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he was not so sure that he wanted to stay in it. Gambling in stocks, according to conditions
produced by this panic, seemed very hazardous. A number of brokers failed. He saw them rush
in to Tighe with anguished faces and ask that certain trades be canceled. Their very homes
were in danger, they said. They would be wiped out, their wives and children put out on the
street.
This panic, incidentally, only made Frank more certain as to what he really wanted to do--now
that he had this free money, he would go into business for himself. Even Tighe's offer of a minor
partnership failed to tempt him.
"I think you have a nice business," he explained, in refusing, "but I want to get in the note-
brokerage business for myself. I don't trust this stock game. I'd rather have a little business of
my own than all the floor work in this world."
"But you're pretty young, Frank," argued his employer. "You have lots of time to work for
yourself." In the end he parted friends with both Tighe and Rivers. "That's a smart young fellow,"
observed Tighe, ruefully.
"He'll make his mark," rejoined Rivers. "He's the shrewdest boy of his age I ever saw."
Chapter VIII
Cowperwood's world at this time was of roseate hue. He was in love and had money of his own
to start his new business venture. He could take his street-car stocks, which were steadily
increasing in value, and raise seventy per cent. of their market value. He could put a mortgage
on his lots and get money there, if necessary. He had established financial relations with the
Girard National Bank--President Davison there having taken a fancy to him--and he proposed to
borrow from that institution some day. All he wanted was suitable investments--things in which
he could realize surely, quickly. He saw fine prospective profits in the street-car lines, which
were rapidly developing into local ramifications.
He purchased a horse and buggy about this time--the most attractive-looking animal and vehicle
he could find--the combination cost him five hundred dollars--and invited Mrs. Semple to drive
with him. She refused at first, but later consented. He had told her of his success, his prospects,
his windfall of fifteen thousand dollars, his intention of going into the note-brokerage business.
She knew his father was likely to succeed to the position of vice-president in the Third National
Bank, and she liked the Cowperwoods. Now she began to realize that there was something
more than mere friendship here. This erstwhile boy was a man, and he was calling on her. It
was almost ridiculous in the face of things--her seniority, her widowhood, her placid, retiring
disposition--but the sheer, quiet, determined force of this young man made it plain that he was
not to be balked by her sense of convention.
Cowperwood did not delude himself with any noble theories of conduct in regard to her. She
was beautiful, with a mental and physical lure for him that was irresistible, and that was all he
desired to know. No other woman was holding him like that. It never occurred to him that he
could not or should not like other women at the same time. There was a great deal of palaver
about the sanctity of the home. It rolled off his mental sphere like water off the feathers of a
duck. He was not eager for her money, though he was well aware of it. He felt that he could use
it to her advantage. He wanted her physically. He felt a keen, primitive interest in the children
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