第99章

Perry Blackwood was the Secretary of the City Improvement League,the object of which was to beautify the city by laying out a system of parkways.

The next day some of us gathered in Dickinson's office and decided that Grierson should go ahead and get the options.This was done;not,of course,in Grierson's name.The next move,before the formation of the Riverside Company,was to "see"Mr.Judd Jason.The success or failure of the enterprise was in his hands.Mahomet must go to the mountain,and I went to Monahan's saloon,first having made an appointment.It was not the first time I had been there since I had made that first memorable visit,but I never quite got over the feeling of a neophyte before Buddha,though I did not go so far as to analyze the reason,--that in Mr.

Jason I was brought face to face with the concrete embodiment of the philosophy I had adopted,the logical consequence of enlightened self-interest.If he had ever heard of it,he would have made no pretence of being anything else.Greatness,declares some modern philosopher,has no connection with virtue;it is the continued,strong and logical expression of some instinct;in Mr.Jason's case,the predatory instinct.

And like a true artist,he loved his career for itself--not for what its fruits could buy.He might have built a palace on the Heights with the tolls he took from the disreputable houses of the city;he was contented with Monahan's saloon:nor did he seek to propitiate a possible God by endowing churches and hospitals with a portion of his income.Try though I might,I never could achieve the perfection of this man's contempt for all other philosophies.The very fact of my going there in secret to that dark place of his from out of the bright,respectable region in which I lived was in itself an acknowledgment of this.I thought him a thief--a necessary thief--and he knew it:he was indifferent to it;and it amused him,I think,to see clinging to me,when I entered his presence,shreds of that morality which those of my world who dealt with him thought so needful for the sake of decency.

He was in bed,reading newspapers,as usual.An empty coffee-cup and a plate were on the littered table.

"Sit down,sit down,Paret,"he said."What do you hear from the Senator?"I sat down,and gave him the news of Mr.Watling.He seemed,as usual,distrait,betraying no curiosity as to the object of my call,his lean,brown fingers playing with the newspapers on his lap.Suddenly,he flashed out at me one of those remarks which produced the uncanny conviction that,so far as affairs in the city were concerned,he was omniscient.

"I hear somebody has been getting options on that tract of land beyond the Heights,on the river."He had "focussed.""How did you hear that?"I asked.

He smiled.

"It's Grierson,ain't it?"

"Yes,it's Grierson,"I said.

"How are you going to get your folks out there?"he demanded.

"That's what I've come to see you about.We want a franchise for Maplewood Avenue.""Maplewood Avenue!"He lay back with his eyes closed,as though trying to visualize such a colossal proposal....

When I left him,two hours later,the details were all arranged,down to Mr.Jason's consideration from Riverside Company and the "fee"which his lawyer,Mr.Bitter,was to have for "presenting the case"before the Board of Aldermen.I went back to lunch at the Boyne Club,and to receive the congratulations of my friends.The next week the Riverside Company was formed,and I made out a petition to the Board of Aldermen for a franchise;Mr.Bitter appeared and argued:in short,the procedure so familiar to modern students of political affairs was gone through.

The Maplewood Avenue residents rose en masse,supported by the City Improvement League.Perry Blackwood,as soon as he heard of the petition,turned up at my office.By this time I was occupying Mr.

Watling's room.

"Look here,"he began,as soon as the office-boy had closed the door behind him,"this is going it a little too strong.""What is?"I asked,leaning back in my chair and surveying him.

"This proposed Maplewood Avenue Franchise.Hugh,"he said,"you and Ihave been friends a good many years,Lucia and I are devoted to Maude."I did not reply.

"I've seen all along that we've been growing apart,"he added sadly.

"You've got certain ideas about things which I can't share.I suppose I'm old fashioned.I can't trust myself to tell you what I think--what Tom and I think about this deal.""Go ahead,Perry,"I said.

He got up,plainly agitated,and walked to the window.Then he turned to me appealingly.

"Get out of it,for God's sake get out of it,before it's too late.For your own sake,for Maude's,for the children's.You don't realize what you are doing.You may not believe me,but the time will come when these fellows you are in with will be repudiated by the community,--their money won't help them.Tom and I are the best friends you have,"he added,a little irrelevantly.

"And you think I'm going to the dogs."

"Now don't take it the wrong way,"he urged.