry and ability to command thousands of operatives, to control +millions of capital, yes, to influence the wide industrial world! + +"In America, thank God, the poor man may yet rise to a position of +leadership, if he be worthy. And what the world needs to-day more than +all else is leaders, leaders of men. May we not prophesy that the +Jackson Industrial Institute will be a large factor, yes, the largest +factor of this great city, in educating leaders, and thus assisting to +put an end to that wasteful and distressing antagonism between capital +and labor? By the means of the education here provided, young men may +raise themselves from the ranks of common labor to the position and +responsibilities of capital! Let us hope that this will be the happy +result of an educational foundation provided by a great captain of +industry, and placed here in the heart of the workshops of Chicago. +Thus may we assist in preserving and fostering the spirit of our noble +institutions by means of which man is given freedom to reap the fruits +of his own labor and intelligence!" ... + +And Dr. Everest continued on this plane of eloquence for another +half-hour, until even Judge Phillips, who had listened with rapt +attention, began to nod in his chair. At last, when the doctor sat +down, stroking his thick black beard and wiping his shining brow, loud +applause broke forth from all parts of the auditorium. The applause +sounded much like the ironic laughter of the gods over the travesty of +the old man's purpose, to which they had just listened. + +To Helen, especially, it seemed that no more complete twisting of his +idea in thus bestowing his wealth were possible! However, the great +school stands there, in the neighborhood where his old operatives +live,--stands there and will stand there for many years, mistaken or +not in its aims as one looks at this world of ours; and some day, +maybe, when Dr. Everest has grasped some new form of the educational +main chance, it may fall into other hands and become more nearly what +its founder meant it to be,--a source of help and inspiration to the +common man, who must labor all his days at common tasks, and can look +to no material advancement in this life. + + +After the exercises the rooms of the building were thrown open for +inspection, and the guests strolled through the laboratories and +workshops in little parties, discussing the oration and exclaiming over +the magnificence of the appointments. The Harts wandered over the +school with the rest, and the architect looked about him with a certain +curiosity. As they returned to the main hall under the rotunda, he +exclaimed, peering up into the dome, "Nell, I can't seem to remember +this place: it looks queer and strange to me, as if somebody else had +done the plans, and I had just looked over them!" + +"Somebody else did do them," she answered, drawing him away from a +group of people who had come out of one of the adjoining rooms. + +In a little while they got their wraps and prepared to leave the +institution, having a long journey before them to reach their home. As +they crossed the entrance hall, they ran into Pemberton, who was alone. +He bowed to Helen as though he meant to speak to her, and then catching +sight of Jackson, who was behind her, he merely bent his head the +fraction of an inch, and, stepping to one side, passed on. He could +not, evidently, forgive a stain upon a man's honor, arrogating to +himself, as so many of us do, the privileges of deity. The architect's +face flushed at the slight, and he hurried his steps toward the +vestibule. As they passed through the broad doorway, he said to his +wife:-- + +"Well, Nell, I suppose I deserved it,--the old Turk!" + +"No, you did not deserve it!" she replied swiftly. "But it makes no +difference, dear!" + +And, fortunately, there are few things that do make any great +difference to real men and women,--and one of the least is the casual +judgment of their fellow-men. + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Common Lot, by Robert Herrick + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 57830 *** |