第102章

"Don't you see,"she continued pleadingly,"don't you see that we are growing apart?That's the only reason I said what I did.It isn't that I don't trust you,that I don't want you to have your work,that I demand all of you.I know a woman can't ask that,--can't have it.But if you would only give me--give the children just a little,if I could feel that we meant something to you and that this other wasn't gradually becoming everything,wasn't absorbing you more and more,killing the best part of you.It's poisoning our marriage,it's poisoning all your relationships."In that appeal the real Maude,the Maude of the early days of our marriage flashed forth again so vividly that I was taken aback.Iunderstood that she had had herself under control,had worn a mask--a mask I had forced on her;and the revelation of the continued existence of that other Maude was profoundly disturbing.Was it true,as she said,that my absorption in the great game of modern business,in the modern American philosophy it implied was poisoning my marriage?or was it that my marriage had failed to satisfy and absorb me?I was touched--but sentimentally touched:I felt that this was a situation that ought to touch me;I didn't wish to face it,as usual:I couldn't acknowledge to myself that anything was really wrong...I patted her on the shoulder,Ibent over and kissed her.

"A man in my position can't altogether choose just how busy he will be,"I said smiling."Matters are thrust upon me which I have to accept,and I can't help thinking about some of them when I come home.But we'll go off for a real vacation soon,Maude,to Europe--and take the children.""Oh,I hope so,"she said.

From this time on,as may be supposed,our intercourse with both the Blackwoods began to grow less frequent,although Maude continued to see a great deal of Lucia;and when we did dine in their company,or they with us,it was quite noticeable that their former raillery was suppressed.

Even Tom had ceased to refer to me as the young Napoleon of the Law:he clung to me,but he too kept silent on the subject of business.Maude of course must have noticed this,must have sensed the change of atmosphere,have known that the Blackwoods,at least,were maintaining appearances for her sake.She did not speak to me of the change,nor I to her;but when I thought of her silence,it was to suspect that she was weighing the question which had led up to the difference between Perry and me,and I had a suspicion that the fact that I was her husband would not affect her ultimate decision.This faculty of hers of thinking things out instead of accepting my views and decisions was,as the saying goes,getting a little "on my nerves":that she of all women should have developed it was a recurring and unpleasant surprise.I began at times to pity myself a little,to feel the need of sympathetic companionship--feminine companionship....

I shall not go into the details of the procurement of what became known as the Riverside Franchise.In spite of the Maplewood residents,of the City Improvement League and individual protests,we obtained it with absurd ease.Indeed Perry Blackwood himself appeared before the Public Utilities Committee of the Board.of Aldermen,anal vas listened to with deference and gravity while he discoursed on the defacement of a beautiful boulevard to satisfy the greed of certain private individuals.

Mr.Otto Bitter and myself,who appeared for the petitioners,had a similar reception.That struggle was a tempest in a tea-pot.The reformer raged,but he was feeble in those days,and the great public believed what it read in the respectable newspapers.In Mr.Judah B.

Tallant's newspaper,for instance,the Morning Era,there were semi-playful editorials about "obstructionists."Mr.Perry Blackwood was a well-meaning,able gentleman of an old family,etc.,but with a sentiment for horse-cars.The Era published also the resolutions which (with interesting spontaneity!)had been passed by our Board of Trade and Chamber of Commerce and other influential bodies in favour of the franchise;the idea--unknown to the public--of Mr.Hugh Paret,who wrote drafts of the resolutions and suggested privately to Mr.Leonard Dickinson that a little enthusiasm from these organizations might be helpful.Mr.Dickinson accepted the suggestion eagerly,wondering why he hadn't thought of it himself.The resolutions carried some weight with a public that did not know its right hand from its left.

After fitting deliberation,one evening in February the Board of Aldermen met and granted the franchise.Not unanimously,oh,no!Mr.Jason was not so simple as that!No further visits to Monahan's saloon on my part,in this connection were necessary;but Mr.Otto Bitter met me one day in the hotel with a significant message from the boss.

"It's all fixed,"he informed me."Murphy and Scott and Ottheimer and Grady and Loth are the decoys.You understand?""I think I gather your meaning,"I said.

Mr.Bitter smiled by pulling down one corner of a crooked mouth.