Full Text Archive

Full Text Archive
https://www.fulltextarchive.com
Alderson to perfect his plan, and once he found Aileen or Cowperwood entering the house to
inform him quickly. He would then drive there, and with the assistance of these men confront
her.
It was a foolish scheme, a brutalizing thing to do, both from the point of view of affection and
any corrective theory he might have had. No good ever springs from violence. But Butler did not
see that. He wanted to frighten Aileen, to bring her by shock to a realization of the enormity of
the offense she was committing. He waited fully a week after his word had been given; and
then, one afternoon, when his nerves were worn almost thin from fretting, the climax came.
Cowperwood had already been indicted, and was now awaiting trial. Aileen had been bringing
him news, from time to time, of just how she thought her father was feeling toward him. She did
not get this evidence direct from Butler, of course--he was too secretive, in so far as she was
concerned, to let her know how relentlessly he was engineering Cowperwood's final downfall--
but from odd bits confided to Owen, who confided them to Callum, who in turn, innocently
enough, confided them to Aileen. For one thing, she had learned in this way of the new district
attorney elect--his probable attitude--for he was a constant caller at the Butler house or office.
Owen had told Callum that he thought Shannon was going to do his best to send Cowperwood
"up"--that the old man thought he deserved it.
In the next place she had learned that her father did not want Cowperwood to resume
business--did not feel he deserved to be allowed to. "It would be a God's blessing if the
community were shut of him," he had said to Owen one morning, apropos of a notice in the
papers of Cowperwood's legal struggles; and Owen had asked Callum why he thought the old
man was so bitter. The two sons could not understand it. Cowperwood heard all this from her,
and more--bits about Judge Payderson, the judge who was to try him, who was a friend of
Butler's--also about the fact that Stener might be sent up for the full term of his crime, but that
be would be pardoned soon afterward.
Apparently Cowperwood was not very much frightened. He told her that he had powerful
financial friends who would appeal to the governor to pardon him in case he was convicted;
and, anyhow, that he did not think that the evidence was strong enough to convict him. He was
merely a political scapegoat through public clamor and her father's influence; since the latter's
receipt of the letter about them he had been the victim of Butler's enmity, and nothing more. "If it
weren't for your father, honey," he declared, "I could have this indictment quashed in no time.
Neither Mollenhauer nor Simpson has anything against me personally, I am sure. They want me
to get out of the street-railway business here in Philadelphia, and, of course, they wanted to
make things look better for Stener at first; but depend upon it, if your father hadn't been against
me they wouldn't have gone to any such length in making me the victim. Your father has this
fellow Shannon and these minor politicians just where he wants them, too. That's where the
trouble lies. They have to go on."
"Oh, I know," replied Aileen. "It's me, just me, that's all. If it weren't for me and what he suspects
he'd help you in a minute. Sometimes, you know, I think I've been very bad for you. I don't know
what I ought to do. If I thought it would help you any I'd not see you any more for a while, though
I don't see what good that would do now. Oh, I love you, love you, Frank! I would do anything
for you. I don't care what people think or say. I love you."
"Oh, you just think you do," he replied, jestingly. "You'll get over it. There are others."
181 / 312

---