THE MAN OF MONEY
JUST inside the doorway Field made his final plea. In his impetuous
earnestness he seized Ellen’s arm with violence.
“Please, Ellen, for the love of heaven,” he begged, “don’t lower
yourself by speaking to that insufferable blackguard.”
She withdrew her arm with a touch of resentment.
“Nonsense, Randy, he is my guest.”
“He came without an invitation!”
“Oh, no, dear boy, he reads the papers--at least he owns one. My
announcement contained a welcome to every thoughtful man and woman in
New York. Besides, I’m consumed just now with curiosity to see what he
is really like at close range.”
“But, Ellen, I’m madly in love with you,” Field interrupted; “I won’t
stand for it!”
The tall figure grew a bit taller as her eyes met his.
“I’m afraid you’ll have to stand it,” she said quietly. “I’m not in
love with you, and if I were I wouldn’t take orders from you. Remember,
dear boy, that I live in the big world--a man’s world. I’m going to
meet and speak to any human being who interests me. Run along now and
don’t annoy me.”
Field flung himself suddenly into the crowd and disappeared before she
had finished speaking.
Lucy Sheldon rushed to meet her.
“Where on earth have you been?” she cried.
“On the roof listening to Randy’s fool love-making,” was the frank
reply.
“Well, you’re fined for disorderly conduct. The caterer is waiting your
orders to announce the buffet dinner.”
Ellen drew up both hands in disgust.
“Tell him to go ahead--what did I hire him for?”
Lucy waved the signal to the caterer, who proceeded to serve the dinner
picnic fashion from the sideboard while his minions filled the glasses
from the huge punch bowl on the center table.
“And what’s more important,” Lucy continued in a stage whisper, “you
have a very distinguished guest here to-night who is vainly seeking an
introduction to his hostess.”
“You mean Edwin Brown?”
“Of course, silly--next to you he’s the sensation of the evening. May I
introduce him now?”
Ellen suddenly faced her friend.
“Lucy Sheldon, do you mean to tell me that you know that man?”
“And why not?”
“You--the demure little ingenue defender of the home and champion of
all the old-fashioned virtues in women?”
“Certainly--he’s one of my best friends--gave me my first job on a
newspaper in New York and gave me the letter to Holt, his big rival,
that got my permanent job--what of it?”
The ugly thought that crept into Ellen’s mind for a moment was
dismissed with a laugh.
“Oh, nothing, dear; you’re too innocent for this world. I’ve told you
that before, I think.”
“You’ll meet him now?”
“Certainly, I’m curious to know him.”
A minute later she returned with Brown. The meeting was a distinct
shock to Ellen West. A man of more striking and charming appearance she
had never met. The shock upset her preconceived ideas of the typical
flesh-hunter of whom she had heard much and read more. He walked with
an easy swing that provoked comradeship. His tall, finely moulded
figure suggested strength and poise of character. The distinctly
handsome face wore a winning smile that refused to come off in the
presence of a beautiful woman. His clothes fitted to perfection, yet
left no suggestion of fine dress. Good-natured, jovial, conscious of
power, but without the slightest trace of insolence, he extended his
hand with a simple speech that disarmed her.
“I really must beg your pardon, Miss West, for this intrusion to-night,
but I was so anxious to meet you I couldn’t resist the temptation to
accept your democratic announcement--if for no other reason than to
teach you how dangerous such an innovation might be--am I forgiven?”
“There is nothing to forgive, I assure you. I meant every word of my
democratic creed in that invitation.”
“Then I shall be very happy to-night,” he replied, bending low.
“But why this overwhelming desire to meet me personally?” Ellen asked
with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. “I’ve heard that your tastes
ran to the ingenue type!”
He laughed heartily but made no protest.
“It may be true. I never dispute the gossips. I’m more honored by their
attentions than I deserve. Whatever trend a man’s taste may have taken
in the past you will admit that a new woman has arrived.”
“And you have come to appraise her?”
“Exactly. And I don’t mind telling you that my impressions are
overwhelmingly favorable.”
Ellen smiled at his boyish emphasis and evident sincerity.
“Thank you!” she said with a touch of irony.
“I mean it--and mind you, these impressions had to come along some
pretty rough road before they settled. You know a man has been taught
from childhood to trail the ‘nice’ girls. You’re a very disturbing
young woman. You do a lot of things that make a fellow sit up and take
notice.”
“For instance?”
He looked at her with frank admiration, a smile twinkling about the
corners of his steel grey eyes, and deliberately swept the room
searching for a way out.
“Could we get away from the crowd?” he asked appealingly.
She threw him a quick look of surprise as he went on eagerly:
“Would you honor me with a few minutes’ quiet talk if it’s not asking
too much? The animals are all feeding now. They won’t miss you.”
She hesitated and said:
“Certainly, come up on my roof. I’ve a little nook of a garden up
there.”
“Splendid!” he whispered.
She led him through the main doorway into the dimly lighted hall and
up the narrow stairs to the identical seat beside the fountain on which
she had chatted with Field twenty minutes before.
She repressed a laugh at the expense of mere man. She was studying the
animal at close range. It had just dawned on her--the full significance
of Field’s desperate love-making, of Bridges’ endless sighs, of
Brown’s audacity--they had each read into her final article on the
“Free Alliance as a Substitute for Marriage” an invitation to make
the personal experiment. The driveling idiots--as if she must thus
advertise for a man!
She sat down on the iron seat, her nerves quivering with suppressed
rage. Brown walked to the edge of the little garden, looked across the
moonlit square toward the Metropolitan tower and up at the star-lit
sky. The movement enabled him to glance into every nook and corner of
the place and make sure that they were alone.
Ellen’s keen eye had caught the side glances.
“How quiet and beautiful it is up here!” he exclaimed. “Your own idea
to fix this old roof into a garden, I’ll bet?”
“Yes, I write here when the weather’s fine,” she answered.
He drew a chair in front of her and threw his tall figure into it with
an easy swinging grace and looked for a moment at her with deliberate
admiration.
“Would it surprise you, Miss West,” he began slowly, “if I told you
that my call was made to-night with the most serious intentions?”
“Very much,” she answered emphatically.
“It’s true,” he went on musingly. “You have not only interested me
enormously as a passing sensation----”
“Passing is good!” she interrupted.
“I mean, of course, from the newspaper point of view,” he apologized,
“but your personality, which seems to contradict your theories, has
interested me far more.”
“Really?”
“Honestly.”
“And we have known each other just fifteen minutes.”
He shook his head in protest.
“Pardon me. I have known you for more than a year.”
Ellen frowned.
“I don’t get the point of your joke,” she answered drily.
“No joke, I assure you,” he went on briskly. “From the day I heard you
address a crowd in Union Square--a little more than a year ago--I have
read every line that you have written and attended every meeting at
which you have spoken.”
“Incognito?”
“Certainly not. This is a big village, Miss West. When I dismiss my car
I go where I please and do as I please. The crowd doesn’t know or care
who I am. You have been the most puzzling study of the past year. When
I see you sway a throng of eager listeners, discussing the history of
suffrage and the abstract principles of democracy, there’s something
cold and steel-like in you that repels and yet provokes the deepest
interest. I’ve heard you discuss the management of maternity hospitals,
the sexual meaning of the dance, the segregation of the unfit, the
improvement of the breed of men by proper mating and the white slave
traffic with the cold precision of a demonstrator of anatomy pointing
out the different nerves and muscles of the human body in a dissecting
room.”
“And still your interest held?” she asked.
“The funny part is that it grew in intensity. One minute I’ve thought
you splendid. The next that you were absurd. I’ll swear you were
both, and yet always alive--alive to your finger tips with a power to
communicate the sense of boundless vitality to others. You’ve drawn and
held me as a magnet. I couldn’t keep away from you----”
He leaned forward and gazed at her intently.
“And so I’m here to-night.”
“I am honored, I assure you,” she said with a touch of sarcasm.
“To make myself perfectly plain, Miss West,” he went on evenly, “I love
you.”
Ellen laughed until he began to flush with wounded pride. She lifted
her rounded arms above her head and laughed again.
He waited for her to speak.
“And I am to believe, of course, that I am the first to whom you have
ever spoken those three magic words?”
“On the other hand,” he protested seriously, “I scorn so cheap a lie.
To be honest with you, women have been my chief interest in life. I’ve
never wasted a minute with them. I’ve always gotten the full value of
both my time and my money. I’ve lost thousands in bad investments; I’ve
lost hundreds of thousands in Wall Street crazy speculations; I’ve lost
thousands and months of life fooling with vanities; I’ve nothing to
show for it--but the women I have known and loved----”
He paused, smiled and shook his handsome head.
“They have made life worth living. And because of this I can
truthfully say that I think our planet a nice place on which to tarry.”
“At least you have the courage of your convictions,” Ellen observed
drily.
“You have been a revelation to me in the possibilities of a higher and
more beautiful womanhood.”
She leaned forward, fixed him with her eyes and spoke with intensity.
“And how much will you give for me?”
He hesitated and fumbled the black-braided watch guard which circled
his neck, glanced at her uneasily, flushed and was silent.
“How much?” she insisted sternly.
He studied her and answered deliberately.
“A house on Fifth Avenue, a country place, and a settlement of
twenty-five thousand a year.”
The audacity and magnificence of his offer stunned her.
There could be no doubt about his meaning. There could be no doubt
about his sincerity. His finely shaped hands were trembling and his
voice quivered with excitement.
Ellen drew a deep breath, folded her arms and studied his face. He had
not attempted to touch her hand or suggest the slightest liberty. His
frankness and the poise with which he had announced his Epicurean code
of morals had appealed to her imagination.
He straightened his tall figure and waited for her to speak. A long
silence followed which he broke at last in low tones.
“All right; we’ll make it fifty thousand a year, if you say the word?”
Another silence.
When Ellen spoke at last there were tears in her voice as well as in
her eyes.
“It would be silly for me to flare up and say that you have insulted
me. As a matter of fact you have not. You have paid me the highest
compliment you know how to pay a woman. But can’t you see that it is
just this condition of chattel slavery out of which I am struggling
to lift women? For centuries she has been bought and paid for by man,
her master. I have achieved my independence, thank God. Otherwise, I’m
honest enough to tell you that your offer might have dazzled me. I
don’t see how the average woman who loves luxury could resist such a
bid----”
She paused and laughed softly.
“From such a bidder.”
Brown moved in protest.
“Now wait a minute--you mustn’t joke. We’ve gotten beyond that. We’re
both in earnest. If I’ve made a mistake, I’ll get right. I’ve taken
you at your word. You hate conventional marriage?”
“Yes.”
“That’s why I’ve offered you a free alliance which you could end at a
moment’s notice and yet maintain your position of wealth and all that
power means. You refuse?”
“I scorn it.”
“All right. Will you marry me?”
“Marry--you?”
“And why not?”
“What would you do with your other establishments?”
“You know that I have them?”
“I’m sure of it.”
He pursed his lips, twisted his fingers with nervous cruelty and
breathed deeply.
“You’re not just torturing me, are you?” he asked.
“I want to see how deeply you are in earnest,” she fenced.
“You know that I’m in earnest,” he protested.
Another silence followed.
“I think you are,” she said finally. “Otherwise you wouldn’t hesitate
about giving up your other girls.”
“You see I had not faced this sort of possibility when I came here
to-night. I didn’t think you were the marrying kind.”
“And yet if you have read my work you must know that the marriage I
seek is the highest ideal relation of two free men and women. As much
higher than conventional marriage as heaven is above hell.”
“But you would have it free, wouldn’t you?”
“Absolutely.”
“Then wouldn’t you let me see one girl I know occasionally for a short
time, if I really wished it? I’m fond of her; she didn’t believe that
I’d ever marry. And it wouldn’t be quite the square thing to throw her
overboard without a word--I’ll end it in a month.”
“You can see as many as you like.”
“Yes, but I want you. I must have you. I never wanted anything quite
so desperately and earnestly in my life and I’ll pay the price if I
must--anything you demand--will you marry me?”
“I’m not for sale at any price. When I find the man I love, I shall
give myself, not sell.”
“You won’t marry me?” he asked in astonishment.
“No.”
He rose quickly.
“It’s incredible!” he cried impatiently. “Of course I’m spoiled. But
this is the first big jolt of my life.”
“You’ll recover.”
“Of course, I’ve got to--but look here----”
He seated himself and touched her arm with the gentlest sort of appeal.
“You’ll give me a chance with the other fellows to win your love?”
“And why not?” she answered archly. “You’re really a most agreeable
young man now that I’ve seen you at close range. I’ve been wondering
why a man of your fine body and mind should waste his talents in
senseless dissipation?”
“That’s a fact, isn’t it? Why don’t you reform me?”
Ellen laughed.
“It doesn’t appeal to me. I’ve more important work to do.”
“I’d try to make the job agreeable,” he urged. “Honestly I would.”
Ellen rose without reply. He knew that further words would be wasted
and followed her toward the stairway in silence.
As they were about to enter the door opening on the stairs he said in
boyish tones:
“Just one little favor before you disappear in that mob.”
She turned toward him.
“Certainly. What is it?”
“You have the most exquisitely beautiful hand I have ever seen. In
remembrance of what I’ve said to you to-night, may I kiss it?”
Ellen gazed at him in surprise until he flushed with embarrassment.
“You are so sentimental.”
“I confess it.”
She extended her hand, he touched it with his own, bent and kissed the
tips of her fingers.
“I had no idea you could be so silly,” she said lightly.
“Thank you,” he gravely answered.
As they entered the throng below, Lucy Sheldon met her at the door.
“If Mr. Brown will excuse you now----”
Brown leaned close to the little woman and whispered:
“Thank you, Mrs. Sheldon. I’m your debtor for life for a beautiful
evening.”
With a nod to Ellen he passed on into the crowd.
“Where on earth have you been?” Lucy wailed.
“On the roof again.”
“At least you escaped sentimental nonsense this time.”
“I escaped,” Ellen admitted.
“I’ve the surprise of your life in store for you,” she whispered. “The
man of your dreams is here.”
Ellen smiled indulgently.
“Lead me to him. The sight will be refreshing.”
Lucy lifted her arm high above her head and waved to a dark, serious
young fellow who stood leaning lazily against a balcony column.
He nodded in answer and hurried across the room.
Ellen heard his name in a sort of trance. The sight of his strong manly
face and slender wiry figure had stirred suddenly the memories of
childhood in Maryland. This boy looked like an old playmate except that
he was dark and the boy of her childhood was blonde. Where had she seen
him?
“This is my reckless nephew, Mr. Ralph Manning, who, against my advice,
has left a good position in the South to butt into metropolitan
journalism.”
He took Ellen’s outstretched hand, speaking in a rich Southern voice.
“And why shouldn’t I, Miss West? If a little lorn widow like my Aunt
can butt into New York and make her fortune, why can’t a husky young
man who is not afraid of hard work do the same?”
She made a conventional reply and continued to study the lines of
Manning’s face. Something in the low tones of his voice caught her
heart with a queer grip.