Full Text Archive

Full Text Archive
https://www.fulltextarchive.com
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."
159 / 312

---