The Titan 13 страница

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seriously jeopardized my chances here in Chicago. You have seriously

injured and possibly killed a woman. You could even be hanged for

that. Do you hear me? "

" Oh, let them hang me, " groaned Aileen. " I want to die. "

He took away his hand from her mouth, loosened his grip upon her

arms, and let her get to her feet. She was still torrential,

impetuous, ready to upbraid him, but once standing she was confronted

by him, cold, commanding, fixing her with a fishy eye. He wore a

look now she had never seen on his face before--a hard, wintry,

dynamic flare, which no one but his commercial enemies, and only

those occasionally, had seen.

" Now stop! " he exclaimed. " Not one more word! Not one! Do you

hear me? "

She wavered, quailed, gave way. All the fury of her tempestuous

soul fell, as the sea falls under a lapse of wind. She had had

it in heart, on her lips, to cry again, " You dog! you brute! " and

a hundred other terrible, useless things, but somehow, under the

pressure of his gaze, the hardness of his heart, the words on her

lips died away. She looked at him uncertainly for a moment, then,

turning, she threw herself on the bed near by, clutched her cheeks

and mouth and eyes, and, rocking back and forth in an agony of

woe, she began to sob:

" Oh, my God! my God! My heart! My life! I want to die! I want to

die! "

Standing there watching her, there suddenly came to Cowperwood a

keen sense of her soul hurt, her heart hurt, and he was moved.

" Aileen, " he said, after a moment or two, coming over and touching

her quite gently, " Aileen! Don't cry so. I haven't left you yet.

Your life isn't utterly ruined. Don't cry. This is bad business,

but perhaps it is not without remedy. Come now, pull yourself

together, Aileen! "

For answer she merely rocked and moaned, uncontrolled and

uncontrollable.

Being anxious about conditions elsewhere, he turned and stepped

out into the hall. He must make some show for the benefit of the

doctor and the servants; he must look after Rita, and offer some

sort of passing explanation to Sohlherg.

" Here, " he called to a passing servant, " shut that door and watch

it. If Mrs. Cowperwood comes out call me instantly. "

Chapter XIX

" Hell Hath No Fury--"

Rita was not dead by any means--only seriously bruised, scratched,

and choked. Her scalp was cut in one place. Aileen had repeatedly

beaten her head on the floor, and this might have resulted seriously

if Cowperwood had not entered as quickly as he had. Sohlberg for

the moment--for some little time, in fact--was under the impression

that Aileen had truly lost her mind, had suddenly gone crazy, and

that those shameless charges he had heard her making were the

emanations of a disordered brain. Nevertheless the things she had

said haunted him. He was in a bad state himself--almost a subject

for the doctor. His lips were bluish, his cheeks blanched. Rita

had been carried into an adjoining bedroom and laid upon a bed;

cold water, ointments, a bottle of arnica had been procured; and

when Cowperwood appeared she was conscious and somewhat better.

But she was still very weak and smarting from her wounds, both

mental and physical. When the doctor arrived he had been told

that a lady, a guest, had fallen down-stairs; when Cowperwood came

in the physician was dressing her wounds.

As soon as he had gone Cowperwood said to the maid in attendance,

" Go get me some hot water. " As the latter disappeared he bent over

and kissed Rita's bruised lips, putting his finger to his own in

warning sign.

Rita, " he asked, softly, " are you fully conscious? "

She nodded weakly.

" Listen, then, " he said, bending over and speaking slowly. " Listen

carefully. Pay strict attention to what I'm saying. You must

understand every word, and do as I tell you. You are not seriously

injured. You will be all right. This will blow over. I have

sent for another doctor to call on you at your studio. Your

husband has gone for some fresh clothes. He will come back in a

little while. My carriage will take you home when you are a little

stronger. You mustn't worry. Everything will be all right, but

you must deny everything, do you hear? Everything! In so far as

you know, Mrs. Cowperwood is insane. I will talk to your husband

to-morrow. I will send you a trained nurse. Meantime you must

be careful of what you say and how you say it. Be perfectly calm.

Don't worry. You are perfectly safe here, and you will be there.

Mrs. Cowperwood will not trouble you any more. I will see to that.

I am so sorry; but I love you. I am near you all the while. You

must not let this make any difference. You will not see her any

more. "

Still he knew that it would make a difference.

Reassured as to Rita's condition, he went back to Aileen's room

to plead with her again--to soothe her if he could. He found her

up and dressing, a new thought and determination in her mind.

Since she had thrown herself on the bed sobbing and groaning, her

mood had gradually changed; she began to reason that if she could

not dominate him, could not make him properly sorry, she had better

leave. It was evident, she thought, that he did not love her any

more, seeing that his anxiety to protect Rita had been so great;

his brutality in restraining her so marked; and yet she did not

want to believe that this was so. He had been so wonderful to her

in times past. She had not given up all hope of winning a victory

over him, and these other women--she loved him too much--but only

a separation would do it. That might bring him to his senses.

She would get up, dress, and go down-town to a hotel. He should

not see her any more unless he followed her. She was satisfied

that she had broken up the liaison with Rita Sohlberg, anyway for

the present, and as for Antoinette Nowak, she would attend to her

later. Her brain and her heart ached. She was so full of woe and

rage, alternating, that she could not cry any more now. She stood

before her mirror trying with trembling fingers to do over her

toilet and adjust a street-costume. Cowperwood was disturbed,

nonplussed at this unexpected sight.

" Aileen, " he said, finally, coming up behind her, " can't you and

I talk this thing over peacefully now? You don't want to do anything

that you'll be sorry for. I don't want you to. I'm sorry. You

don't really believe that I've ceased to love you, do you? I

haven't, you know. This thing isn't as bad as it looks. I should

think you would have a little more sympathy with me after all we

have been through together. You haven't any real evidence of

wrong-doing on which to base any such outburst as this. "

" Oh, haven't I? " she exclaimed, turning from the mirror, where,

sorrowfully and bitterly, she was smoothing her red-gold hair.

Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes red. Just now she seemed as

remarkable to him as she had seemed that first day, years ago,

when in a red cape he had seen her, a girl of sixteen, running up

the steps of her father's house in Philadelphia. She was so

wonderful then. It mellowed his mood toward her.

" That's all you know about it, you liar! " she declared. " It's

little you know what I know. I haven't had detectives on your

trail for weeks for nothing. You sneak! You'd like to smooth

around now and find out what I know. Well, I know enough, let me

tell you that. You won't fool me any longer with your Rita Sohlbergs

and your Antoinette Nowaks and your apartments and your houses of

assignation. I know what you are, you brute! And after all your

protestations of love for me! Ugh! "

She turned fiercely to her task while Cowperwood stared at her,

touched by her passion, moved by her force. It was fine to see

what a dramatic animal she was--really worthy of him in many ways.

" Aileen, " he said, softly, hoping still to ingratiate himself by

degrees, " please don't be so bitter toward me. Haven't you any

understanding of how life works--any sympathy with it? I thought

you were more generous, more tender. I'm not so bad. "

He eyed her thoughtfully, tenderly, hoping to move her through her

love for him.

" Sympathy! Sympathy! " She turned on him blazing. " A lot you know

about sympathy! I suppose I didn't give you any sympathy when you

were in the penitentiary in Philadelphia, did I? A lot of good it

did me--didn't it? Sympathy! Bah! To have you come out here to

Chicago and take up with a lot of prostitutes--cheap stenographers

and wives of musicians! You have given me a lot of sympathy, haven't

you? --with that woman lying in the next room to prove it! "

She smoothed her lithe waist and shook her shoulders preparatory

to putting on a hat and adjusting her wrap. She proposed to go

just as she was, and send Fadette back for all her belongings.

" Aileen, " he pleaded, determined to have his way, " I think you're

very foolish. Really I do. There is no occasion for all this--none

in the world. Here you are talking at the top of your voice,

scandalizing the whole neighborhood, fighting, leaving the house.

It's abominable. I don't want you to do it. You love me yet,

don't you? You know you do. I know you don't mean all you say.

You can't. You really don't believe that I have ceased to love

you, do you, Aileen? "

" Love! " fired Aileen. " A lot you know about love! A lot you have

ever loved anybody, you brute! I know how you love. I thought you

loved me once. Humph! I see how you loved me--just as you've loved

fifty other women, as you love that snippy little Rita Sohlberg

in the next room--the cat! --the dirty little beast! --the way you

love Antoinette Nowak--a cheap stenographer! Bah! You don't know

what the word means. " And yet her voice trailed off into a kind

of sob and her eyes filled with tears, hot, angry, aching.

Cowperwood saw them and came over, hoping in some way to take

advantage of them. He was truly sorry now--anxious to make her

feel tender toward him once more.

" Aileen, " he pleaded, " please don't be so bitter. You shouldn't

be so hard on me. I'm not so bad. Aren't you going to be

reasonable? " He put out a smoothing hand, but she jumped away.

" Don't you touch me, you brute! " she exclaimed, angrily. " Don't

you lay a hand on me. I don't want you to come near me. I'll not

live with you. I'll not stay in the same house with you and your

mistresses. Go and live with your dear, darling Rita on the North

Side if you want to. I don't care. I suppose you've been in the

next room comforting her--the beast! I wish I had killed her--Oh,

God! " She tore at her throat in a violent rage, trying to adjust

a button.

Cowperwood was literally astonished. Never had he seen such an

outburst as this. He had not believed Aileen to be capable of it.

He could not help admiring her. Nevertheless he resented the

brutality of her assault on Rita and on his own promiscuous tendency,

and this feeling vented itself in one last unfortunate remark.

" I wouldn't be so hard on mistresses if I were you, Aileen, " he

ventured, pleadingly. " I should have thought your own experience

would have--"

He paused, for he saw on the instant that he was making a grave

mistake. This reference to her past as a mistress was crucial.

On the instant she straightened up, and her eyes filled with a

great pain. " So that's the way you talk to me, is it? " she asked.

" I knew it! I knew it! I knew it would come! "

She turned to a tall chest of drawers as high as her breasts, laden

with silverware, jewel-boxes, brushes and combs, and, putting her

arms down, she laid her head upon them and began to cry. This was

the last straw. He was throwing up her lawless girlhood love to

her as an offense.

" Oh! " she sobbed, and shook in a hopeless, wretched paroxysm.

Cowperwood came over quickly. He was distressed, pained. " I

didn't mean that, Aileen, " he explained. " I didn't mean it in

that way--not at all. You rather drew that out of me; but I didn't

mean it as a reproach. You were my mistress, but good Lord, I

never loved you any the less for that--rather more. You know I

did. I want you to believe that; it's true. These other matters

haven't been so important to me--they really haven't--"

He looked at her helplessly as she moved away to avoid him; he was

distressed, nonplussed, immensely sorry. As he walked to the

center of the room again she suddenly suffered a great revulsion

of feeling, but only in the direction of more wrath. This was too

much.

" So this is the way you talk to me, " she exclaimed, " after all I

have done for you! You say that to me after I waited for you and

cried over you when you were in prison for nearly two years? Your

mistress! That's my reward, is it? Oh! "

Suddenly she observed her jewel-case, and, resenting all the gifts

he had given her in Philadelphia, in Paris, in Rome, here in

Chicago, she suddenly threw open the lid and, grabbing the contents

by handfuls, began to toss them toward him--to actually throw them

in his face. Out they came, handfuls of gauds that he had given

her in real affection: a jade necklace and bracelet of pale

apple-green set in spun gold, with clasps of white ivory; a necklace

of pearls, assorted as to size and matched in color, that shone

with a tinted, pearly flame in the evening light; a handful of

rings and brooches, diamonds, rubies, opals, amethysts; a dog-collar

of emeralds, and a diamond hair-ornament. She flung them at him

excitedly, strewing the floor, striking him on the neck, the face,

the hands. " Take that! and that! and that! There they are! I don't

want anything more of yours. I don't want anything more to do

with you. I don't want anything that belongs to you. Thank God,

I have money enough of my own to live on! I hate you--I despise

you--I never want to see you any more. Oh--" And, trying to think

of something more, but failing, she dashed swiftly down the hall

and down the stairs, while he stood for just one moment overwhelmed.

Then he hurried after.

" Aileen! " he called. " Aileen, come back here! Don't go, Aileen! "

But she only hurried faster; she opened and closed the door, and

actually ran out in the dark, her eyes wet, her heart bursting.

So this was the end of that youthful dream that had begun so

beautifully. She was no better than the others--just one of his

mistresses. To have her past thrown up to her as a defense for

the others! To be told that she was no better than they! This was

the last straw. She choked and sobbed as she walked, vowing never

to return, never to see him any more. But as she did so Cowperwood

came running after, determined for once, as lawless as he was,

that this should not be the end of it all. She had loved him, he

reflected. She had laid every gift of passion and affection on

the altar of her love. It wasn't fair, really. She must be made

to stay. He caught up at last, reaching her under the dark of the

November trees.

" Aileen, " he said, laying hold of her and putting his arms around

her waist. " Aileen, dearest, this is plain madness. It is insanity.

You're not in your right mind. Don't go! Don't leave me! I love

you! Don't you know I do? Can't you really see that? Don't run

away like this, and don't cry. I do love you, and you know it.

I always shall. Come back now. Kiss me. I'll do better. Really

I will. Give me another chance. Wait and see. Come now--won't

you? That's my girl, my Aileen. Do come. Please! "

She pulled on, but he held her, smoothing her arms, her neck, her

face.

" Aileen! " he entreated.

She tugged so that he was finally compelled to work her about into

his arms; then, sobbing, she stood there agonized but happy once

more, in a way.

" But I don't want to, " she protested. " You don't love me any more.

Let me go. "

But he kept hold of her, urging, and finally she said, her head

upon his shoulder as of old, " Don't make me come back to-night.

I don't want to. I can't. Let me go down-town. I'll come back

later, maybe. "

" Then I'll go with you, " he said, endearingly. " It isn't right.

There are a lot of things I should be doing to stop this scandal,

but I'll go. "

And together they sought a street-car.

Chapter XX

" Man and Superman"

It is a sad commentary on all save the most chemic unions--those

dark red flowers of romance that bloom most often only for a tragic

end--that they cannot endure the storms of disaster that are wont

to overtake them. A woman like Rita Sohlberg, with a seemingly

urgent feeling for Cowperwood, was yet not so charmed by him but

that this shock to her pride was a marked sedative. The crushing

weight of such an exposure as this, the Homeric laughter inherent,

if not indicated in the faulty planning, the failure to take into

account beforehand all the possibilities which might lead to such

a disaster, was too much for her to endure. She was stung almost

to desperation, maddened, at the thought of the gay, idle way in

which she had walked into Mrs. Cowperwood's clutches and been made

into a spectacle and a laughing-stock by her. What a brute she

was--what a demon! Her own physical weakness under the circumstances

was no grief to her--rather a salve to her superior disposition;

but just the same she had been badly beaten, her beauty turned

into a ragamuffin show, and that was enough. This evening, in the

Lake Shore Sanitarium, where she had been taken, she had but one

thought--to get away when it should all be over and rest her wearied

brain. She did not want to see Sohlberg any more; she did not

want to see Cowperwood any more. Already Harold, suspicious and

determined to get at the truth, was beginning to question her as

to the strangeness of Aileen's attack--her probable reason. When

Cowperwood was announced, Sohlberg's manner modified somewhat, for

whatever his suspicions were, he was not prepared to quarrel with

this singular man as yet.

" I am so sorry about this unfortunate business, " said Cowperwood,

coming in with brisk assurance. " I never knew my wife to become

so strangely unbalanced before. It was most fortunate that I

arrived when I did. I certainly owe you both every amend that can

be made. I sincerely hope, Mrs. Sohlberg, that you are not seriously

injured. If there is anything I can possibly do--anything either

of you can suggest" --he looked around solicitously at Sohlberg--" I

shall only be too glad to do it. How would it do for you to take

Mrs. Sohlberg away for a little while for a rest? I shall so gladly

pay all expenses in connection with her recovery. "

Sohlberg, brooding and heavy, remained unresponsive, smoldering;

Rita, cheered by Cowperwood's presence, but not wholly relieved

by any means, was questioning and disturbed. She was afraid there

was to be a terrific scene between them. She declared she was

better and would be all right--that she did not need to go away,

but that she preferred to be alone.

" It's very strange, " said Sohlberg, sullenly, after a little while.

" I daunt onderstand it! I daunt onderstand it at all. Why should

she do soach a thing? Why should she say soach things? Here we

have been the best of friends opp to now. Then suddenly she attacks

my wife and sais all these strange things. "

" But I have assured you, my dear Mr. Sohlberg, that my wife was

not in her right mind. She has been subject to spells of this

kind in the past, though never to anything so violent as this

to-night. Already she has recovered her normal state, and she

does not remember. But, perhaps, if we are going to discuss things

now we had better go out in the hall. Your wife will need all the

rest she can get. "

Once outside, Cowperwood continued with brilliant assurance: " Now,

my dear Sohlberg, what is it I can say? What is it you wish me to

do? My wife has made a lot of groundless charges, to say nothing

of injuring your wife most seriously and shamefully. I cannot

tell you, as I have said, how sorry I am. I assure you Mrs.

Cowperwood is suffering from a gross illusion. There is absolutely

nothing to do, nothing to say, so far as I can see, but to let the

whole matter drop. Don't you agree with me? "

Harold was twisting mentally in the coils of a trying situation.

His own position, as he knew, was not formidable. Rita had

reproached him over and over for infidelity. He began to swell

and bluster at once.

" That is all very well for you to say, Mr. Cowperwood, " he commented,

defiantly, " but how about me? Where do I come in? I daunt know

what to theenk yet. It ees very strange. Supposing what your

wife sais was true? Supposing my wife has been going around weeth

some one? That ees what I want to find out. Eef she has! Eef eet

is what I theenk it ees I shall--I shall--I daunt know what I shall

do. I am a very violent man. "

Cowperwood almost smiled, concerned as he was over avoiding

publicity; he had no fear of Sohlberg physically.

" See here, " he exclaimed, suddenly, looking sharply at the musician

and deciding to take the bull by the horns, " you are in quite as

delicate a situation as I am, if you only stop to think. This

affair, if it gets out, will involve not only me and Mrs. Cowperwood,

but yourself and your wife, and if I am not mistaken, I think your

own affairs are not in any too good shape. You cannot blacken

your wife without blackening yourself--that is inevitable. None

of us is exactly perfect. For myself I shall be compelled to prove

insanity, and I can do this easily. If there is anything in your

past which is not precisely what it should be it could not long

be kept a secret. If you are willing to let the matter drop I

will make handsome provision for you both; if, instead, you choose

to make trouble, to force this matter into the daylight, I shall

leave no stone unturned to protect myself, to put as good a face

on this matter as I can. "

" What! " exclaimed Sohlberg. " You threaten me? You try to frighten

me after your wife charges that you have been running around weeth

my wife? You talk about my past! I like that. Haw! We shall see

about dis! What is it you knaw about me? "

" Well, Mr. Sohlberg, " rejoined Cowperwood, calmly, " I know, for

instance, that for a long while your wife has not loved you, that

you have been living on her as any pensioner might, that you have

been running around with as many as six or seven women in as many

years or less. For months I have been acting as your wife's

financial adviser, and in that time, with the aid of detectives,

I have learned of Anna Stelmak, Jessie Laska, Bertha Reese, Georgia

Du Coin--do I need to say any more? As a matter of fact, I have a

number of your letters in my possession. "

" Saw that ees it! " exclaimed Sohlberg, while Cowperwood eyed him

fixedly. " You have been running around weeth my wife? Eet ees

true, then. A fine situation! And you come here now weeth these

threats, these lies to booldoze me. Haw! We weel see about them.

We weel see what I can do. Wait teel I can consult a lawyer first.

Then we weel see! "

Cowperwood surveyed him coldly, angrily. " What an ass! " he thought.

" See here, " he said, urging Sohlberg, for privacy's sake, to come

down into the lower hall, and then into the street before the

sanitarium, where two gas-lamps were fluttering fitfully in the

dark and wind, " I see very plainly that you are bent on making

trouble. It is not enough that I have assured you that there is

nothing in this--that I have given you my word. You insist on

going further. Very well, then. Supposing for argument's sake

that Mrs. Cowperwood was not insane; that every word she said was

true; that I had been misconducting myself with your wife? What

of it? What will you do? "

He looked at Sohlberg smoothly, ironically, while the latter flared

up.

" Haw! " he shouted, melodramatically. " Why, I would keel you,

that's what I would do. I would keel her. I weel make a terrible

scene. Just let me knaw that this is so, and then see! "

" Exactly, " replied Cowperwood, grimly. " I thought so. I believe

you. For that reason I have come prepared to serve you in just

the way you wish. " He reached in his coat and took out two small

revolvers, which he had taken from a drawer at home for this very

purpose. They gleamed in the dark. " Do you see these? " he

continued. " I am going to save you the trouble of further

investigation, Mr. Sohlberg. Every word that Mrs. Cowperwood said

to-night--and I am saying this with a full understanding of what

this means to you and to me--is true. She is no more insane than

I am. Your wife has been living in an apartment with me on the

North Side for months, though you cannot prove that. She does not

love you, but me. Now if you want to kill me here is a gun. " He

extended his hand. " Take your choice. If I am to die you might

as well die with me. "

He said it so coolly, so firmly, that Sohlberg, who was an innate

coward, and who had no more desire to die than any other healthy

animal, paled. The look of cold steel was too much. The hand

that pressed them on him was hard and firm. He took hold of one,

but his fingers trembled. The steely, metallic voice in his ear

was undermining the little courage that he had. Cowperwood by now

had taken on the proportions of a dangerous man--the lineaments

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