Full Text Archive

Full Text Archive
https://www.fulltextarchive.com
development, the more certain he was that he must not let it interfere with his business time and
judgment. His office required his full attention from nine until three, anyhow. He could give it
until five-thirty with profit; but he could take several afternoons off, from three-thirty until five-
thirty or six, and no one would be the wiser. It was customary for Aileen to drive alone almost
every afternoon a spirited pair of bays, or to ride a mount, bought by her father for her from a
noted horse-dealer in Baltimore. Since Cowperwood also drove and rode, it was not difficult to
arrange meeting-places far out on the Wissahickon or the Schuylkill road. There were many
spots in the newly laid-out park, which were as free from interruption as the depths of a forest. It
was always possible that they might encounter some one; but it was also always possible to
make a rather plausible explanation, or none at all, since even in case of such an encounter
nothing, ordinarily, would be suspected.
So, for the time being there was love-making, the usual billing and cooing of lovers in a simple
and much less than final fashion; and the lovely horseback rides together under the green trees
of the approaching spring were idyllic. Cowperwood awakened to a sense of joy in life such as
he fancied, in the blush of this new desire, he had never experienced before. Lillian had been
lovely in those early days in which he had first called on her in North Front Street, and he had
fancied himself unspeakably happy at that time; but that was nearly ten years since, and he had
forgotten. Since then he had had no great passion, no notable liaison; and then, all at once, in
the midst of his new, great business prosperity, Aileen. Her young body and soul, her
passionate illusions. He could see always, for all her daring, that she knew so little of the
calculating, brutal world with which he was connected. Her father had given her all the toys she
wanted without stint; her mother and brothers had coddled her, particularly her mother. Her
young sister thought she was adorable. No one imagined for one moment that Aileen would
ever do anything wrong. She was too sensible, after all, too eager to get up in the world. Why
should she, when her life lay open and happy before her--a delightful love-match, some day
soon, with some very eligible and satisfactory lover?
"When you marry, Aileen," her mother used to say to her, "we'll have a grand time here. Sure
we'll do the house over then, if we don't do it before. Eddie will have to fix it up, or I'll do it
meself. Never fear."
"Yes--well, I'd rather you'd fix it now," was her reply.
Butler himself used to strike her jovially on the shoulder in a rough, loving way, and ask, "Well,
have you found him yet?" or "Is he hanging around the outside watchin' for ye?"
If she said, "No," he would reply: "Well, he will be, never fear--worse luck. I'll hate to see ye go,
girlie! You can stay here as long as ye want to, and ye want to remember that you can always
come back."
Aileen paid very little attention to this bantering. She loved her father, but it was all such a
matter of course. It was the commonplace of her existence, and not so very significant, though
delightful enough.
But how eagerly she yielded herself to Cowperwood under the spring trees these days! She had
no sense of that ultimate yielding that was coming, for now he merely caressed and talked to
her. He was a little doubtful about himself. His growing liberties for himself seemed natural
enough, but in a sense of fairness to her he began to talk to her about what their love might
88 / 312

---