It was while the war was on, and after it was perfectly1 plain that it was not to be of a few days’ duration, that Cowperwood’s first great financial opportunity came to him. There was a strong demand for money at the time on the part of the nation, the State, and the city. In July, 1861, Congress had authorized3 a loan of fifty million dollars, to be secured by twenty-year bonds with interest not to exceed seven per cent., and the State authorized a loan of three millions on much the same security, the first being handled by financiers of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, the second by Philadelphia financiers alone. Cowperwood had no hand in this. He was not big enough. He read in the papers of gatherings4 of men whom he knew personally or by reputation, “to consider the best way to aid the nation or the State”; but he was not included. And yet his soul yearned5 to be of them. He noticed how often a rich man’s word sufficed — no money, no certificates, no collateral6, no anything — just his word. If Drexel & Co., or Jay Cooke & Co., or Gould & Fiske were rumored7 to be behind anything, how secure it was! Jay Cooke, a young man in Philadelphia, had made a great strike taking this State loan in company with Drexel & Co., and selling it at par2. The general opinion was that it ought to be and could only be sold at ninety. Cooke did not believe this. He believed that State pride and State patriotism8 would warrant offering the loan to small banks and private citizens, and that they would subscribe9 it fully10 and more. Events justified11 Cooke magnificently, and his public reputation was assured. Cowperwood wished he could make some such strike; but he was too practical to worry over anything save the facts and conditions that were before him.
His chance came about six months later, when it was found that the State would have to have much more money. Its quota12 of troops would have to be equipped and paid. There were measures of defense13 to be taken, the treasury14 to be replenished15. A call for a loan of twenty-three million dollars was finally authorized by the legislature and issued. There was great talk in the street as to who was to handle it — Drexel & Co. and Jay Cooke & Co., of course.
Cowperwood pondered over this. If he could handle a fraction of this great loan now — he could not possibly handle the whole of it, for he had not the necessary connections — he could add considerably16 to his reputation as a broker17 while making a tidy sum. How much could he handle? That was the question. Who would take portions of it? His father’s bank? Probably. Waterman & Co.? A little. Judge Kitchen? A small fraction. The Mills–David Company? Yes. He thought of different individuals and concerns who, for one reason and another — personal friendship, good-nature, gratitude18 for past favors, and so on — would take a percentage of the seven-percent. bonds through him. He totaled up his possibilities, and discovered that in all likelihood, with a little preliminary missionary20 work, he could dispose of one million dollars if personal influence, through local political figures, could bring this much of the loan his way.
One man in particular had grown strong in his estimation as having some subtle political connection not visible on the surface, and this was Edward Malia Butler. Butler was a contractor22, undertaking23 the construction of sewers24, water-mains, foundations for buildings, street-paving, and the like. In the early days, long before Cowperwood had known him, he had been a garbage-contractor on his own account. The city at that time had no extended street-cleaning service, particularly in its outlying sections and some of the older, poorer regions. Edward Butler, then a poor young Irishman, had begun by collecting and hauling away the garbage free of charge, and feeding it to his pigs and cattle. Later he discovered that some people were willing to pay a small charge for this service. Then a local political character, a councilman friend of his — they were both Catholics — saw a new point in the whole thing. Butler could be made official garbage-collector. The council could vote an annual appropriation25 for this service. Butler could employ more wagons26 than he did now — dozens of them, scores. Not only that, but no other garbage-collector would be allowed. There were others, but the official contract awarded him would also, officially, be the end of the life of any and every disturbing rival. A certain amount of the profitable proceeds would have to be set aside to assuage28 the feelings of those who were not contractors29. Funds would have to be loaned at election time to certain individuals and organizations — but no matter. The amount would be small. So Butler and Patrick Gavin Comiskey, the councilman (the latter silently) entered into business relations. Butler gave up driving a wagon27 himself. He hired a young man, a smart Irish boy of his neighborhood, Jimmy Sheehan, to be his assistant, superintendent30, stableman, bookkeeper, and what not. Since he soon began to make between four and five thousand a year, where before he made two thousand, he moved into a brick house in an outlying section of the south side, and sent his children to school. Mrs. Butler gave up making soap and feeding pigs. And since then times had been exceedingly good with Edward Butler.
He could neither read nor write at first; but now he knew how, of course. He had learned from association with Mr. Comiskey that there were other forms of contracting — sewers, water-mains, gas-mains, street-paving, and the like. Who better than Edward Butler to do it? He knew the councilmen, many of them. Het met them in the back rooms of saloons, on Sundays and Saturdays at political picnics, at election councils and conferences, for as a beneficiary of the city’s largess he was expected to contribute not only money, but advice. Curiously31 he had developed a strange political wisdom. He knew a successful man or a coming man when he saw one. So many of his bookkeepers, superintendents32, time-keepers had graduated into councilmen and state legislators. His nominees33 — suggested to political conferences — were so often known to make good. First he came to have influence in his councilman’s ward21, then in his legislative34 district, then in the city councils of his party — Whig, of course — and then he was supposed to have an organization.
Mysterious forces worked for him in council. He was awarded significant contracts, and he always bid. The garbage business was now a thing of the past. His eldest35 boy, Owen, was a member of the State legislature and a partner in his business affairs. His second son, Callum, was a clerk in the city water department and an assistant to his father also. Aileen, his eldest daughter, fifteen years of age, was still in St. Agatha’s, a convent school in Germantown. Norah, his second daughter and youngest child, thirteen years old, was in attendance at a local private school conducted by a Catholic sisterhood. The Butler family had moved away from South Philadelphia into Girard Avenue, near the twelve hundreds, where a new and rather interesting social life was beginning. They were not of it, but Edward Butler, contractor, now fifty-five years of age, worth, say, five hundred thousand dollars, had many political and financial friends. No longer a “rough neck,” but a solid, reddish-faced man, slightly tanned, with broad shoulders and a solid chest, gray eyes, gray hair, a typically Irish face made wise and calm and undecipherable by much experience. His big hands and feet indicated a day when he had not worn the best English cloth suits and tanned leather, but his presence was not in any way offensive — rather the other way about. Though still possessed36 of a brogue, he was soft-spoken, winning, and persuasive37.
He had been one of the first to become interested in the development of the street-car system and had come to the conclusion, as had Cowperwood and many others, that it was going to be a great thing. The money returns on the stocks or shares he had been induced to buy had been ample evidence of that, He had dealt through one broker and another, having failed to get in on the original corporate38 organizations. He wanted to pick up such stock as he could in one organization and another, for he believed they all had a future, and most of all he wanted to get control of a line or two. In connection with this idea he was looking for some reliable young man, honest and capable, who would work under his direction and do what he said. Then he learned of Cowperwood, and one day sent for him and asked him to call at his house.
Cowperwood responded quickly, for he knew of Butler, his rise, his connections, his force. He called at the house as directed, one cold, crisp February morning. He remembered the appearance of the street afterward39 — broad, brick-paved sidewalks, macadamized roadway, powdered over with a light snow and set with young, leafless, scrubby trees and lamp-posts. Butler’s house was not new — he had bought and repaired it — but it was not an unsatisfactory specimen40 of the architecture of the time. It was fifty feet wide, four stories tall, of graystone and with four wide, white stone steps leading up to the door. The window arches, framed in white, had U-shaped keystones. There were curtains of lace and a glimpse of red plush through the windows, which gleamed warm against the cold and snow outside. A trim Irish maid came to the door and he gave her his card and was invited into the house.
“Is Mr. Butler home?”
“I’m not sure, sir. I’ll find out. He may have gone out.”
In a little while he was asked to come upstairs, where he found Butler in a somewhat commercial-looking room. It had a desk, an office chair, some leather furnishings, and a bookcase, but no completeness or symmetry as either an office or a living room. There were several pictures on the wall — an impossible oil painting, for one thing, dark and gloomy; a canal and barge41 scene in pink and nile green for another; some daguerreotypes of relatives and friends which were not half bad. Cowperwood noticed one of two girls, one with reddish-gold hair, another with what appeared to be silky brown. The beautiful silver effect of the daguerreotype42 had been tinted43. They were pretty girls, healthy, smiling, Celtic, their heads close together, their eyes looking straight out at you. He admired them casually44, and fancied they must be Butler’s daughters.
“Mr. Cowperwood?” inquired Butler, uttering the name fully with a peculiar45 accent on the vowels46. (He was a slow-moving man, solemn and deliberate.) Cowperwood noticed that his body was hale and strong like seasoned hickory, tanned by wind and rain. The flesh of his cheeks was pulled taut47 and there was nothing soft or flabby about him.
“I’m that man.”
“I have a little matter of stocks to talk over with you” (“matter” almost sounded like “mather”), “and I thought you’d better come here rather than that I should come down to your office. We can be more private-like, and, besides, I’m not as young as I used to be.”
He allowed a semi-twinkle to rest in his eye as he looked his visitor over.
Cowperwood smiled.
“Well, I hope I can be of service to you,” he said, genially49.
“I happen to be interested just at present in pickin’ up certain street-railway stocks on ‘change. I’ll tell you about them later. Won’t you have somethin’ to drink? It’s a cold morning.”
“No, thanks; I never drink.”
“Never? That’s a hard word when it comes to whisky. Well, no matter. It’s a good rule. My boys don’t touch anything, and I’m glad of it. As I say, I’m interested in pickin’ up a few stocks on ‘change; but, to tell you the truth, I’m more interested in findin’ some clever young felly like yourself through whom I can work. One thing leads to another, you know, in this world.” And he looked at his visitor non-committally, and yet with a genial48 show of interest.
“Quite so,” replied Cowperwood, with a friendly gleam in return.
“Well,” Butler meditated50, half to himself, half to Cowperwood, “there are a number of things that a bright young man could do for me in the street if he were so minded. I have two bright boys of my own, but I don’t want them to become stock-gamblers, and I don’t know that they would or could if I wanted them to. But this isn’t a matter of stock-gambling. I’m pretty busy as it is, and, as I said awhile ago, I’m getting along. I’m not as light on my toes as I once was. But if I had the right sort of a young man — I’ve been looking into your record, by the way, never fear — he might handle a number of little things — investments and loans — which might bring us each a little somethin’. Sometimes the young men around town ask advice of me in one way and another — they have a little somethin’ to invest, and so —”
He paused and looked tantalizingly51 out of the window, knowing full well Cowperwood was greatly interested, and that this talk of political influence and connections could only whet52 his appetite. Butler wanted him to see clearly that fidelity53 was the point in this case — fidelity, tact54, subtlety55, and concealment56.
“Well, if you have been looking into my record,” observed Cowperwood, with his own elusive57 smile, leaving the thought suspended.
Butler felt the force of the temperament58 and the argument. He liked the young man’s poise59 and balance. A number of people had spoken of Cowperwood to him. (It was now Cowperwood & Co. The company was fiction purely60.) He asked him something about the street; how the market was running; what he knew about street-railways. Finally he outlined his plan of buying all he could of the stock of two given lines — the Ninth and Tenth and the Fifteenth and Sixteenth — without attracting any attention, if possible. It was to be done slowly, part on ‘change, part from individual holders61. He did not tell him that there was a certain amount of legislative pressure he hoped to bring to bear to get him franchises62 for extensions in the regions beyond where the lines now ended, in order that when the time came for them to extend their facilities they would have to see him or his sons, who might be large minority stockholders in these very concerns. It was a far-sighted plan, and meant that the lines would eventually drop into his or his sons’ basket.
“I’ll be delighted to work with you, Mr. Butler, in any way that you may suggest,” observed Cowperwood. “I can’t say that I have so much of a business as yet — merely prospects63. But my connections are good. I am now a member of the New York and Philadelphia exchanges. Those who have dealt with me seem to like the results I get.”
“I know a little something about your work already,” reiterated64 Butler, wisely.
“Very well, then; whenever you have a commission you can call at my office, or write, or I will call here. I will give you my secret operating code, so that anything you say will be strictly65 confidential66.”
“Well, we’ll not say anything more now. In a few days I’ll have somethin’ for you. When I do, you can draw on my bank for what you need, up to a certain amount.” He got up and looked out into the street, and Cowperwood also arose.
“It’s a fine day now, isn’t it?”
“It surely is.”
“Well, we’ll get to know each other better, I’m sure.”
He held out his hand.
“I hope so.”
Cowperwood went out, Butler accompanying him to the door. As he did so a young girl bounded in from the street, red-cheeked, blue-eyed, wearing a scarlet67 cape68 with the peaked hood19 thrown over her red-gold hair.
“Oh, daddy, I almost knocked you down.”
She gave her father, and incidentally Cowperwood, a gleaming, radiant, inclusive smile. Her teeth were bright and small, and her lips bud-red.
“You’re home early. I thought you were going to stay all day?”
“I was, but I changed my mind.”
She passed on in, swinging her arms.
“Yes, well —” Butler continued, when she had gone. “Then well leave it for a day or two. Good day.”
“Good day.”
Cowperwood, warm with this enhancing of his financial prospects, went down the steps; but incidentally he spared a passing thought for the gay spirit of youth that had manifested itself in this red-cheeked maiden69. What a bright, healthy, bounding girl! Her voice had the subtle, vigorous ring of fifteen or sixteen. She was all vitality70. What a fine catch for some young fellow some day, and her father would make him rich, no doubt, or help to.
收听单词发音 |
1
perfectly
|
|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
par
|
|
| n.标准，票面价值，平均数量；adj.票面的，平常的，标准的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
authorized
|
|
| a.委任的，许可的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
gatherings
|
|
| 聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
yearned
|
|
| 渴望，切盼，向往( yearn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
collateral
|
|
| adj.平行的；旁系的；n.担保品 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
rumored
|
|
| adj.传说的，谣传的v.传闻( rumor的过去式和过去分词 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
patriotism
|
|
| n.爱国精神，爱国心，爱国主义 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
subscribe
|
|
| vi.(to)订阅，订购；同意；vt.捐助，赞助 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
fully
|
|
| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
justified
|
|
| a.正当的，有理的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
quota
|
|
| n.（生产、进出口等的）配额，（移民的）限额 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
defense
|
|
| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
treasury
|
|
| n.宝库；国库，金库；文库 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
replenished
|
|
| 补充( replenish的过去式和过去分词 )； 重新装满 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
considerably
|
|
| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
broker
|
|
| n.中间人，经纪人；v.作为中间人来安排 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
gratitude
|
|
| adj.感激，感谢 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
hood
|
|
| n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
missionary
|
|
| adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
ward
|
|
| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
contractor
|
|
| n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
undertaking
|
|
| n.保证，许诺，事业 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
sewers
|
|
| n.阴沟，污水管，下水道( sewer的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
appropriation
|
|
| n.拨款，批准支出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
wagons
|
|
| n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 )；铁路货车；小手推车 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
wagon
|
|
| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
assuage
|
|
| v.缓和，减轻，镇定 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
contractors
|
|
| n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
superintendent
|
|
| n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
curiously
|
|
| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
superintendents
|
|
| 警长( superintendent的名词复数 )； （大楼的）管理人； 监管人； （美国）警察局长 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
nominees
|
|
| n.被提名者，被任命者( nominee的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
legislative
|
|
| n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
eldest
|
|
| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
possessed
|
|
| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
persuasive
|
|
| adj.有说服力的，能说得使人相信的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
corporate
|
|
| adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
afterward
|
|
| adv.后来；以后 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
specimen
|
|
| n.样本，标本 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
barge
|
|
| n.平底载货船，驳船 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
daguerreotype
|
|
| n.银板照相 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
tinted
|
|
| adj. 带色彩的 动词tint的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
casually
|
|
| adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
peculiar
|
|
| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
vowels
|
|
| n.元音，元音字母( vowel的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
taut
|
|
| adj.拉紧的，绷紧的，紧张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
genial
|
|
| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
genially
|
|
| adv.亲切地，和蔼地；快活地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
meditated
|
|
| 深思，沉思，冥想( meditate的过去式和过去分词 )； 内心策划，考虑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
tantalizingly
|
|
| adv.…得令人着急，…到令人着急的程度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
whet
|
|
| v.磨快，刺激 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
fidelity
|
|
| n.忠诚，忠实；精确 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
tact
|
|
| n.机敏，圆滑，得体 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
subtlety
|
|
| n.微妙，敏锐，精巧；微妙之处，细微的区别 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
concealment
|
|
| n.隐藏, 掩盖，隐瞒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
elusive
|
|
| adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
temperament
|
|
| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
poise
|
|
| vt./vi. 平衡，保持平衡；n.泰然自若，自信 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
purely
|
|
| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
holders
|
|
| 支持物( holder的名词复数 )； 持有者； （支票等）持有人； 支托（或握持）…之物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
franchises
|
|
| n.（尤指选举议员的）选举权( franchise的名词复数 )；参政权；获特许权的商业机构（或服务）；（公司授予的）特许经销权v.给…以特许权，出售特许权( franchise的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
prospects
|
|
| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
reiterated
|
|
| 反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
strictly
|
|
| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
confidential
|
|
| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
scarlet
|
|
| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
cape
|
|
| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
maiden
|
|
| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
vitality
|
|
| n.活力，生命力，效力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |