The plan Cowperwood developed after a few days’ meditation will be
plain enough to any one who knows anything of commercial and financial
manipulation, but a dark secret to those who do not. In the first
place, the city treasurer was to use his (Cowperwood’s) office as a
bank of deposit. He was to turn over to him, actually, or set over to
his credit on the city’s books, subject to his order, certain amounts
of city loans—two hundred thousand dollars at first, since that was the
amount it was desired to raise quickly—and he would then go into the
market and see what could be done to have it brought to par. The city
treasurer was to ask leave of the stock exchange at once to have it
listed as a security. Cowperwood would then use his influence to have
this application acted upon quickly. Stener was then to dispose of all
city loan certificates through him, and him only. He was to allow him
to buy for the sinking-fund, supposedly, such amounts as he might have
to buy in order to keep the price up to par. To do this, once a
considerable number of the loan certificates had been unloaded on the
public, it might be necessary to buy back a great deal. However, these
would be sold again. The law concerning selling only at par would have
to be abrogated to this extent—i.e., that the wash sales and
preliminary sales would have to be considered no sales until par was
reached.
There was a subtle advantage here, as Cowperwood pointed out to Stener.
In the first place, since the certificates were going ultimately to
reach par anyway, there was no objection to Stener or any one else
buying low at the opening price and holding for a rise. Cowperwood
would be glad to carry him on his books for any amount, and he would
settle at the end of each month. He would not be asked to buy the
certificates outright. He could be carried on the books for a certain
reasonable margin, say ten points. The money was as good as made for
Stener now. In the next place, in buying for the sinking-fund it would
be possible to buy these certificates very cheap, for, having the new
and reserve issue entirely in his hands, Cowperwood could throw such
amounts as he wished into the market at such times as he wished to buy,
and consequently depress the market. Then he could buy, and, later, up
would go the price. Having the issues totally in his hands to boost or
depress the market as he wished, there was no reason why the city
should not ultimately get par for all its issues, and at the same time
considerable money be made out of the manufactured fluctuations. He,
Cowperwood, would be glad to make most of his profit that way. The city
should allow him his normal percentage on all his actual sales of
certificates for the city at par (he would have to have that in order
to keep straight with the stock exchange); but beyond that, and for all
the other necessary manipulative sales, of which there would be many,
he would depend on his knowledge of the stock market to reimburse him.
And if Stener wanted to speculate with him—well.
Dark as this transaction may seem to the uninitiated, it will appear
quite clear to those who know. Manipulative tricks have always been
worked in connection with stocks of which one man or one set of men has
had complete control. It was no different from what subsequently was
done with Erie, Standard Oil, Copper, Sugar, Wheat, and what not.
Cowperwood was one of the first and one of the youngest to see how it
could be done. When he first talked to Stener he was twenty-eight years
of age. When he last did business with him he was thirty-four.
The houses and the bank-front of Cowperwood & Co. had been proceeding
apace. The latter was early Florentine in its decorations with windows
which grew narrower as they approached the roof, and a door of wrought
iron set between delicately carved posts, and a straight lintel of
brownstone. It was low in height and distinguished in appearance. In
the center panel had been hammered a hand, delicately wrought, thin and
artistic, holding aloft a flaming brand. Ellsworth informed him that
this had formerly been a money-changer’s sign used in old Venice, the
significance of which had long been forgotten.
The interior was finished in highly-polished hardwood, stained in
imitation of the gray lichens which infest trees. Large sheets of
clear, beveled glass were used, some oval, some oblong, some square,
and some circular, following a given theory of eye movement. The
fixtures for the gas-jets were modeled after the early Roman
flame-brackets, and the office safe was made an ornament, raised on a
marble platform at the back of the office and lacquered a silver-gray,
with Cowperwood & Co. lettered on it in gold. One had a sense of
reserve and taste pervading the place, and yet it was also inestimably
prosperous, solid and assuring. Cowperwood, when he viewed it at its
completion, complimented Ellsworth cheerily. “I like this. It is really
beautiful. It will be a pleasure to work here. If those houses are
going to be anything like this, they will be perfect.”
“Wait till you see them. I think you will be pleased, Mr. Cowperwood. I
am taking especial pains with yours because it is smaller. It is really
easier to treat your father’s. But yours—” He went off into a
description of the entrance-hall, reception-room and parlor, which he
was arranging and decorating in such a way as to give an effect of size
and dignity not really conformable to the actual space.
And when the houses were finished, they were effective and
arresting—quite different from the conventional residences of the
street. They were separated by a space of twenty feet, laid out as
greensward. The architect had borrowed somewhat from the Tudor school,
yet not so elaborated as later became the style in many of the
residences in Philadelphia and elsewhere. The most striking features
were rather deep-recessed doorways under wide, low, slightly floriated
arches, and three projecting windows of rich form, one on the second
floor of Frank’s house, two on the facade of his father’s. There were
six gables showing on the front of the two houses, two on Frank’s and
four on his father’s. In the front of each house on the ground floor
was a recessed window unconnected with the recessed doorways, formed by
setting the inner external wall back from the outer face of the
building. This window looked out through an arched opening to the
street, and was protected by a dwarf parapet or balustrade. It was
possible to set potted vines and flowers there, which was later done,
giving a pleasant sense of greenery from the street, and to place a few
chairs there, which were reached via heavily barred French casements.
On the ground floor of each house was placed a conservatory of flowers,
facing each other, and in the yard, which was jointly used, a pool of
white marble eight feet in diameter, with a marble Cupid upon which
jets of water played. The yard which was enclosed by a high but pierced
wall of green-gray brick, especially burnt for the purpose the same
color as the granite of the house, and surmounted by a white marble
coping which was sown to grass and had a lovely, smooth, velvety
appearance. The two houses, as originally planned, were connected by a
low, green-columned pergola which could be enclosed in glass in winter.
The rooms, which were now slowly being decorated and furnished in
period styles were very significant in that they enlarged and
strengthened Frank Cowperwood’s idea of the world of art in general. It
was an enlightening and agreeable experience—one which made for
artistic and intellectual growth—to hear Ellsworth explain at length
the styles and types of architecture and furniture, the nature of woods
and ornaments employed, the qualities and peculiarities of hangings,
draperies, furniture panels, and door coverings. Ellsworth was a
student of decoration as well as of architecture, and interested in the
artistic taste of the American people, which he fancied would some day
have a splendid outcome. He was wearied to death of the prevalent
Romanesque composite combinations of country and suburban villa. The
time was ripe for something new. He scarcely knew what it would be; but
this that he had designed for Cowperwood and his father was at least
different, as he said, while at the same time being reserved, simple,
and pleasing. It was in marked contrast to the rest of the architecture
of the street. Cowperwood’s dining-room, reception-room, conservatory,
and butler’s pantry he had put on the first floor, together with the
general entry-hall, staircase, and coat-room under the stairs. For the
second floor he had reserved the library, general living-room, parlor,
and a small office for Cowperwood, together with a boudoir for Lillian,
connected with a dressing-room and bath.
On the third floor, neatly divided and accommodated with baths and
dressing-rooms, were the nursery, the servants’ quarters, and several
guest-chambers.
Ellsworth showed Cowperwood books of designs containing furniture,
hangings, etageres, cabinets, pedestals, and some exquisite piano
forms. He discussed woods with him—rosewood, mahogany, walnut, English
oak, bird’s-eye maple, and the manufactured effects such as ormolu,
marquetry, and Boule, or buhl. He explained the latter—how difficult it
was to produce, how unsuitable it was in some respects for this
climate, the brass and tortoise-shell inlay coming to swell with the
heat or damp, and so bulging or breaking. He told of the difficulties
and disadvantages of certain finishes, but finally recommended ormolu
furniture for the reception room, medallion tapestry for the parlor,
French renaissance for the dining-room and library, and bird’s-eye
maple (dyed blue in one instance, and left its natural color in
another) and a rather lightly constructed and daintily carved walnut
for the other rooms. The hangings, wall-paper, and floor coverings were
to harmonize—not match—and the piano and music-cabinet for the parlor,
as well as the etagere, cabinets, and pedestals for the
reception-rooms, were to be of buhl or marquetry, if Frank cared to
stand the expense.
Ellsworth advised a triangular piano—the square shapes were so
inexpressibly wearisome to the initiated. Cowperwood listened
fascinated. He foresaw a home which would be chaste, soothing, and
delightful to look upon. If he hung pictures, gilt frames were to be
the setting, large and deep; and if he wished a picture-gallery, the
library could be converted into that, and the general living-room,
which lay between the library and the parlor on the second-floor, could
be turned into a combination library and living-room. This was
eventually done; but not until his taste for pictures had considerably
advanced.
It was now that he began to take a keen interest in objects of art,
pictures, bronzes, little carvings and figurines, for his cabinets,
pedestals, tables, and etageres. Philadelphia did not offer much that
was distinguished in this realm—certainly not in the open market. There
were many private houses which were enriched by travel; but his
connection with the best families was as yet small. There were then two
famous American sculptors, Powers and Hosmer, of whose work he had
examples; but Ellsworth told him that they were not the last word in
sculpture and that he should look into the merits of the ancients. He
finally secured a head of David, by Thorwaldsen, which delighted him,
and some landscapes by Hunt, Sully, and Hart, which seemed somewhat in
the spirit of his new world.
The effect of a house of this character on its owner is unmistakable.
We think we are individual, separate, above houses and material objects
generally; but there is a subtle connection which makes them reflect us
quite as much as we reflect them. They lend dignity, subtlety, force,
each to the other, and what beauty, or lack of it, there is, is shot
back and forth from one to the other as a shuttle in a loom, weaving,
weaving. Cut the thread, separate a man from that which is rightfully
his own, characteristic of him, and you have a peculiar figure, half
success, half failure, much as a spider without its web, which will
never be its whole self again until all its dignities and emoluments
are restored.
The sight of his new house going up made Cowperwood feel of more weight
in the world, and the possession of his suddenly achieved connection
with the city treasurer was as though a wide door had been thrown open
to the Elysian fields of opportunity. He rode about the city those days
behind a team of spirited bays, whose glossy hides and metaled harness
bespoke the watchful care of hostler and coachman. Ellsworth was
building an attractive stable in the little side street back of the
houses, for the joint use of both families. He told Mrs. Cowperwood
that he intended to buy her a victoria—as the low, open, four-wheeled
coach was then known—as soon as they were well settled in their new
home, and that they were to go out more. There was some talk about the
value of entertaining—that he would have to reach out socially for
certain individuals who were not now known to him. Together with Anna,
his sister, and his two brothers, Joseph and Edward, they could use the
two houses jointly. There was no reason why Anna should not make a
splendid match. Joe and Ed might marry well, since they were not
destined to set the world on fire in commerce. At least it would not
hurt them to try.
“Don’t you think you will like that?” he asked his wife, referring to
his plans for entertaining.
She smiled wanly. “I suppose so,” she said.