_ The necessity of a final conferencee between Butler, Mollenhauer,
and Simpson was speedily reached, for this situation was hourly
growing more serious. Rumors were floating about in Third Street
that in addition to having failed for so large an amount as to
have further unsettled the already panicky financial situation
induced by the Chicago fire, Cowperwood and Stener, or Stener
working with Cowperwood, or the other way round, had involved the
city treasury to the extent of five hundred thousand dollars. And
the question was how was the matter to be kept quiet until after
election, which was still three weeks away. Bankers and brokers
were communicating odd rumors to each other about a check that
had been taken from the city treasury after Cowperwood knew he
was to fail, and without Stener's consent. Also that there was
danger that it would come to the ears of that very uncomfortable
political organization known as the Citizens' Municipal Reform
Association, of which a well-known iron-manufacturer of great
probity and moral rectitude, one Skelton C. Wheat, was president.
Wheat had for years been following on the trail of the dominant
Republican administration in a vain attempt to bring it to a sense
of some of its political iniquities. He was a serious and austere
man---one of those solemn, self-righteous souls who see life through
a peculiar veil of duty, and who, undisturbed by notable animal
passions of any kind, go their way of upholding the theory of the
Ten Commandments over the order of things as they are.
The committee in question had originally been organized to protest
against some abuses in the tax department; but since then, from
election to election, it had been drifting from one subject to
another, finding an occasional evidence of its worthwhileness in
some newspaper comment and the frightened reformation of some minor
political official who ended, usually, by taking refuge behind the
skirts of some higher political power--in the last reaches, Messrs.
Butler, Mollenhauer, and Simpson. Just now it was without important
fuel or ammunition; and this assignment of Cowperwood, with its
attendant crime, so far as the city treasury was concerned,
threatened, as some politicians and bankers saw it, to give it
just the club it was looking for.
However, the decisive conference took place between Cowperwood and
the reigning political powers some five days after Cowperwood's
failure, at the home of Senator Simpson, which was located in
Rittenhouse Square--a region central for the older order of wealth
in Philadelphia. Simpson was a man of no little refinement
artistically, of Quaker extraction, and of great wealth-breeding
judgment which he used largely to satisfy his craving for political
predominance. He was most liberal where money would bring him a
powerful or necessary political adherent. He fairly showered
offices--commissionerships, trusteeships, judgeships, political
nominations, and executive positions generally--on those who did
his bidding faithfully and without question. Compared with Butler
and Mollenhauer he was more powerful than either, for he represented
the State and the nation. When the political authorities who were
trying to swing a national election were anxious to discover what
the State of Pennsylvania would do, so far as the Republican party
was concerned, it was to Senator Simpson that they appealed. In
the literal sense of the word, he knew. The Senator had long since
graduated from State to national politics, and was an interesting
figure in the United States Senate at Washington, where his voice
in all the conservative and moneyed councils of the nation was of
great weight.
The house that he occupied, of Venetian design, and four stories
in height, bore many architectural marks of distinction, such as
the floriated window, the door with the semipointed arch, and
medallions of colored marble set in the walls. The Senator was a
great admirer of Venice. He had been there often, as he had to
Athens and Rome, and had brought back many artistic objects
representative of the civilizations and refinements of older days.
He was fond, for one thing, of the stern, sculptured heads of the
Roman emperors, and the fragments of gods and goddesses which are
the best testimony of the artistic aspirations of Greece. In the
entresol of this house was one of his finest treasures--a carved
and floriated base bearing a tapering monolith some four feet high,
crowned by the head of a peculiarly goatish Pan, by the side of
which were the problematic remains of a lovely nude nymph--just
the little feet broken off at the ankles. The base on which the
feet of the nymph and the monolith stood was ornamented with carved
ox-skulls intertwined with roses. In his reception hall were
replicas of Caligula, Nero, and other Roman emperors; and on his
stair-walls reliefs of dancing nymphs in procession, and priests
bearing offerings of sheep and swine to the sacrificial altars.
There was a clock in some corner of the house which chimed the
quarter, the half, the three-quarters, and the hour in strange,
euphonious, and pathetic notes. On the walls of the rooms were
tapestries of Flemish origin, and in the reception-hall, the
library, the living-room, and the drawing-room, richly carved
furniture after the standards of the Italian Renaissance. The
Senator's taste in the matter of paintings was inadequate, and he
mistrusted it; but such as he had were of distinguished origin and
authentic. He cared more for his curio-cases filled with smaller
imported bronzes, Venetian glass, and Chinese jade. He was not a
collector of these in any notable sense--merely a lover of a few
choice examples. Handsome tiger and leopard skin rugs, the fur
of a musk-ox for his divan, and tanned and brown-stained goat and
kid skins for his tables, gave a sense of elegance and reserved
profusion. In addition the Senator had a dining-room done after
the Jacobean idea of artistic excellence, and a wine-cellar which
the best of the local vintners looked after with extreme care. He
was a man who loved to entertain lavishly; and when his residence
was thrown open for a dinner, a reception, or a ball, the best of
local society was to be found there.
The conference was in the Senator's library, and he received his
colleagues with the genial air of one who has much to gain and
little to lose. There were whiskies, wines, cigars on the table,
and while Mollenhauer and Simpson exchanged the commonplaces of
the day awaiting the arrival of Butler, they lighted cigars and
kept their inmost thoughts to themselves.
It so happened that upon the previous afternoon Butler had learned
from Mr. David Pettie, the district attorney, of the
sixty-thousand-dollar-check transaction. At the same time the
matter had been brought to Mollenhauer's attention by Stener himself.
It was Mollenhauer, not Butler who saw that by taking advantage of
Cowperwood's situation, he might save the local party from blame,
and at the same time most likely fleece Cowperwood out of his
street-railway shares without letting Butler or Simpson know
anything about it. The thing to do was to terrorize him with a
private threat of prosecution.
Butler was not long in arriving, and apologized for the delay.
Concealing his recent grief behind as jaunty an air as possible,
he began with:
"It's a lively life I'm leadin', what with every bank in the city
wantin' to know how their loans are goin' to be taken care of." He
took a cigar and struck a match.
"It does look a little threatening," said Senator Simpson, smiling.
"Sit down. I have just been talking with Avery Stone, of Jay Cooke
& Company, and he tells me that the talk in Third Street about
Stener's connection with this Cowperwood failure is growing very
strong, and that the newspapers are bound to take up the matter
shortly, unless something is done about it. I am sure that the
news will also reach Mr. Wheat, of the Citizens' Reform Association,
very shortly. We ought to decide now, gentlemen, what we propose
to do. One thing, I am sure, is to eliminate Stener from the
ticket as quietly as possible. This really looks to me as if it
might become a very serious issue, and we ought to be doing what
we can now to offset its effect later."
Mollenhauer pulled a long breath through his cigar, and blew it
out in a rolling steel-blue cloud. He studied the tapestry on the
opposite wall but said nothing.
"There is one thing sure," continued Senator Simpson, after a time,
seeing that no one else spoke, "and that is, if we do not begin a
prosecution on our own account within a reasonable time, some one
else is apt to; and that would put rather a bad face on the matter.
My own opinion would be that we wait until it is very plain that
prosecution is going to be undertaken by some one else--possibly
the Municipal Reform Association--but that we stand ready to step
in and act in such a way as to make it look as though we had been
planning to do it all the time. The thing to do is to gain time;
and so I would suggest that it be made as difficult as possible
to get at the treasurer's books. An investigation there, if it
begins at all--as I think is very likely--should be very slow in
producing the facts."
The Senator was not at all for mincing words with his important
confreres, when it came to vital issues. He preferred, in his
grandiloquent way, to call a spade a spade.
"Now that sounds like very good sense to me," said Butler, sinking
a little lower in his chair for comfort's sake, and concealing his
true mood in regard to all this. "The boys could easily make that
investigation last three weeks, I should think. They're slow
enough with everything else, if me memory doesn't fail me." At
the same time he was cogitating as to how to inject the personality
of Cowperwood and his speedy prosecution without appearing to be
neglecting the general welfare of the local party too much.
"Yes, that isn't a bad idea," said Mollenhauer, solemnly, blowing
a ring of smoke, and thinking how to keep Cowperwood's especial
offense from coming up at this conference and until after he had
seen him.
"We ought to map out our program very carefully," continued
Senator Simpson, "so that if we are compelled to act we can do so
very quickly. I believe myself that this thing is certain to come
to an issue within a week, if not sooner, and we have no time to
lose. If my advice were followed now, I should have the mayor
write the treasurer a letter asking for information, and the
treasurer write the mayor his answer, and also have the mayor,
with the authority of the common council, suspend the treasurer
for the time being--I think we have the authority to do that--or,
at least, take over his principal duties but without for the time
being, anyhow, making any of these transactions public--until we
have to, of course. We ought to be ready with these letters to
show to the newspapers at once, in case this action is forced
upon us."
"I could have those letters prepared, if you gentlemen have no
objection," put in Mollenhauer, quietly, but quickly.
"Well, that strikes me as sinsible," said Butler, easily. "It's
about the only thing we can do under the circumstances, unless we
could find some one else to blame it on, and I have a suggestion
to make in that direction. Maybe we're not as helpless as we might
be, all things considered."
There was a slight gleam of triumph in his eye as he said this,
at the same time that there was a slight shadow of disappointment
in Mollenhauer's. So Butler knew, and probably Simpson, too.
"Just what do you mean?" asked the Senator, looking at Butler
interestedly. He knew nothing of the sixty-thousand-dollar check
transaction. He had not followed the local treasury dealings very
closely, nor had he talked to either of his confreres since the
original conference between them. "There haven't been any outside
parties mixed up with this, have there?" His own shrewd, political
mind was working.
"No-o. I wouldn't call him an outside party, exactly, Senator,"
went on Butler suavely. "It's Cowperwood himself I'm thinkin' of.
There's somethin' that has come up since I saw you gentlemen last
that makes me think that perhaps that young man isn't as innocent
as he might be. It looks to me as though he was the ringleader
in this business, as though he had been leadin' Stener on against
his will. I've been lookin' into the matter on me own account,
and as far as I can make out this man Stener isn't as much to blame
as I thought. From all I can learn, Cowperwood's been threatenin'
Stener with one thing and another if he didn't give him more money,
and only the other day he got a big sum on false pretinses, which
might make him equally guilty with Stener. There's sixty-thousand
dollars of city loan certificates that has been paid for that aren't
in the sinking-fund. And since the reputation of the party's in
danger this fall, I don't see that we need to have any particular
consideration for him." He paused, strong in the conviction that
he had sent a most dangerous arrow flying in the direction of
Cowperwood, as indeed he had. Yet at this moment, both the Senator
and Mollenhauer were not a little surprised, seeing at their last
meeting he had appeared rather friendly to the young banker, and
this recent discovery seemed scarcely any occasion for a vicious
attitude on his part. Mollenhauer in particular was surprised,
for he had been looking on Butler's friendship for Cowperwood as
a possible stumbling block.
"Um-m, you don't tell me," observed Senator Simpson, thoughtfully,
stroking his mouth with his pale hand.
"Yes, I can confirm that," said Mollenhauer, quietly, seeing his
own little private plan of browbeating Cowperwood out of his
street-railway shares going glimmering. "I had a talk with Stener
the other day about this very matter, and he told me that Cowperwood
had been trying to force him to give him three hundred thousand
dollars more, and that when he refused Cowperwood managed to get
sixty thousand dollars further without his knowledge or consent."
"How could he do that?" asked Senator Simpson, incredulously.
Mollenhauer explained the transaction.
Oh," said the Senator, when Mollenhauer had finished, "that
indicates a rather sharp person, doesn't it? And the certificates
are not in the sinking-fund, eh?"
"They're not," chimed in Butler, with considerable enthusiasm.
"Well, I must say," said Simpson, rather relieved in his manner,
"this looks like a rather good thing than not to me. A scapegoat
possibly. We need something like this. I see no reason under
the circumstances for trying to protect Mr. Cowperwood. We might
as well try to make a point of that, if we have to. The newspapers
might just as well talk loud about that as anything else. They
are bound to talk; and if we give them the right angle, I think
that the election might well come and go before the matter could
be reasonably cleared up, even though Mr. Wheat does interfere.
I will be glad to undertake to see what can be done with the papers."
"Well, that bein' the case," said Butler, "I don't see that there's
so much more we can do now; but I do think it will be a mistake
if Cowperwood isn't punished with the other one. He's equally
guilty with Stener, if not more so, and I for one want to see
him get what he deserves. He belongs in the penitentiary, and
that's where he'll go if I have my say." Both Mollenhauer and
Simpson turned a reserved and inquiring eye on their usually
genial associate. What could be the reason for his sudden
determination to have Cowperwood punished? Cowperwood, as Mollenhauer
and Simpson saw it, and as Butler would ordinarily have seen it,
was well within his human, if not his strictly legal rights. They
did not blame him half as much for trying to do what he had done
as they blamed Stener for letting him do it. But, since Butler
felt as he did, and there was an actual technical crime here,
they were perfectly willing that the party should have the advantage
of it, even if Cowperwood went to the penitentiary.
"You may be right," said Senator Simpson, cautiously. "You might
have those letters prepared, Henry; and if we have to bring any
action at all against anybody before election, it would, perhaps,
be advisable to bring it against Cowperwood. Include Stener if
you have to but not unless you have to. I leave it to you two,
as I am compelled to start for Pittsburg next Friday; but I know
you will not overlook any point."
The Senator arose. His time was always valuable. Butler was
highly gratified by what he had accomplished. He had succeeded
in putting the triumvirate on record against Cowperwood as the
first victim, in case of any public disturbance or demonstration
against the party. All that was now necessary was for that
disturbance to manifest itself; and, from what he could see of
local conditions, it was not far off. There was now the matter
of Cowperwood's disgruntled creditors to look into; and if by
buying in these he should succeed in preventing the financier from
resuming business, he would have him in a very precarious condition
indeed. It was a sad day for Cowperwood, Butler thought--the day
he had first tried to lead Aileen astray--and the time was not
far off when he could prove it to him. _