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THE FINANCIER
tleties of evolution, which even then was being noised abroad, or to
ferret out the curiosities of history in connection with this matter.
He had no time. Suffi ce it that the vagaries of temperament and conditions with which he came into immediate contact proved to him
that there was great dissatisfaction with that idea. People did not
cleave to each other until death; and in thousands of cases where
they did, they did not want to. Quickness of mind, subtlety of idea,
fortuitousness of opportunity, made it possible for some people to
right their matrimonial and social infelicities; whereas for others,
because of dullness of wit, thickness of comprehension, poverty, and
lack of charm, there was no escape from the slough of their despond.
They were compelled by some devilish accident of birth or lack of
force or resourcefulness to stew in their own juice of wretchedness,
or to shuffl e off this mortal coil – which under other circumstances
had such glittering possibilities – via the rope, the knife, the bullet,
or the cup of poison.
«I would die, too», he thought to himself, one day, reading of
a man who, confi ned by disease and poverty, had lived for twelve
years alone in a back bedroom attended by an old and probably
decrepit housekeeper. A darning-needle forced into his heart had
ended his earthly woes. «To the devil with such a life! Why twelve
years? Why not at the end of the second or third?»
Again, it was so very evident, in so many ways, that force was
the answer – great mental and physical force. Why, these giants of
commerce and money could do as they pleased in this life, and did.
He had already had ample local evidence of it in more than one direction. Worse – the little guardians of so-called law and morality,
the newspapers, the preachers, the police, and the public moralists
generally, so loud in their denunciation of evil in humble places,
were cowards all when it came to corruption in high ones. They did
not dare to utter a feeble squeak until some giant had accidentally
fallen and they could do so without danger to themselves. Then,
O Heavens, the palaver! What beatings of tom-toms! What mouthings of pharisaical moralities – platitudes! Run now, good people,
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THEODORE DREISER
for you may see clearly how evil is dealt with in high places! It made
him smile. Such hypocrisy! Such cant! Still, so the world was organized, and it was not for him to set it right. Let it wag as it would.
The thing for him to do was to get rich and hold his own – to
build up a seeming of virtue and dignity which would pass muster
for the genuine thing. Force would do that. Quickness of wit. And he
had these. «I satisfy myself», was his motto; and it might well have
been emblazoned upon any coat of arms which he could have contrived to set forth his claim to intellectual and social nobility.
But this matter of Aileen was up for consideration and solution at this present moment, and because of his forceful, determined character he was presently not at all disturbed by the problem it presented. It was a problem, like some of those knotty
fi nancial complications which presented themselves daily; but it
was not insoluble. What did he want to do? He couldn’t leave his
wife and fl y with Aileen, that was certain. He had too many connections. He had too many social, and thinking of his children and
parents, emotional as well as fi nancial ties to bind him. Besides, he
was not at all sure that he wanted to. He did not intend to leave his
growing interests, and at the same time he did not intend to give up
Aileen immediately. The unheralded manifestation of interest on
her part was too attractive. Mrs. Cowperwood was no longer what
she should be physically and mentally, and that in itself to him
was suffi cient to justify his present interest in this girl. Why fear
anything, if only he could fi gure out a way to achieve it without
harm to himself? At the same time he thought it might never be
possible for him to fi gure out any practical or protective program
for either himself or Aileen, and that made him silent and refl ective. For by now he was intensely drawn to her, as he could feel –
something chemic and hence dynamic was uppermost in him now
and clamoring for expression.
At the same time, in contemplating his wife in connection with
all this, he had many qualms, some emotional, some fi nancial. While
she had yielded to his youthful enthusiasm for her after her hus-
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THE FINANCIER
band’s death, he had only since learned that she was a natural conservator of public morals – the cold purity of the snowdrift in so far
as the world might see, combined at times with the murky mood of
the wanton. And yet, as he had also learned, she was ashamed of
the passion that at times swept and dominated her. This irritated
Cowperwood, as it would always irritate any strong, acquisitive,
direct-seeing temperament. While he had no desire to acquaint
the whole world with his feelings, why should there be concealment between them, or at least mental evasion of a fact which physically she subscribed to? Why do one thing and think another? To
be sure, she was devoted to him in her quiet way, not passionately
(as he looked back he could not say that she had ever been that),
but intellectually. Duty, as she understood it, played a great part in
this. She was dutiful. And then what people thought, what the timespirit demanded – these were the great things. Aileen, on the contrary, was probably not dutiful, and it was obvious that she had no
temperamental connection with current convention. No doubt she
had been as well instructed as many another girl, but look at her.
She was not obeying her instructions.
In the next three months this relationship took on a more
fl agrant form. Aileen, knowing full well what her parents would
think, how unspeakable in the mind of the current world were
the thoughts she was thinking, persisted, nevertheless, in so thinking and longing. Cowperwood, now that she had gone thus far and
compromised herself in intention, if not in deed, took on a peculiar
charm for her. It was not his body – great passion is never that, exactly. The fl avor of his spirit was what attracted and compelled, like
the glow of a fl ame to a moth. There was a light of romance in his
eyes, which, however governed and controlled – was directive and
almost all-powerful to her.
When he touched her hand at parting, it was as though she had
received an electric shock, and she recalled that it was very diffi cult
for her to look directly into his eyes. Something akin to a destructive force seemed to issue from them at times. Other people, men
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THEODORE DREISER
particularly, found it diffi cult to face Cowperwood’s glazed stare.
It was as though there were another pair of eyes behind those they
saw, watching through thin, obscuring curtains. You could not tell
what he was thinking.
And during the next few months she found herself coming closer and closer to Cowperwood. At his home one evening, seated at
the piano, no one else being present at the moment, he leaned over
and kissed her. There was a cold, snowy street visible through the interstices of the hangings of the windows, and gas-lamps fl ickering
outside. He had come in early, and hearing Aileen, he came to where
she was seated at the piano. She was wearing a rough, gray wool cloth
dress, ornately banded with fringed Oriental embroidery in blue
and burnt-orange, and her beauty was further enhanced by a gray
hat planned to match her dress, with a plume of shaded orange and
blue. On her fi ngers were four or fi ve rings, far too many – an opal,
an emerald, a ruby, and a diamond – fl ashing visibly as she played.
She knew it was he, without turning. He came beside her, and
she looked up smiling, the reverie evoked by Schubert partly vanishing – or melting into another mood. Suddenly he bent over and
pressed his lips fi rmly to hers. His mustache thrilled her with its
silky touch. She stopped playing and tried to catch her breath, for,
strong as she was, it affected her breathing. Her heart was beating
like a triphammer. She did not say, «Oh», or, «You mustn’t», but
rose and walked over to a window, where she lifted a curtain, pretending to look out. She felt as though she might faint, so intensely
happy was she.
Cowperwood followed her quickly. Slipping his arms about her
waist, he looked at her fl ushed cheeks, her clear, moist eyes and
red mouth.
«You love me?» he whispered, stern and compelling because of
his desire.
«Yes! Yes! You know I do».
He crushed her face to his, and she put up her hands and
stroked his hair.
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A thrilling sense of possession, mastery, happiness and understanding, love of her and of her body, suddenly overwhelmed him.
«I love you», he said, as though he were surprised to hear
himself say it. «I didn’t think I did, but I do. You’re beautiful. I’m
wild about you».
«And I love you» she answered. «I can’t help it. I know I shouldn’t,
but – oh –» Her hands closed tight over his ears and temples.
She put her lips to his and dreamed into his eyes. Then she stepped
away quickly, looking out into the street, and he walked back into
the living-room. They were quite alone. He was debating whether
he should risk anything further when Norah, having been in to see
Anna next door, appeared and not long afterward Mrs. Cowperwood. Then Aileen and Norah left.
CHAPTER XX
This defi nite and fi nal understanding having been reached,
it was but natural that this liaison should proceed to a closer and
closer relationship. Despite her religious upbringing, Aileen was decidedly a victim of her temperament. Current religious feeling and
belief could not control her. For the past nine or ten years there had
been slowly forming in her mind a notion of what her lover should
be like. He should be strong, handsome, direct, successful, with clear
eyes, a ruddy glow of health, and a certain native understanding and
sympathy – a love of life which matched her own. Many young men
had approached her. Perhaps the nearest realization of her ideal was
Father David, of St. Timothy’s, and he was, of course, a priest and
sworn to celibacy. No word had ever passed between them but he
had been as conscious of her as she of him. Then came Frank Cowperwood, and by degrees, because of his presence and contact, he
had been slowly built up in her mind as the ideal person. She was
drawn as planets are drawn to their sun.
It is a question as to what would have happened if antagonistic
forces could have been introduced just at this time. Emotions and
liaisons of this character can, of course, occasionally be broken up
and destroyed. The characters of the individuals can be modifi ed or
changed to a certain extent, but the force must be quite suffi cient.
Fear is a great deterrent – fear of material loss where there is no
spiritual dread – but wealth and position so often tend to destroy
this dread. It is so easy to scheme with means. Aileen had no spiritual dread whatever. Cowperwood was without spiritual or religious
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THE FINANCIER
feeling. He looked at this girl, and his one thought was how could
he so deceive the world that he could enjoy her love and leave his
present state undisturbed. Love her he did surely.
Business necessitated his calling at the Butlers’ quite frequently,
and on each occasion he saw Aileen. She managed to slip forward
and squeeze his hand the fi rst time he came – to steal a quick, vivid
kiss; and another time, as he was going out, she suddenly appeared
from behind the curtains hanging at the parlor door.
«Honey!»
The voice was soft and coaxing. He turned, giving her a warning
nod in the direction of her father’s room upstairs.
She stood there, holding out one hand, and he stepped forward
for a second. Instantly her arms were about his neck, as he slipped
his about her waist.
«I long to see you so».
«I, too. I’ll fi x some way. I’m thinking».
He released her arms, and went out, and she ran to the window
and looked out after him. He was walking west on the street, for his
house was only a few blocks away, and she looked at the breadth of
his shoulders, the balance of his form. He stepped so briskly, so incisively. Ah, this was a man! He was her Frank. She thought of him in
that light already. Then she sat down at the piano and played pensively until dinner.
And it was so easy for the resourceful mind of Frank Cowperwood, wealthy as he was, to suggest ways and means. In his younger
gallivantings about places of ill repute, and his subsequent occasional variations from the straight and narrow path, he had learned
much of the curious resources of immorality. Being a city of fi ve
hundred thousand and more at this time, Philadelphia had its nondescript hotels, where one might go, cautiously and fairly protected
from observation; and there were houses of a conservative, residential character, where appointments might be made, for a consideration. And as for safeguards against the production of new life – they
were not mysteries to him any longer. He knew all about them. Care
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THEODORE DREISER
was the point of caution. He had to be cautious, for he was so rapidly coming to be an infl uential and a distinguished man. Aileen, of
course, was not conscious, except in a vague way, of the drift of her
passion; the ultimate destiny to which this affection might lead
was not clear to her. Her craving was for love – to be fondled and
caressed – and she really did not think so much further. Further
thoughts along this line were like rats that showed their heads out of
dark holes in shadowy corners and scuttled back at the least sound.
And, anyhow, all that was to be connected with Cowperwood would
be beautiful. She really did not think that he loved her yet as he
should; but he would. She did not know that she wanted to interfere
with the claims of his wife. She did not think she did. But it would
not hurt Mrs. Cowperwood if Frank loved her – Aileen – also.
How shall we explain these subtleties of temperament and desire? Life has to deal with them at every turn. They will not down,
and the large, placid movements of nature outside of man’s little
organisms would indicate that she is not greatly concerned. We see
much punishment in the form of jails, diseases, failures, and wrecks;
but we also see that the old tendency is not visibly lessened. Is there
no law outside of the subtle will and power of the individual to
achieve? If not, it is surely high time that we knew it – one and all.
We might then agree to do as we do; but there would be no silly illusion as to divine regulation. Vox populi, vox Dei.
So there were other meetings, lovely hours which they soon began to spend the moment her passion waxed warm enough to assure
compliance, without great fear and without thought of the deadly
risk involved. From odd moments in his own home, stolen when
there was no one about to see, they advanced to clandestine meetings
beyond the confi nes of the city. Cowperwood was not one who was
temperamentally inclined to lose his head and neglect his business.
As a matter of fact, the more he thought of this rather unexpected affectional development, the more certain he was that he must not let
it interfere with his business time and judgment. His offi ce required
his full attention from nine until three, anyhow. He could give it
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THE FINANCIER
until fi ve-thirty with profi t; but he could take several afternoons
off, from three-thirty until fi ve-thirty or six, and no one would be
the wiser. It was customary for Aileen to drive alone almost every
afternoon a spirited pair of bays, or to ride a mount, bought by her
father for her from a noted horse-dealer in Baltimore. Since Cowperwood also drove and rode, it was not diffi cult to arrange meetingplaces far out on the Wissahickon or the Schuylkill road. There were
many spots in the newly laid-out park, which were as free from interruption as the depths of a forest. It was always possible that they
might encounter some one; but it was also always possible to make
a rather plausible explanation, or none at all, since even in case of
such an encounter nothing, ordinarily, would be suspected.
So, for the time being there was love-making, the usual billing
and cooing of lovers in a simple and much less than fi nal fashion;
and the lovely horseback rides together under the green trees of
the approaching spring were idyllic. Cowperwood awakened to
a sense of joy in life such as he fancied, in the blush of this new
desire, he had never experienced before. Lillian had been lovely in
those early days in which he had fi rst called on her in North Front
Street, and he had fancied himself unspeakably happy at that time;
but that was nearly ten years since, and he had forgotten. Since then
he had had no great passion, no notable liaison; and then, all at
once, in the midst of his new, great business prosperity, Aileen. Her
young body and soul, her passionate illusions. He could see always,
for all her daring, that she knew so little of the calculating, brutal world with which he was connected. Her father had given her
all the toys she wanted without stint; her mother and brothers had
coddled her, particularly her mother. Her young sister thought she
was adorable. No one imagined for one moment that Aileen would
ever do anything wrong. She was too sensible, after all, too eager to
get up in the world. Why should she, when her life lay open and
happy before her – a delightful love-match, some day soon, with
some very eligible and satisfactory lover?
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THEODORE DREISER
«When you marry, Aileen», her mother used to say to her, «we’ll
have a grand time here. Sure we’ll do the house over then, if we
don’t do it before. Eddie will have to fi x it up, or I’ll do it meself.
Never fear».
«Yes – well, I’d rather you’d fi x it now», was her reply.
Butler himself used to strike her jovially on the shoulder in
a rough, loving way, and ask, «Well, have you found him yet?» or «Is
he hanging around the outside watchin’ for ye?»
If she said, «No», he would reply: «Well, he will be, never fear –
worse luck. I’ll hate to see ye go, girlie! You can stay here as long as ye
want to, and ye want to remember that you can always come back».
Aileen paid very little attention to this bantering. She loved
her father, but it was all such a matter of course. It was the commonplace of her existence, and not so very signifi cant, though delightful enough.
But how eagerly she yielded herself to Cowperwood under
the spring trees these days! She had no sense of that ultimate yielding that was coming, for now he merely caressed and talked to her.
He was a little doubtful about himself. His growing liberties for
himself seemed natural enough, but in a sense of fairness to her he
began to talk to her about what their love might involve. Would she?
Did she understand? This phase of it puzzled and frightened Aileen a little at fi rst. She stood before him one afternoon in her black
riding-habit and high silk riding-hat perched jauntily on her redgold hair; and striking her riding-skirt with her short whip, pondering doubtfully as she listened. He had asked her whether she knew
what she was doing? Whither they were drifting? If she loved him
truly enough? The two horses were tethered in a thicket a score of
yards away from the main road and from the bank of a tumbling
stream, which they had approached. She was trying to discover if she
could see them. It was pretense. There was no interest in her glance.
She was thinking of him and the smartness of his habit, and the exquisiteness of this moment. He had such a charming calico pony.
The leaves were just enough developed to make a diaphanous lace-
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