by Theodore Dreiser 40 страница

introduced into their relationship but conditions had changed him.

Hitherto he had been in the position of the superior being, the one

who was being sought--although Aileen was and had been well worth

seeking--and he had thought that he might escape unscathed, and so grow

in dignity and power until she might not possibly be worthy of him

any longer. He had had that thought. But here, in stripes, it was a

different matter. Aileen's position, reduced in value as it was by her

long, ardent relationship with him, was now, nevertheless, superior to

his--apparently so. For after all, was she not Edward Butler's daughter,

and might she, after she had been away from him a while, wish to become

a convict's bride. She ought not to want to, and she might not want to,

for all he knew; she might change her mind. She ought not to wait

for him. Her life was not yet ruined. The public did not know, so he

thought--not generally anyhow--that she had been his mistress. She might

marry. Why not, and so pass out of his life forever. And would not that

be sad for him? And yet did he not owe it to her, to a sense of fair

play in himself to ask her to give him up, or at least think over the

wisdom of doing so?

He did her the justice to believe that she would not want to give him

up; and in his position, however harmful it might be to her, it was an

advantage, a connecting link with the finest period of his past life,

to have her continue to love him. He could not, however, scribbling this

note in his cell in Wingate's presence, and giving it to him to mail

(Overseer Chapin was kindly keeping a respectful distance, though he was

supposed to be present), refrain from adding, at the last moment, this

little touch of doubt which, when she read it, struck Aileen to the

heart. She read it as gloom on his part--as great depression. Perhaps,

after all, the penitentiary and so soon, was really breaking his spirit,

and he had held up so courageously so long. Because of this, now she was

madly eager to get to him, to console him, even though it was difficult,

perilous. She must, she said.

In regard to visits from the various members of his family--his mother

and father, his brother, his wife, and his sister--Cowperwood made

it plain to them on one of the days on which he was out attending a

bankruptcy hearing, that even providing it could be arranged he did

not think they should come oftener than once in three months, unless he

wrote them or sent word by Steger. The truth was that he really did not

care to see much of any of them at present. He was sick of the whole

social scheme of things. In fact he wanted to be rid of the turmoil he

had been in, seeing it had proved so useless. He had used nearly fifteen

thousand dollars thus far in defending himself--court costs, family

maintenance, Steger, etc.; but he did not mind that. He expected to make

some little money working through Wingate. His family were not utterly

without funds, sufficient to live on in a small way. He had advised them

to remove into houses more in keeping with their reduced circumstances,

which they had done--his mother and father and brothers and sister to

a three-story brick house of about the caliber of the old Buttonwood

Street house, and his wife to a smaller, less expensive two-story one on

North Twenty-first Street, near the penitentiary, a portion of the money

saved out of the thirty-five thousand dollars extracted from Stener

under false pretenses aiding to sustain it. Of course all this was

a terrible descent from the Girard Avenue mansion for the elder

Cowperwood; for here was none of the furniture which characterized

the other somewhat gorgeous domicile--merely store-bought, ready-made

furniture, and neat but cheap hangings and fixtures generally. The

assignees, to whom all Cowperwood's personal property belonged, and to

whom Cowperwood, the elder, had surrendered all his holdings, would not

permit anything of importance to be removed. It had all to be sold for

the benefit of creditors. A few very small things, but only a few, had

been kept, as everything had been inventoried some time before. One of

the things which old Cowperwood wanted was his own desk which Frank had

had designed for him; but as it was valued at five hundred dollars and

could not be relinquished by the sheriff except on payment of that sum,

or by auction, and as Henry Cowperwood had no such sum to spare, he had

to let the desk go. There were many things they all wanted, and Anna

Adelaide had literally purloined a few though she did not admit the fact

to her parents until long afterward.

There came a day when the two houses in Girard Avenue were the scene

of a sheriffs sale, during which the general public, without let or

hindrance, was permitted to tramp through the rooms and examine the

pictures, statuary, and objects of art generally, which were

auctioned off to the highest bidder. Considerable fame had attached to

Cowperwood's activities in this field, owing in the first place to the

real merit of what he had brought together, and in the next place to the

enthusiastic comment of such men as Wilton Ellsworth, Fletcher Norton,

Gordon Strake--architects and art dealers whose judgment and taste were

considered important in Philadelphia. All of the lovely things by which

he had set great store--small bronzes, representative of the best

period of the Italian Renaissance; bits of Venetian glass which he had

collected with great care--a full curio case; statues by Powers, Hosmer,

and Thorwaldsen--things which would be smiled at thirty years later,

but which were of high value then; all of his pictures by representative

American painters from Gilbert to Eastman Johnson, together with a few

specimens of the current French and English schools, went for a song.

Art judgment in Philadelphia at this time was not exceedingly high;

and some of the pictures, for lack of appreciative understanding, were

disposed of at much too low a figure. Strake, Norton, and Ellsworth

were all present and bought liberally. Senator Simpson, Mollenhauer, and

Strobik came to see what they could see. The small-fry politicians

were there, en masse. But Simpson, calm judge of good art, secured

practically the best of all that was offered. To him went the curio

case of Venetian glass; one pair of tall blue-and-white Mohammedan

cylindrical vases; fourteen examples of Chinese jade, including several

artists' water-dishes and a pierced window-screen of the faintest tinge

of green. To Mollenhauer went the furniture and decorations of the

entry-hall and reception-room of Henry Cowperwood's house, and to Edward

Strobik two of Cowperwood's bird's-eye maple bedroom suites for the most

modest of prices. Adam Davis was present and secured the secretaire of

buhl which the elder Cowperwood prized so highly. To Fletcher Norton

went the four Greek vases--a kylix, a water-jar, and two amphorae--which

he had sold to Cowperwood and which he valued highly. Various objects

of art, including a Sevres dinner set, a Gobelin tapestry, Barye bronzes

and pictures by Detaille, Fortuny, and George Inness, went to Walter

Leigh, Arthur Rivers, Joseph Zimmerman, Judge Kitchen, Harper Steger,

Terrence Relihan, Trenor Drake, Mr. and Mrs. Simeon Jones, W. C.

Davison, Frewen Kasson, Fletcher Norton, and Judge Rafalsky.

Within four days after the sale began the two houses were bare of their

contents. Even the objects in the house at 931 North Tenth Street had

been withdrawn from storage where they had been placed at the time it

was deemed advisable to close this institution, and placed on sale with

the other objects in the two homes. It was at this time that the senior

Cowperwoods first learned of something which seemed to indicate a

mystery which had existed in connection with their son and his wife.

No one of all the Cowperwoods was present during all this gloomy

distribution; and Aileen, reading of the disposition of all the wares,

and knowing their value to Cowperwood, to say nothing of their charm for

her, was greatly depressed; yet she was not long despondent, for she was

convinced that Cowperwood would some day regain his liberty and attain a

position of even greater significance in the financial world. She could

not have said why but she was sure of it.

Chapter LV

In the meanwhile Cowperwood had been transferred to a new overseer and a

new cell in Block 3 on the ground door, which was like all the others

in size, ten by sixteen, but to which was attached the small yard

previously mentioned. Warden Desmas came up two days before he was

transferred, and had another short conversation with him through his

cell door.

"You'll be transferred on Monday," he said, in his reserved, slow way.

"They'll give you a yard, though it won't be much good to you--we

only allow a half-hour a day in it. I've told the overseer about your

business arrangements. He'll treat you right in that matter. Just be

careful not to take up too much time that way, and things will work out.

I've decided to let you learn caning chairs. That'll be the best for

you. It's easy, and it'll occupy your mind."

The warden and some allied politicians made a good thing out of this

prison industry. It was really not hard labor--the tasks set were simple

and not oppressive, but all of the products were promptly sold, and

the profits pocketed. It was good, therefore, to see all the prisoners

working, and it did them good. Cowperwood was glad of the chance to

do something, for he really did not care so much for books, and his

connection with Wingate and his old affairs were not sufficient to

employ his mind in a satisfactory way. At the same time, he could not

help thinking, if he seemed strange to himself, now, how much stranger

he would seem then, behind these narrow bars working at so commonplace a

task as caning chairs. Nevertheless, he now thanked Desmas for this,

as well as for the sheets and the toilet articles which had just been

brought in.

"That's all right," replied the latter, pleasantly and softly, by now

much intrigued by Cowperwood. "I know that there are men and men here,

the same as anywhere. If a man knows how to use these things and wants

to be clean, I wouldn't be one to put anything in his way."

The new overseer with whom Cowperwood had to deal was a very different

person from Elias Chapin. His name was Walter Bonhag, and he was not

more than thirty-seven years of age--a big, flabby sort of person with a

crafty mind, whose principal object in life was to see that this prison

situation as he found it should furnish him a better income than his

normal salary provided. A close study of Bonhag would have seemed to

indicate that he was a stool-pigeon of Desmas, but this was really not

true except in a limited way. Because Bonhag was shrewd and

sycophantic, quick to see a point in his or anybody else's favor, Desmas

instinctively realized that he was the kind of man who could be trusted

to be lenient on order or suggestion. That is, if Desmas had the least

interest in a prisoner he need scarcely say so much to Bonhag; he might

merely suggest that this man was used to a different kind of life, or

that, because of some past experience, it might go hard with him if he

were handled roughly; and Bonhag would strain himself to be pleasant.

The trouble was that to a shrewd man of any refinement his attentions

were objectionable, being obviously offered for a purpose, and to a poor

or ignorant man they were brutal and contemptuous. He had built up an

extra income for himself inside the prison by selling the prisoners

extra allowances of things which he secretly brought into the prison. It

was strictly against the rules, in theory at least, to bring in anything

which was not sold in the store-room--tobacco, writing paper, pens,

ink, whisky, cigars, or delicacies of any kind. On the other hand, and

excellently well for him, it was true that tobacco of an inferior

grade was provided, as well as wretched pens, ink and paper, so that no

self-respecting man, if he could help it, would endure them. Whisky

was not allowed at all, and delicacies were abhorred as indicating rank

favoritism; nevertheless, they were brought in. If a prisoner had the

money and was willing to see that Bonhag secured something for his

trouble, almost anything would be forthcoming. Also the privilege of

being sent into the general yard as a "trusty," or being allowed to stay

in the little private yard which some cells possessed, longer than the

half-hour ordinarily permitted, was sold.

One of the things curiously enough at this time, which worked in

Cowperwood's favor, was the fact that Bonhag was friendly with the

overseer who had Stener in charge, and Stener, because of his political

friends, was being liberally treated, and Bonhag knew of this. He was

not a careful reader of newspapers, nor had he any intellectual grasp

of important events; but he knew by now that both Stener and Cowperwood

were, or had been, individuals of great importance in the community;

also that Cowperwood had been the more important of the two. Better yet,

as Bonhag now heard, Cowperwood still had money. Some prisoner, who was

permitted to read the paper, told him so. And so, entirely aside

from Warden Desmas's recommendation, which was given in a very quiet,

noncommittal way, Bonhag was interested to see what he could do for

Cowperwood for a price.

The day Cowperwood was installed in his new cell, Bonhag lolled up to

the door, which was open, and said, in a semi-patronizing way, "Got

all your things over yet?" It was his business to lock the door once

Cowperwood was inside it.

"Yes, sir," replied Cowperwood, who had been shrewd enough to get the

new overseer's name from Chapin; "this is Mr. Bonhag, I presume?"

"That's me," replied Bonhag, not a little flattered by the recognition,

but still purely interested by the practical side of this encounter. He

was anxious to study Cowperwood, to see what type of man he was.

"You'll find it a little different down here from up there," observed

Bonhag. "It ain't so stuffy. These doors out in the yards make a

difference."

"Oh, yes," said Cowperwood, observantly and shrewdly, "that is the yard

Mr. Desmas spoke of."

At the mention of the magic name, if Bonhag had been a horse, his ears

would have been seen to lift. For, of course, if Cowperwood was so

friendly with Desmas that the latter had described to him the type of

cell he was to have beforehand, it behooved Bonhag to be especially

careful.

"Yes, that's it, but it ain't much," he observed. "They only allow a

half-hour a day in it. Still it would be all right if a person could

stay out there longer."

This was his first hint at graft, favoritism; and Cowperwood distinctly

caught the sound of it in his voice.

"That's too bad," he said. "I don't suppose good conduct helps a person

to get more." He waited to hear a reply, but instead Bonhag continued

with: "I'd better teach you your new trade now. You've got to learn to

cane chairs, so the warden says. If you want, we can begin right away."

But without waiting for Cowperwood to acquiesce, he went off, returning

after a time with three unvarnished frames of chairs and a bundle

of cane strips or withes, which he deposited on the floor. Having so

done--and with a flourish--he now continued: "Now I'll show you if

you'll watch me," and he began showing Cowperwood how the strips were

to be laced through the apertures on either side, cut, and fastened

with little hickory pegs. This done, he brought a forcing awl, a small

hammer, a box of pegs, and a pair of clippers. After several brief

demonstrations with different strips, as to how the geometric forms were

designed, he allowed Cowperwood to take the matter in hand, watching

over his shoulder. The financier, quick at anything, manual or mental,

went at it in his customary energetic fashion, and in five minutes

demonstrated to Bonhag that, barring skill and speed, which could only

come with practice, he could do it as well as another. "You'll make out

all right," said Bonhag. "You're supposed to do ten of those a day. We

won't count the next few days, though, until you get your hand in. After

that I'll come around and see how you're getting along. You understand

about the towel on the door, don't you?" he inquired.

"Yes, Mr. Chapin explained that to me," replied Cowperwood. "I think I

know what most of the rules are now. I'll try not to break any of them."

The days which followed brought a number of modifications of his prison

lot, but not sufficient by any means to make it acceptable to him.

Bonhag, during the first few days in which he trained Cowperwood in the

art of caning chairs, managed to make it perfectly clear that there were

a number of things he would be willing to do for him. One of the things

that moved him to this, was that already he had been impressed by the

fact that Stener's friends were coming to see him in larger numbers than

Cowperwood's, sending him an occasional basket of fruit, which he

gave to the overseers, and that his wife and children had been already

permitted to visit him outside the regular visiting-day. This was a

cause for jealousy on Bonhag's part. His fellow-overseer was lording it

over him--telling him, as it were, of the high jinks in Block 4.

Bonhag really wanted Cowperwood to spruce up and show what he could do,

socially or otherwise.

And so now he began with: "I see you have your lawyer and your partner

here every day. There ain't anybody else you'd like to have visit you,

is there? Of course, it's against the rules to have your wife or sister

or anybody like that, except on visiting days--" And here he paused

and rolled a large and informing eye on Cowperwood--such an eye as was

supposed to convey dark and mysterious things. "But all the rules ain't

kept around here by a long shot."

Cowperwood was not the man to lose a chance of this kind. He smiled a

little--enough to relieve himself, and to convey to Bonhag that he was

gratified by the information, but vocally he observed: "I'll tell you

how it is, Mr. Bonhag. I believe you understand my position better than

most men would, and that I can talk to you. There are people who would

like to come here, but I have been afraid to let them come. I did

not know that it could be arranged. If it could be, I would be very

grateful. You and I are practical men--I know that if any favors are

extended some of those who help to bring them about must be looked

after. If you can do anything to make it a little more comfortable for

me here I will show you that I appreciate it. I haven't any money on my

person, but I can always get it, and I will see that you are properly

looked after."

Bonhag's short, thick ears tingled. This was the kind of talk he liked

to hear. "I can fix anything like that, Mr. Cowperwood," he replied,

servilely. "You leave it to me. If there's any one you want to see at

any time, just let me know. Of course I have to be very careful, and so

do you, but that's all right, too. If you want to stay out in that yard

a little longer in the mornings or get out there afternoons or evenings,

from now on, why, go ahead. It's all right. I'll just leave the door

open. If the warden or anybody else should be around, I'll just scratch

on your door with my key, and you come in and shut it. If there's

anything you want from the outside I can get it for you--jelly or eggs

or butter or any little thing like that. You might like to fix up your

meals a little that way."

"I'm certainly most grateful, Mr. Bonhag," returned Cowperwood in his

grandest manner, and with a desire to smile, but he kept a straight

face.

"In regard to that other matter," went on Bonhag, referring to the

matter of extra visitors, "I can fix that any time you want to. I know

the men out at the gate. If you want anybody to come here, just write

'em a note and give it to me, and tell 'em to ask for me when they come.

That'll get 'em in all right. When they get here you can talk to 'em

in your cell. See! Only when I tap they have to come out. You want to

remember that. So just you let me know."

Cowperwood was exceedingly grateful. He said so in direct, choice

language. It occurred to him at once that this was Aileen's opportunity,

and that he could now notify her to come. If she veiled herself

sufficiently she would probably be safe enough. He decided to write her,

and when Wingate came he gave him a letter to mail.

Two days later, at three o'clock in the afternoon--the time appointed

by him--Aileen came to see him. She was dressed in gray broadcloth

with white-velvet trimmings and cut-steel buttons which glistened like

silver, and wore, as additional ornaments, as well as a protection

against the cold, a cap, stole, and muff of snow-white ermine. Over

this rather striking costume she had slipped a long dark circular cloak,

which she meant to lay off immediately upon her arrival. She had made

a very careful toilet as to her shoes, gloves, hair, and the gold

ornaments which she wore. Her face was concealed by a thick green veil,

as Cowperwood had suggested; and she arrived at an hour when, as near as

he had been able to prearrange, he would be alone. Wingate usually came

at four, after business, and Steger in the morning, when he came at all.

She was very nervous over this strange adventure, leaving the street-car

in which she had chosen to travel some distance away and walking up a

side street. The cold weather and the gray walls under a gray sky gave

her a sense of defeat, but she had worked very hard to look nice in

order to cheer her lover up. She knew how readily he responded to the

influence of her beauty when properly displayed.

Cowperwood, in view of her coming, had made his cell as acceptable as

possible. It was clean, because he had swept it himself and made his own

bed; and besides he had shaved and combed his hair, and otherwise put

himself to rights. The caned chairs on which he was working had been put

in the corner at the end of the bed. His few dishes were washed and

hung up, and his clogs brushed with a brush which he now kept for the

purpose. Never before, he thought to himself, with a peculiar feeling

of artistic degradation, had Aileen seen him like this. She had always

admired his good taste in clothes, and the way he carried himself in

them; and now she was to see him in garments which no dignity of body

could make presentable. Only a stoic sense of his own soul-dignity aided

him here. After all, as he now thought, he was Frank A. Cowperwood,

and that was something, whatever he wore. And Aileen knew it. Again,

he might be free and rich some day, and he knew that she believed that.

Best of all, his looks under these or any other circumstances, as he

knew, would make no difference to Aileen. She would only love him the

more. It was her ardent sympathy that he was afraid of. He was so glad

that Bonhag had suggested that she might enter the cell, for it would be

a grim procedure talking to her through a barred door.

When Aileen arrived she asked for Mr. Bonhag, and was permitted to go to

the central rotunda, where he was sent for. When he came she murmured:

"I wish to see Mr. Cowperwood, if you please"; and he exclaimed, "Oh,

yes, just come with me." As he came across the rotunda floor from his

corridor he was struck by the evident youth of Aileen, even though he

could not see her face. This now was something in accordance with

what he had expected of Cowperwood. A man who could steal five hundred

thousand dollars and set a whole city by the ears must have wonderful

adventures of all kinds, and Aileen looked like a true adventure. He led

her to the little room where he kept his desk and detained visitors, and

then bustled down to Cowperwood's cell, where the financier was working

on one of his chairs and scratching on the door with his key, called:

"There's a young lady here to see you. Do you want to let her come

inside?"

"Thank you, yes," replied Cowperwood; and Bonhag hurried away,

unintentionally forgetting, in his boorish incivility, to unlock the

cell door, so that he had to open it in Aileen's presence. The long

corridor, with its thick doors, mathematically spaced gratings and

gray-stone pavement, caused Aileen to feel faint at heart. A prison,

iron cells! And he was in one of them. It chilled her usually courageous

spirit. What a terrible place for her Frank to be! What a horrible thing

to have put him here! Judges, juries, courts, laws, jails seemed like so

many foaming ogres ranged about the world, glaring down upon her and

her love-affair. The clank of the key in the lock, and the heavy outward

swinging of the door, completed her sense of the untoward. And then she

saw Cowperwood.

Because of the price he was to receive, Bonhag, after admitting her,

strolled discreetly away. Aileen looked at Cowperwood from behind

her veil, afraid to speak until she was sure Bonhag had gone. And

Cowperwood, who was retaining his self-possession by an effort, signaled

her but with difficulty after a moment or two. "It's all right," he

said. "He's gone away." She lifted her veil, removed her cloak, and took

in, without seeming to, the stuffy, narrow thickness of the room, his

wretched shoes, the cheap, misshapen suit, the iron door behind him

leading out into the little yard attached to his cell. Against such a

background, with his partially caned chairs visible at the end of the

bed, he seemed unnatural, weird even. Her Frank! And in this condition.

She trembled and it was useless for her to try to speak. She could only

put her arms around him and stroke his head, murmuring: "My poor boy--my

darling. Is this what they have done to you? Oh, my poor darling." She

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