The Titan 35 страница

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of interest passed over the others accompanied by murmurs of

disapproval.

" The moment he got the stock in his hands as collateral, " continued

Mr. Arneel, solemnly, " and in the face of an agreement not to throw

a share on the market, he has been unloading steadily. That is

what has been happening yesterday and to-day. Over fifteen thousand

shares of this stock, which cannot very well be traced to outside

sources, have been thrown on the market, and we have every reason

to believe that all of it comes from the same place. The result

is that American Match, and Mr. Hull and Mr. Stackpole, are on the

verge of collapse. "

" The scoundrel! " repeated Mr. Norrie Simms, bitterly, almost rising

to his feet. The Douglas Trust Company was heavily interested in

American Match.

" What an outrage! " commented Mr. Lawrence, of the Prairie National,

which stood to lose at least three hundred thousand dollars in

shrinkage of values on hypothecated stock alone. To this bank

that Cowperwood owed at least three hundred thousand dollars on

call.

" Depend on it to find his devil's hoof in it somewhere, " observed

Jordan Jules, who had never been able to make any satisfactory

progress in his fight on Cowperwood in connection with the city

council and the development of the Chicago General Company. The

Chicago Central, of which he was now a director, was one of the

banks from which Cowperwood had judiciously borrowed.

" It's a pity he should be allowed to go on bedeviling the town in

this fashion, " observed Mr. Sunderland Sledd to his neighbor, Mr.

Duane Kingsland, who was a director in a bank controlled by Mr.

Hand.

The latter, as well as Schryhart, observed with satisfaction the

effect of Mr. Arneel's words on the company.

Mr. Arneel now again fished in his pocket laboriously, and drew

forth a second slip of paper which he spread out before him. " This

is a time when frankness must prevail, " he went on, solemnly, " if

anything is to be done, and I am in hopes that we can do something.

I have here a memorandum of some of the loans which the local

banks have made to Mr. Cowperwood and which are still standing on

their books. I want to know if there are any further loans of

which any of you happen to know and which you are willing to mention

at this time. "

He looked solemnly around.

Immediately several loans were mentioned by Mr. Cotton and Mr.

Osgood which had not been heard of previously. The company was

now very well aware, in a general way, of what was coming.

" Well, gentlemen, " continued Mr. Arneel, " I have, previous to this

meeting, consulted with a number of our leading men. They agree

with me that, since so many banks are in need of funds to carry

this situation, and since there is no particular obligation on

anybody's part to look after the interests of Mr. Cowperwood, it

might be just as well if these loans of his, which are outstanding,

were called and the money used to aid the banks and the men who

have been behind Mr. Hull and Mr. Stackpole. I have no personal

feeling against Mr. Cowperwood--that is, he has never done me any

direct injury--but naturally I cannot approve of the course he has

seen fit to take in this case. Now, if there isn't money available

from some source to enable you gentlemen to turn around, there

will be a number of other failures. Runs may be started on a

half-dozen banks. Time is the essence of a situation like this,

and we haven't any time. "

Mr. Arneel paused and looked around. A slight buzz of conversation

sprang up, mostly bitter and destructive criticism of Cowperwood.

" It would be only just if he could be made to pay for this, "

commented Mr. Blackman to Mr. Sledd. " He has been allowed to play

fast and loose long enough. It is time some one called a halt on

him. "

" Well, it looks to me as though it would be done tonight, " Mr.

Sledd returned.

Meanwhile Mr. Schryhart was again rising to his feet. " I think, "

he was saying, " if there is no objection on any one's part, Mr.

Arneel, as chairman, might call for a formal expression of opinion

from the different gentlemen present which will be on record as

the sense of this meeting. "

At this point Mr. Kingsland, a tall, whiskered gentleman, arose

to inquire exactly how it came that Cowperwood had secured these

stocks, and whether those present were absolutely sure that the

stock has been coming from him or from his friends. " I would not

like to think we were doing any man an injustice, " he concluded.

In reply to this Mr. Schryhart called in Mr. Stackpole to corroborate

him. Some of the stocks had been positively identified. Stackpole

related the full story, which somehow seemed to electrify the

company, so intense was the feeling against Cowperwood.

" It is amazing that men should be permitted to do things like this

and still hold up their heads in the business world, " said one,

Mr. Vasto, president of the Third National, to his neighbor.

" I should think there would be no difficulty in securing united

action in a case of this kind, " said Mr. Lawrence, president of

the Prairie National, who was very much beholden to Hand for past

and present favors.

" Here is a case, " put in Schryhart, who was merely waiting for an

opportunity to explain further, " in which an unexpected political

situation develops an unexpected crisis, and this man uses it for

his personal aggrandizement and to the detriment of every other

person. The welfare of the city is nothing to him. The stability

of the very banks he borrows from is nothing. He is a pariah, and

if this opportunity to show him what we think of him and his

methods is not used we will be doing less than our duty to the

city and to one another. "

" Gentlemen, " said Mr. Arneel, finally, after Cowperwood's different

loans had been carefully tabulated, " don't you think it would be

wise to send for Mr. Cowperwood and state to him directly the

decision we have reached and the reasons for it? I presume all of

us would agree that he should be notified. "

" I think he should be notified, " said Mr. Merrill, who saw behind

this smooth talk the iron club that was being brandished.

Both Hand and Schryhart looked at each other and Arneel while they

politely waited for some one else to make a suggestion. When no

one ventured, Hand, who was hoping this would prove a ripping blow

to Cowperwood, remarked, viciously:

" He might as well be told--if we can reach him. It's sufficient

notice, in my judgment. He might as well understand that this is

the united action of the leading financial forces of the city. "

" Quite so, " added Mr. Schryhart. " It is time he understood, I

think, what the moneyed men of this community think of him and his

crooked ways.

A murmur of approval ran around the room.

" Very well, " said Mr. Arneel. " Anson, you know him better than

some of the rest of us. Perhaps you had better see if you can get

him on the telephone and ask him to call. Tell him that we are

here in executive session. "

" I think he might take it more seriously if you spoke to him,

Timothy, " replied Merrill.

Arneel, being always a man of action, arose and left the room,

seeking a telephone which was located in a small workroom or office

den on the same floor, where he could talk without fear of being

overheard.

Sitting in his library on this particular evening, and studying

the details of half a dozen art-catalogues which had accumulated

during the week, Cowperwood was decidedly conscious of the probable

collapse of American Match on the morrow. Through his brokers and

agents he was well aware that a conference was on at this hour at

the house of Arneel. More than once during the day he had seen

bankers and brokers who were anxious about possible shrinkage in

connection with various hypothecated securities, and to-night his

valet had called him to the 'phone half a dozen times to talk with

Addison, with Kaffrath, with a broker by the name of Prosser who

had succeeded Laughlin in active control of his private speculations,

and also, be it said, with several of the banks whose presidents

were at this particular conference. If Cowperwood was hated,

mistrusted, or feared by the overlords of these institutions, such

was by no means the case with the underlings, some of whom, through

being merely civil, were hopeful of securing material benefits

from him at some future time. With a feeling of amused satisfaction

he was meditating upon how heavily and neatly he had countered on

his enemies. Whereas they were speculating as to how to offset

their heavy losses on the morrow, he was congratulating himself

on corresponding gains. When all his deals should be closed up

he would clear within the neighborhood of a million dollars. He

did not feel that he had worked Messrs. Hull and Stackpole any

great injustice. They were at their wit's end. If he had not

seized this opportunity to undercut them Schryhart or Arneel would

have done so, anyhow.

Mingled with thoughts of a forthcoming financial triumph were

others of Berenice Fleming. There are such things as figments of

the brain, even in the heads of colossi. He thought of Berenice

early and late; he even dreamed of her. He laughed at himself at

times for thus being taken in the toils of a mere girl--the strands

of her ruddy hair--but working in Chicago these days he was always

conscious of her, of what she was doing, of where she was going

in the East, of how happy he would be if they were only together,

happily mated.

It had so happened, unfortunately, that in the course of this

summer's stay at Narragansett Berenice, among other diversions,

had assumed a certain interest in one Lieutenant Lawrence Braxmar,

U. S. N., whom she found loitering there, and who was then connected

with the naval station at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Cowperwood,

coming East at this time for a few days' stay in order to catch

another glimpse of his ideal, had been keenly disturbed by the

sight of Braxmar and by what his presence might signify. Up to

this time he had not given much thought to younger men in connection

with her. Engrossed in her personality, he could think of nothing

as being able to stand long between him and the fulfilment of his

dreams. Berenice must be his. That radiant spirit, enwrapt in

so fair an outward seeming, must come to see and rejoice in him.

Yet she was so young and airy in her mood that he sometimes

wondered. How was he to draw near? What say exactly? What do?

Berenice was in no way hypnotized by either his wealth or fame.

She was accustomed (she little knew to what extent by his courtesy)

to a world more resplendent in its social security than his own.

Surveying Braxmar keenly upon their first meeting, Cowperwood had

liked his face and intelligence, had judged him to be able, but

had wondered instantly how he could get rid of him. Viewing

Berenice and the Lieutenant as they strolled off together along a

summery seaside veranda, he had been for once lonely, and had

sighed. These uncertain phases of affection could become very

trying at times. He wished he were young again, single.

To-night, therefore, this thought was haunting him like a gloomy

undertone, when at half past eleven the telephone rang once more,

and he heard a low, even voice which said:

" Mr. Cowperwood? This is Mr. Arneel. "

" Yes. "

" A number of the principal financial men of the city are gathered

here at my house this evening. The question of ways and means of

preventing a panic to-morrow is up for discussion. As you probably

know, Hull & Stackpole are in trouble. Unless something is done

for them tonight they will certainly fail to-morrow for twenty

million dollars. It isn't so much their failure that we are

considering as it is the effect on stocks in general, and on the

banks. As I understand it, a number of your loans are involved.

The gentlemen here have suggested that I call you up and ask you

to come here, if you will, to help us decide what ought to be done.

Something very drastic will have to be decided on before morning. "

During this speech Cowperwood's brain had been reciprocating like

a well-oiled machine.

" My loans? " he inquired, suavely. " What have they to do with the

situation? I don't owe Hull & Stackpole anything. "

" Very true. But a number of the banks are carrying securities for

you. The idea is that a number of these will have to be called

--the majority of them--unless some other way can be devised

to-night. We thought you might possibly wish to come and talk it

over, and that you might be able to suggest some other way out. "

" I see, " replied Cowperwood, caustically. " The idea is to sacrifice

me in order to save Hull & Stackpole. Is that it? "

His eyes, quite as though Arneel were before him, emitted malicious

sparks.

" Well, not precisely that, " replied Arneel, conservatively; " but

something will have to be done. Don't you think you had better

come over? "

" Very good. I'll come, " was the cheerful reply. " It isn't anything

that can be discussed over the 'phone, anyhow. "

He hung up the receiver and called for his runabout. On the way

over he thanked the prevision which had caused him, in anticipation

of some such attack as this, to set aside in the safety vaults of

the Chicago Trust Company several millions in low-interest-bearing

government bonds. Now, if worst came to worst, these could be

drawn on and hypothecated. These men should see at last how

powerful he was and how secure.

As he entered the home of Arneel he was a picturesque and truly

representative figure of his day. In a light summer suit of cream

and gray twill, with a straw hat ornamented by a blue-and-white

band, and wearing yellow quarter-shoes of the softest leather, he

appeared a very model of trig, well-groomed self-sufficiency. As

he was ushered into the room he gazed about him in a brave, leonine

way.

" A fine night for a conference, gentlemen, " he said, walking toward

a chair indicated by Mr. Arneel. " I must say I never saw so many

straw hats at a funeral before. I understand that my obsequies

are contemplated. What can I do? "

He beamed in a genial, sufficient way, which in any one else would

have brought a smile to the faces of the company. In him it was

an implication of basic power which secretly enraged and envenomed

nearly all those present. They merely stirred in a nervous and

wholly antagonistic way. A number of those who knew him personally

nodded--Merrill, Lawrence, Simms; but there was no friendly light

in their eyes.

" Well, gentlemen? " he inquired, after a moment or two of ominous

silence, observing Hand's averted face and Schryhart's eyes, which

were lifted ceilingward.

" Mr. Cowperwood, " began Mr. Arneel, quietly, in no way disturbed

by Cowperwood's jaunty air, " as I told you over the 'phone, this

meeting is called to avert, if possible, what is likely to be a

very serious panic in the morning. Hull & Stackpole are on the

verge of failure. The outstanding loans are considerable--in the

neighborhood of seven or eight million here in Chicago. On the

other hand, there are assets in the shape of American Match stocks

and other properties sufficient to carry them for a while longer

if the banks can only continue their loans. As you know, we are

all facing a falling market, and the banks are short of ready

money. Something has to be done. We have canvassed the situation

here to-night as thoroughly as possible, and the general conclusion

is that your loans are among the most available assets which can

be reached quickly. Mr. Schryhart, Mr. Merrill, Mr. Hand, and

myself have done all we can thus far to avert a calamity, but we

find that some one with whom Hull & Stackpole have been hypothecating

stocks has been feeding them out in order to break the market.

We shall know how to avoid that in the future" (and he looked hard

at Cowperwood), " but the thing at present is immediate cash, and

your loans are the largest and the most available. Do you think

you can find the means to pay them back in the morning? "

Arneel blinked his keen, blue eyes solemnly, while the rest, like

a pack of genial but hungry wolves, sat and surveyed this apparently

whole but now condemned scapegoat and victim. Cowperwood, who was

keenly alive to the spirit of the company, looked blandly and

fearlessly around. On his knee he held his blue--banded straw hat

neatly balanced on one edge. His full mustache curled upward in

a jaunty, arrogant way.

" I can meet my loans, " he replied, easily. " But I would not advise

you or any of the gentlemen present to call them. " His voice, for

all its lightness, had an ominous ring.

" Why not? " inquired Hand, grimly and heavily, turning squarely

about and facing him. " It doesn't appear that you have extended

any particular courtesy to Hull or Stackpole. " His face was red

and scowling.

" Because, " replied Cowperwood, smiling, and ignoring the reference

to his trick, " I know why this meeting was called. I know that

these gentlemen here, who are not saying a word, are mere catspaws

and rubber stamps for you and Mr. Schryhart and Mr. Arneel and Mr.

Merrill. I know how you four gentlemen have been gambling in this

stock, and what your probable losses are, and that it is to save

yourselves from further loss that you have decided to make me the

scapegoat. I want to tell you here" --and he got up, so that in

his full stature he loomed over the room--" you can't do it. You

can't make me your catspaw to pull your chestnuts out of the fire,

and no rubber-stamp conference can make any such attempt successful.

If you want to know what to do, I'll tell you--close the Chicago

Stock Exchange to-morrow morning and keep it closed. Then let

Hull & Stackpole fail, or if not you four put up the money to carry

them. If you can't, let your banks do it. If you open the day

by calling a single one of my loans before I am ready to pay it,

I'll gut every bank from here to the river. You'll have panic,

all the panic you want. Good evening, gentlemen. "

He drew out his watch, glanced at it, and quickly walked to the

door, putting on his hat as he went. As he bustled jauntily down

the wide interior staircase, preceded by a footman to open the

door, a murmur of dissatisfaction arose in the room he had just

left.

" The wrecker! " re-exclaimed Norrie Simms, angrily, astounded at

this demonstration of defiance.

" The scoundrel! " declared Mr. Blackman. " Where does he get the

wealth to talk like that? "

" Gentlemen, " said Mr. Arneel, stung to the quick by this amazing

effrontery, and yet made cautious by the blazing wrath of Cowperwood,

" it is useless to debate this question in anger. Mr. Cowperwood

evidently refers to loans which can be controlled in his favor,

and of which I for one know nothing. I do not see what can be

done until we do know. Perhaps some of you can tell us what they

are.

But no one could, and after due calculation advice was borrowed

of caution. The loans of Frank Algernon Cowperwood were not

called.

Chapter L

A New York Mansion

The failure of American Match the next morning was one of those

events that stirred the city and the nation and lingered in the

minds of men for years. At the last moment it was decided that

in lieu of calling Cowperwood's loans Hull & Stackpole had best

be sacrificed, the stock-exchange closed, and all trading ended.

This protected stocks from at least a quotable decline and left

the banks free for several days (ten all told) in which to repair

their disrupted finances and buttress themselves against the

eventual facts. Naturally, the minor speculators throughout the

city--those who had expected to make a fortune out of this crash

--raged and complained, but, being faced by an adamantine exchange

directorate, a subservient press, and the alliance between the big

bankers and the heavy quadrumvirate, there was nothing to be done.

The respective bank presidents talked solemnly of " a mere temporary

flurry, " Hand, Schryhart, Merrill, and Arneel went still further

into their pockets to protect their interests, and Cowperwood,

triumphant, was roundly denounced by the smaller fry as a " bucaneer, "

a " pirate, " a " wolf" --indeed, any opprobrious term that came into

their minds. The larger men faced squarely the fact that here was

an enemy worthy of their steel. Would he master them? Was he

already the dominant money power in Chicago? Could he thus flaunt

their helplessness and his superiority in their eyes and before

their underlings and go unwhipped?

" I must give in! " Hosmer Hand had declared to Arneel and Schryhart,

at the close of the Arneel house conference and as they stood in

consultation after the others had departed. " We seem to be beaten

to-night, but I, for one, am not through yet. He has won to-night,

but he won't win always. This is a fight to a finish between me

and him. The rest of you can stay in or drop out, just as you wish. "

" Hear, hear! " exclaimed Schryhart, laying a fervently sympathetic

hand on his shoulder. " Every dollar that I have is at your service,

Hosmer. This fellow can't win eventually. I'm with you to the end. "

Arneel, walking with Merrill and the others to the door, was silent

and dour. He had been cavalierly affronted by a man who, but a

few short years before, he would have considered a mere underling.

Here was Cowperwood bearding the lion in his den, dictating terms

to the principal financial figures of the city, standing up trig

and resolute, smiling in their faces and telling them in so many

words to go to the devil. Mr. Arneel glowered under lowering

brows, but what could he do? " We must see, " he said to the others,

" what time will bring. Just now there is nothing much to do.

This crisis has been too sudden. You say you are not through with

him, Hosmer, and neither am I. But we must wait. We shall have

to break him politically in this city, and I am confident that in

the end we can do it. " The others were grateful for his courage

even though to-morrow he and they must part with millions to protect

themselves and the banks. For the first time Merrill concluded

that he would have to fight Cowperwood openly from now on, though

even yet he admired his courage. " But he is too defiant, too

cavalier! A very lion of a man, " he said to himself. " A man with

the heart of a Numidian lion. "

It was true.

From this day on for a little while, and because there was no

immediate political contest in sight, there was comparative peace

in Chicago, although it more resembled an armed camp operating

under the terms of some agreed neutrality than it did anything

else. Schryhart, Hand, Arneel, and Merrill were quietly watchful.

Cowperwood's chief concern was lest his enemies might succeed in

their project of worsting him politically in one or all three of

the succeeding elections which were due to occur every two years

between now and 1903, at which time his franchises would have to

be renewed. As in the past they had made it necessary for him to

work against them through bribery and perjury, so in ensuing

struggles they might render it more and more difficult for him or

his agents to suborn the men elected to office. The subservient

and venal councilmen whom he now controlled might be replaced by

men who, if no more honest, would be more loyal to the enemy, thus

blocking the extension of his franchises. Yet upon a renewal

period of at least twenty and preferably fifty years depended the

fulfilment of all the colossal things he had begun--his art-collection,

his new mansion, his growing prestige as a financier, his

rehabilitation socially, and the celebration of his triumph by a

union, morganatic or otherwise, with some one who would be worthy

to share his throne.

It is curious how that first and most potent tendency of the human

mind, ambition, becomes finally dominating. Here was Cowperwood

at fifty-seven, rich beyond the wildest dream of the average man,

celebrated in a local and in some respects in a national way, who

was nevertheless feeling that by no means had his true aims been

achieved. He was not yet all-powerful as were divers Eastern

magnates, or even these four or five magnificently moneyed men

here in Chicago who, by plodding thought and labor in many dreary

fields such as Cowperwood himself frequently scorned, had reaped

tremendous and uncontended profits. How was it, he asked himself,

that his path had almost constantly been strewn with stormy

opposition and threatened calamity? Was it due to his private

immorality? Other men were immoral; the mass, despite religious

dogma and fol-de-rol theory imposed from the top, was generally

so. Was it not rather due to his inability to control without

dominating personally--without standing out fully and clearly in

the sight of all men? Sometimes he thought so. The humdrum

conventional world could not brook his daring, his insouciance,

his constant desire to call a spade a spade. His genial sufficiency

was a taunt and a mockery to many. The hard implication of his

eye was dreaded by the weaker as fire is feared by a burnt child.

Dissembling enough, he was not sufficiently oily and make-believe.

Well, come what might, he did not need to be or mean to be so, and

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