Theodore Dreiser - The Stoic

“There’s no one like you, Frank,” she observed at this point, “for me, anyway. I like Lord Stane, of course, but I’ve not really seen enough of him. It’s nonsense to even think of it. Just the same, he is interesting—fascinating, really. And if you’re going to leave me to a sort of half-life with you, it does seem impractical for me to ignore him, assuming that he would really marry me. At the same time, relying on you is not even to be considered. I can stay with you, of course, and do my best to work out with you all the things we planned. But if so, it will be because •I am relying entirely on myself. I will be making you a present of my youth, my ideals, my enthusiasm, and my love, and expecting not one thing in return.”

“Bevy!” he exclaimed, startled by the equity of her statement. “That isn’t true!”

“Well, then, show me where it’s false. Let’s say I go on, as I probably shall; then what?”

“Well,” said Cowperwood, seating himself in a chair opposite the bed, “I will admit you raise a serious question. I’m not as young as you, and if you continue with me, you certainly run a great risk of exposure and social ostracism. There’s no denying that. About all I can leave you is money, and regardless of what we decide on tonight, I can tell you now that I propose to arrange for that at once. You will have enough, if you manage it intelligently, to maintain you in luxury for the rest of your life.”

“Oh, I know,” said Berenice. “No one can deny that where you care for anyone, you are the soul of generosity. I am not even questioning that. What troubles me is the lack of real love on your part, and the reasonable certainty that I’m to be not only left without love but I am to pay for my own love in other ways later on.”

“I see your problem, Bevy, believe me, I do. And I’m in no position to ask you to do more for me than you feel you want to do. You must do what you think is best for yourself. But I promise you, darling, that if you do continue with me, I will try to be faithful to you. And if ever you feel you ought to leave me and marry someone, I promise not to interfere. And that’s final. As I said before, I care for you very much, Bevy. You know that. You are not only my sweetheart but the same as my own child to me.”

“Frank!” She called him over to her side. “You know I cannot leave you. It’s not possible, at least not in spirit.”

“Bevy, darling girl!” And he gathered her up in his arms. “How wonderful it is to have you with me again!”

“But one thing we must settle, Frank,” she put in at this point, calmly smoothing her ruffled hair, “and that’s this yachting invitation. What about that?”

“I don’t know yet, dear, but I guess as long as he’s so very much interested in you, he’s not likely to be particularly antagonistic toward me.”

“Scamp!” cried Berenice, laughing. “If ever there was a deep-dyed villain . . .”

“No, just a young, ambitious American businessman trying to find his way through an English financial jungle! We’ll talk it over tomorrow. It’s you, just you, I want to think about now . . .”

Like a master chess player, Cowperwood proposed to outwit all of the entirely nationalistic and, of course, humanly selfish elements arrayed against him in his underground project. He had evolved a broad and comprehensive plan, which he hoped to work out as follows:

First, there was the existing Charing Cross line, to which must be added the existing central loop consisting of the District and the Metropolitan Railway, with their utterly impractical and warring factions. If all went well, he, Stane, and Johnson, but principally himself, held the key to this situation.

Next, assuming that he gained control of the District and the Metropolitan—with which he would or would not, as circumstances dictated, join his Railway Equipment & Construction Company—he proposed to organize the Union Traction Underground, Limited, which would control all of these.

Incidentally, however, and unknown to any of his present associates, he proposed to buy from Abington Scarr the charter for the Baker Street and Waterloo Line; also the charter of the Brompton and Piccadilly, a line which he had learned was in about the same conditions as the Charing Cross; and certain other routes and prospects, charters for which he would pick up through others.

With these in his bag, he would be able, he felt, to organize the London Underground General, which would include all of the property of the Union Traction Underground, Limited, as well as the charters and lines which he would privately acquire, thus providing a complete metropolitan system and at the same time, by reason of his holdings, give him personal control. Incidentally, if he could not ultimately take publicly the chairmanship of this enormous property, at least he would be acknowledged as its subsurface control. Also, if he could not put in his own directors, he would arrange so that those who were placed in control could do nothing to injure the property.

And eventually, if all went well, he would quietly dispose of his holdings at an enormous profit, and thereafter leave the company to get along as best it could. He would have established his title as not only promoter but builder, and would have given London a modern and comprehensive metropolitan system which would bear the imprint of his genius, just as Chicago’s downtown loop bore it. And thereafter, with his wealth, he could maintain his art gallery, organize his charities,, build the hospital to which he had given much thought in the past, and at the same time leave to all to whom he felt obligated an unquestionably satisfactory reward. The dream enticed him. A few years of swift work, five or six at the most, as he saw it, would serve to accomplish all.

But to follow all of his activities, mental as well as physical, in connection with this plan would be the same as attempting to follow the swift and confusing thoughts, tricks, and motions of a prestidigitator. There were primarily, of course, his negotiations with Johnson and Stane. On communicating with Johnson, immediately following his reconciliation with Berenice, he found a greater willingness to co-operate than had previously existed. Johnson announced that he and Stane had given a great deal of thought to the matter in Cowperwood’s absence, but he would prefer to communicate their conclusions in Stane’s presence.

This resulted almost immediately in another conference in Berkeley Square, where Cowperwood found something resembling more a friendly than a commercial atmosphere. Johnson had been detained and was not present when he arrived. Immediately he noticed the joviality of Stane’s manner. The latter inquired about conditions in the United States: what the elections there forebode; did he find London pleasing; and how was his ward, Miss Fleming? And her mother? He had been, as Cowperwood perhaps knew, a fairly frequent visitor to Pryor’s Cove. How truly charming they were, mother and daughter. He paused shrewdly, watching Cowperwood’s face as he said this. But Cowperwood met the challenge.

“No doubt you are wondering about their relationship to me,” he said, suavely. “Well, I have known Mrs. Carter for many years. She married a distant relative of mine, who named me as executor and guardian in loco parentis . Naturally, I have become very fond of Berenice. She is a very brilliant girl.”

“I must say I find her so,” said Stane. “And I am pleased that Pryor’s Cove has appealed to Mrs. Carter and her daughter.”

“Yes, they certainly seem to have found it an ideal place. It is really beautiful.”

Fortunately, to break the personal trend of the conversation, Johnson arrived at this moment. Bustling in and apologizing for having been unavoidably detained, he inquired after Cowperwood’s welfare before putting on his most officially expectant and executive manner. And there followed a concise and vigorous presentation by him of all that had been done, together with a review of the situation as it now stood. Decidedly, he announced, Cowperwood’s proposed invasion of the London underground field had evoked a furore . With but few exceptions, directors and shareholders of both of the old loop companies were against him.