The Stoic
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THE STOIC
now, Tollifer’s services, as far as she was concerned, were ended. And Cowperwood was to learn by wire that she was aware of his plotting, and that she was through with him forever; that she was returning to New York to stay in her own home, where she belonged, and that if he attempted to follow her, she would take him into court and expose him in the public press; she would relieve herself once and for all time of his lies, infidelities, and his mental cruelties!
After which, turning to Tollifer, she exclaimed.
«You may go now. Your services to me are ended. I’m returning to New York at once, and if you ever cross my path or annoy me in any way, I’ll see that you are exposed for what you are. Run to Mr. Cowperwood and see if he won’t give you something more respectable to do!»
With which she walked to the door and opened it for him to depart.
Chapter 53
At the same time that all of this was happening to Aileen in Paris, Berenice, still at Pryor’s Cove, was finding herself the object of a truly surprising series of social invitations, introductions, and successes which were far beyond anything she had anticipated. And while she felt she must credit a good portion of this success to Cowperwood, a greater portion, as she well knew, was due to Lord Stane’s infatuation and his desire to introduce her to his circle of very important social connections.
With Aileen in Paris, Cowperwood had decided it would be safe to accept, for Berenice and himself, the invitation to cruise on Stane’s yacht, the Iola . Among the guests aboard were Lady Clifford, of Chadleigh, whose husband had one of the oldest titles in England; the Duchess of Marlborough, one of Stane’s most intimate friends as well as one of the Queen’s favorites; and Sir Wyndham Whitley, a diplomat closely associated with Court life.
When the Iola eventually anchored at Cowes, Stane informed his guests that he had had word that the Queen was there and would be pleased to receive him and his friends for tea that afternoon: an announcement which aroused intense excitement in all of them, particularly Berenice, who had been nervously sensitive as to the possible publicity that might fol-
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low from this. The Queen was exceedingly gracious and appeared herself to enjoy this informal visit. She evinced a particular interest in Berenice and made various inquiries, which, if Berenice had answered them truthfully, might have resulted in great injury to herself, but since she did not, resulted in the wish, expressed by the Queen, that she might see more of her in London; in fact, that she hoped she would be free to attend her next Court reception. This courtesy on the part of the Queen all but startled Berenice, yet gave her still greater assurance as to what she could achieve for herself, if she wished.
As for Stane, it enormously increased his desire for her affection. At the same time, its effect on Cowperwood was to cause him even more misapprehension as to Stane’s possible influence on Berenice.
But there was even greater cause for worry on his part awaiting him on his return to his hotel suite in London. There was the letter from Aileen, mailed to him just before she sailed for New York, and which read as follows:
At last I know the truth about my humiliating position in relation to your servant, Tollifer, and yourself; your shameful employment of him in order to be rid of me and leave you free to go your customary libertine way. What a reward for all my years of devotion! However, don’t worry, for you are free to go now, to run with your prostitutes where and when you will. For today I am leaving Paris for New York, where I expect to be finally free from your infidelities and indulgences. I warn you not to follow me. If you do, I will take you
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and your present mistresses into court and expose you in the press of London and New York. Aileen .
On receiving this, Cowperwood devoted considerable time on the contemplation of the possible angles and results of this savage indictment of himself. It seemed to him to be the better part of wisdom to return immediately to New York and see what, if anything, he could do to avoid a public scandal. However, closely connected with this was the position of Berenice. For if Aileen proceeded to do as she threatened, Berenice’s future would be greatly injured. And that he did not wish to have happen, at any cost.
His first move, therefore, was to go at once to see Berenice, whom he found in a cheerful and highly ambitious mood. But once he told her of Aileen’s latest attack, and the nature of her threats, he could tell by her sudden change of expression that she looked upon it as a serious matter. She was interested to know what could have persuaded Tollifer to confess his position.
«Surely, he had everything to gain by silence», she said, nervously.
«You don’t understand the Lady Aileen, dear», responded Cowperwood, ironically. «She’s not a person who thinks problems through to their ultimate conclusion. Instead, she develops a rage that does more harm than good to herself and everyone concerned. In fact, she can become so violent as to sweep anyone into confessions equally disastrous to both. The only thing I can think of doing at this time is to return to New York by the fastest boat, and maybe get there first. In the
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meantime, I have already wired Tollifer to come to London at once, because by continuing his employment I can easily arrange with him to say nothing. But I’m wondering what suggestions you might have to make, Bevy».
«I agree with you, Frank», she said. «I think you should return to New York as soon as possible, and see what you can do to placate her. After you talk to her, she’s very likely to realize how futile an explosion of this kind would be. For, of course, she has known of me before this, and others also», and here she smiled an ironic smile. «And you certainly are the one to tell her that. After all, you haven’t done her any harm in this instance. Nor has Tollifer, for that matter. In fact, you’ve provided her with the best guide to the pleasures of Paris that anybody would want, and, incidentally, you might also make clear to her that your work over here has taken every moment of your time. After all, it seems to me that could hardly fail to have some ameliorating effect. The papers are full of your labors and achievements, as you could point out to her” – a burst of wisdom which was by no means lost on Cowperwood. His one grief, as he now declared, was that it was he, not Stane, who had to go.
«Never mind, dear», she said, consolingly, «you’re too great a man to be broken by this. I know positively you will return triumphant, as usual. And you know I will be with you all the way», and she put her arms around him and smiled up into his face with deep affection.
«If that is so, then I know everything will be all right», he said, confidently.
Chapter 54
Before sailing for New York, Cowperwood talked with Tollifer, who demonstrated to him his personal innocence in connection with this development; also that as far as he was concerned, his lips were sealed and would open only to say whatever Cowperwood desired him to say.
Five days later, landing in New York, Cowperwood was met by a brigade of newspapermen with enough inquiries to fill a small catalogue. Was he after more money to buy more London subways, or was it for the purpose of disposing of his remaining American street railway holdings? What paintings had he purchased in London? Was there anything to the story that he had just paid $78,000 for Turner’s «Rockets and Blue Lights”? And, in connection with paintings, had he agreed to pay a certain artist $20,000 for his portrait, and on its completion sent the artist $30,000 instead? And also, by now, what did he think of English business methods?
All of this caused him to realize that while there was more interest in him as a public figure than had ever previously been manifested, as yet there was no trace of scandal in connection with him. Accordingly, he was more inclined to answer the questions, at least as many as it was diplomatically possible for him to answer without injury to himself.
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According to him, everything was progressing smoothly in London. In fact, he was justifiably proud, since he expected to have the London Underground electrified and in operation by January of 1905. Also, it would have an $85,000,000 capital and one hundred and forty miles of track. And it was also true that he was now building the largest electrical power plant in the world, and when it was completed London would have the finest underground in the world. As to the English, he now asserted that he considered their attitude toward large business projects, such as his, superior to the American attitude; that is, the English appeared to understand the importance of a great constructive program, and when they granted a franchise, it was not for a limited time, but granted in perpetuity, which gave men with large creative purposes an opportunity to build things lasting.
As to paintings, yes, he had purchased several since being in New York last, and those he was bringing back with him, a Watteau, a Sir Joshua Reynolds (portrait of Lady O’Brien), and a Frans Hals. And yes, he had paid the artist in question $30,000 for his portrait when he needed to give him $20,000 only. But the artist had returned the $10,000 to him with the request that he contribute the sum to a charity – which caused a gasp of surprise from the reporters.
The significance of such data as this, blazoned as it was in all of the newspapers, did not fail to impress Aileen, who, under another name, had arrived only two days before. Notwithstanding her anger, she was moved to meditate on the wisdom of her original plan. What was to become of these paintings that he was purchasing? For she recalled that recently he had spoken of the possibility of enlarging the New York Mansion with
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a view to housing additional art objects. If so, her exposure of him and a threatened divorce suit might force him to change his plans in favor of one other than herself: the same dilemma which some years before she had faced and lost.
But, accepting her threat at its face value, Cowperwood thought it best, during his stay in New York, to make his headquarters at the Waldorf-Astoria instead of the Fifth Avenue residence, and having once settled there, he took up the matter of trying to reach Aileen by telephone, with no success. For she had made up her mind not to allow him to come and discuss his, to her, seemingly inexcusable crime, and she had even gone so far as to request a New York lawyer to call on her. Yet reading the papers, which continued to report his doings, evoked in her, from hour to hour, a change of emotions. For, naturally, she was proud of his success, and yet she was jealous, because she was satisfied that somewhere, lurking in the background, was one of his mistresses – Berenice, no doubt – who was undoubtedly sharing this most iridescent period of his life. For Aileen loved show and glitter. At times she was almost childishly arrested by any startling phase of publicity concerning Cowperwood, good, bad, or indifferent. In fact, one newspaper picture of the immense electrical plant he was building in London so fascinated her as to make her almost forget her ills. On the other hand, when he was savagely attacked in one newspaper article, she could not help resenting it, at the same time that she was moved to attack him herself.
After contemplating the immense variety of opinions and applause which greeted his return, Aileen’s rage became confused with a certain degree of admiration, at which point in her oscillating moods it was that Cowperwood calmly walked
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into the living room of her suite to find her lying on a chaise longue, the floor about her littered with newspapers which she had obviously been reading. She jumped to her feet on his entrance, trying to arouse in herself her treasured anger as he stood facing her.
«Well, I see you keep up with the news, don’t you, dear?» he commented, smiling a broad, free smile. «It isn’t bad, is it?» «You!» she almost screamed. «The effrontery! If they only
knew you as I do! The hypocrisy of it all! The cruelty!»
«Now, listen, Aileen», he went on, as calmly as he could, «you know, if you stop to think about it, I haven’t injured you in any way. If you’ve read any of these papers, you know I’ve been working almost twenty-four hours a day on this proposition ever since I went to London. As for this man, Tollifer, what better guide could a person have in a city like Paris? If I remember correctly, in the old days you never passed through that city with me without complaining bitterly because I couldn’t spend all my time with you visiting places you considered interesting but which I had no time for. And so, when Tollifer showed up, and was going to Paris anyhow, I thought, since you appeared to like him, that your going there at the same time might give you the opportunity of satisfying your old desire to see Paris without having me about to interfere in any way. And that ’s the only reason for Tollifer, and you know it!»
«Lies, lies, lies!» cried Aileen, savagely. «Always lies! But this time they won’t work. At least, I can let the world know what you really are, and how you’ve treated me. The articles about you will read a little differently then, you can bet!»
«Now, Aileen», he interrupted, «just be reasonable. You know that from a material point of view I have never de-
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prived you of anything you wanted, and all along I have been counting on you to take charge of my affairs after I’m gone. This house here, of which you certainly are proud. As you know, I’ve been planning to add to it in a way that will make it even more beautiful. For some time now I’ve wanted to buy the house next door, in order to enlarge the palm room for you and make an additional gallery for pictures and statuary. I was intending to leave it all in your hands, to express yourself as you pleased».
But true to his natural secretiveness, he failed to state that before leaving London he had already purchased the house in question.
«Why not get Pyne and let him submit some plans», he continued, «and we’ll look them over».
«Oh, yes», said Aileen, wistfully, «that would be interesting». But Cowperwood did not hesitate. «As for my life being separate from yours, Aileen, that’s a ridiculous idea, really. In the first place, we’ve been too long together, and although we have had our troubles, here we are. Outside of my work, which makes strenuous demands on me physically, my personal life is nothing. Besides, I am no longer young, and if you care to make friends with me again, once I get this London underground off my hands, I’ll really be glad to return to New
York and live with you here».
«Do you mean me with six others?» she asked, sarcastically. «No, I mean just what I said. I should think you could see that I may have to retire some day. If so, it will be for peace and
quiet, and not more work».
Aileen was now getting ready to make an additional ironic comment, but looking up at him she caught a particularly
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