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"Others!" echoed Aileen, resentfully and contemptuously. "After you there aren't any others. I
just want one man, my Frank. If you ever desert me, I'll go to hell. You'll see."
"Don't talk like that, Aileen," he replied, almost irritated. "I don't like to hear you. You wouldn't do
anything of the sort. I love you. You know I'm not going to desert you. It would pay you to desert
me just now."
"Oh, how you talk!" she exclaimed. "Desert you! It's likely, isn't it? But if ever you desert me, I'll
do just what I say. I swear it."
"Don't talk like that. Don't talk nonsense."
"I swear it. I swear by my love. I swear by your success--my own happiness. I'll do just what I
say. I'll go to hell."
Cowperwood got up. He was a little afraid now of this deep-seated passion he had aroused. It
was dangerous. He could not tell where it would lead.
It was a cheerless afternoon in November, when Alderson, duly informed of the presence of
Aileen and Cowperwood in the South Sixth Street house by the detective on guard drove rapidly
up to Butler's office and invited him to come with him. Yet even now Butler could scarcely
believe that he was to find his daughter there. The shame of it. The horror. What would he say
to her? How reproach her? What would he do to Cowperwood? His large hands shook as he
thought. They drove rapidly to within a few doors of the place, where a second detective on
guard across the street approached. Butler and Alderson descended from the vehicle, and
together they approached the door. It was now almost four-thirty in the afternoon. In a room
within the house, Cowperwood, his coat and vest off, was listening to Aileen's account of her
troubles.
The room in which they were sitting at the time was typical of the rather commonplace idea of
luxury which then prevailed. Most of the "sets" of furniture put on the market for general sale by
the furniture companies were, when they approached in any way the correct idea of luxury,
imitations of one of the Louis periods. The curtains were always heavy, frequently brocaded,
and not infrequently red. The carpets were richly flowered in high colors with a thick, velvet nap.
The furniture, of whatever wood it might be made, was almost invariably heavy, floriated, and
cumbersome. This room contained a heavily constructed bed of walnut, with washstand,
bureau, and wardrobe to match. A large, square mirror in a gold frame was hung over the
washstand. Some poor engravings of landscapes and several nude figures were hung in gold
frames on the wall. The gilt-framed chairs were upholstered in pink-and-white-flowered brocade,
with polished brass tacks. The carpet was of thick Brussels, pale cream and pink in hue, with
large blue jardinieres containing flowers woven in as ornaments. The general effect was light,
rich, and a little stuffy.
"You know I get desperately frightened, sometimes," said Aileen. "Father might be watching us,
you know. I've often wondered what I'd do if he caught us. I couldn't lie out of this, could I?"
"You certainly couldn't," said Cowperwood, who never failed to respond to the incitement of her
charms. She had such lovely smooth arms, a full, luxuriously tapering throat and neck; her
golden-red hair floated like an aureole about her head, and her large eyes sparkled. The
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