i
some wise man has said that a man changes entirely each seven years of his life, becoming wholly different in every portion, particle and atom of his bodily bulk and losing altogether what previously were the elements, parts, portions or constituent molecules which made himself. so much as to the physical body. in respect of epochal changes in a man's character we may wholly approve the dictum of the philosopher, though perhaps not agreeing to any specific seven-years period. thus, in the case of john rawn, the first stage of his career, in which he lived without any very great alteration, occupied some seven and forty years. yet it was a wholly different john rawn who, at forty-eight, found himself seated at the vast and shining desk of the president of the international power company, in the city of chicago. the past was so far behind him that he could not with the utmost mental striving reconstruct the picture of it. he was a wholly new, distinct and different man. the old and deadly days were gone. there never had been such a place as kelly row. fate had performed its miracle. here was john rawn, where alone he ever could have belonged—in a place of power.
surrounded by a delicious sense of his own fitness and competence, smug, urbane, well-clad, basking in the balmy glow of his own glory, exulting in his own proved ability to conquer fate, john rawn, on his first day as chief executive of the international power company, paused for a time and leaned back in his chair, giving himself over to luxurious imaginings.
ii
there is no peculiar delight in owning power unless one may exercise that power. there being no dog present which he might kick out of the way, john rawn essayed other divertisements. the harness of business system was still rather new to him, at least the harness which pertains to this stage of a business system. he was happily unaware that he was a lay figure here, with few actual duties beyond those of looking impressive—happily ignorant that shrewder and more skilled minds than his had seen to it that his official duties should be few and well hedged about. he had not as yet ever worked at a desk blessed with a row of push buttons, and was ignorant as yet, and very naturally, in regard to the particular function of each of these several buttons whose mother of pearl faces now confronted him. resolving to take them seriatim, he pushed the one farthest to the right; which, as it chanced, was the one arranged to call to him his personal stenographer.
the door opened silently. john rawn, looked up and saw standing before him a young woman whom he had never seen before. "i beg pardon, madam," said he, half rising. "i didn't know you were there. how did—is there anything i can do for you?"
"i am the stenographer assigned for your work, mr. rawn, until you shall have concluded your own arrangements in the office," answered the young woman. her voice was even and well controlled, her enunciation perfect. she was not in the least confused over this contre-temps, else had the self-restraint not to notice it. she stood easily, note-book in hand, with no fidgeting, in such fashion that one must at once have classified her as a well-poised human being.
or, again, one might have said that here was a very beautiful human creature. she was almost tall, certainly and wholly shapely; young, but fully and adequately feminine; womanly indeed in every well curved line. her hands and feet, her arms—the latter now disclosed by half sleeves—all were of good modeling. her hair, piled up in rather high grecian coiffure and confined by a bandeau of gold-brocaded ribbon, was perhaps just in the least startling. but you might not have noticed that with disapproval had you seen the shining excellence of the hair itself, brown, either dark or blonde as the light had it. her forehead was oval, her chin also oval, the curve of the cheek running gently into the chin like the bow moulding of a racing yacht. her teeth were even and brilliant, her lips well colored, her eyes large and just a trifle full, with thin lids, and in color blue; as you might have said with hesitation, just as you might have been uncertain regarding the blondness of her hair. over the eyes the brows were straight, brown, well-defined. her nose—since one must particularize in all such intimate matters—was a trifle thin, high in the bridge; thus completing what lacked, if anything, to convey the aspect of a woman aristocratic, reserved and dignified.
iii
virginia delaware, mr. rawn's personal stenographer, was born the daughter of a st. louis baker. she had, however, passed through that epoch of her development and by some means best known to herself and her family, had attained a good education, ended by three years in a young ladies' finishing school in the east. by what process of reasoning she had considered that this was the proper field for her ambitions, is something which need not concern us. she was here; and as she stood thus, easy, beautiful, competent, she was as much a new and different virginia delaware from the virginia delaware of seven years earlier date as was this new john rawn different from the old. the world moves. especially as to american girls does it move.
"i am the stenographer assigned to you, mr. rawn, until you shall have concluded your own arrangements." she spoke very quietly. rawn recovered himself quickly.
"i was just about to say," he went on, "that i intended to have the boy get my car ready. would you tell him to have it at the door in fifteen minutes? then come back. there are one or two little letters."
a few moments later the young woman was seated at a small table near the end of the desk. without any nervousness she awaited his pleasure.
"i'll trouble you for that newspaper, if you don't mind, miss—?"
"miss delaware."
"yes, miss delaware. thank you!"
he glanced down the columns of the market reports. "take this," he said, turning to the young woman.
"chandler and brown, brokers, city. dear sirs: sell me two hundred triangle rubber at three forty. yours truly."
she was up with him before he had finished his first official act. he turned again:
"kitter, moultrie & johnson, bakersfield, california. gents: cinch all the guatemala shares you can at eight cents and draw on me if you need any money. yours truly."
mr. rawn could not think of anything else. few details had been allowed to reach his desk. he was the last sieve in a really well-arranged series of business screens. but even in this brief test he had a feeling that the new stenographer would prove efficient. in three or four minutes more he was yet better assured of that fact; for before he could find his coat and hat she entered gently and laid the completed letters on his desk:
"messrs. chandler and brown, 723 exchange building, chicago: gentlemen: please sell for my account two hundred (200) shares triangle rubber, at three hundred and forty dollars ($340) or the market, obliging, yours very truly."
"messrs kitter, moultrie & johnson, bakersfield, california. gentlemen: please buy for my account all the guatemala oil which you can pick up at eight cents (8c). you are at liberty to draw on me as you require funds. allow two points margin. yours very truly."
"very good," said mr. rawn. a slight perspiration stood on his forehead. the young woman silently disappeared. "two points!" said mr. rawn. "by jove!"
iv
mr. rawn remained well assured of several things. first, that he was going to make sixty-eight thousand dollars out of the triangle rubber shares, which had been given him practically as a present, or as "bonus," or as tribute, by standley and ackerman and their friends at the inception of the international power company; second, that he might perhaps make a quarter of a million out of his inside knowledge derived from these same sources, regarding plans in guatemala oil; third, that his new stenographer seemed to have a good head, and was not apt to be forward.
whereupon, having concluded his first wearying day's labor, mr. rawn donned his well-cut overcoat and shining top hat, and with much dignity passed out the private door of his office. the elevator was crowded with common people, among them, several persons of the lower classes. mr. rawn felt that the president of a great corporation like international power ought by all rights to have an elevator of his own. this conviction of the injustice wrought upon presidents was so borne in upon him that, when he stepped up to the long and shining car which the chauffeur held at the curb, his face bore a severe frown and his lower lip protruded somewhat. feeling thus, he rebuked the chauffeur, who touched his hat.
"you kept me waiting!" said john rawn, glowering. "i wait for no one."
the chauffeur touched his hat again. "very good, sir. if you please, where shall i drive?"
"take me to the national union club," growled mr. rawn. already it may easily be seen that one of mr. rawn's notions of impressing the world with his importance was to be rude to his servants—a not infrequent device among our american great folk.
the chauffeur touched his hat once more and sprang to his seat after closing the door of the car. in a few minutes mr. rawn was deposited at the wide stairway of one of the most estimable clubs of the city; where his name had been proposed by members of such standing in the railway and industrial world that the membership committee felt but one course open to them.
a boy took his hat and coat, following him presently with a check into a wide room, well furnished with great chairs and small tables. rawn stood somewhat hesitant. he knew almost nobody. moreover, his club frightened him, for it was his first, and it differed largely from kelly row. a fat man in one group gathered about a small table recognized him and came forward to shake his hand. "join us, mr. rawn?" he asked. some introductions followed, then another question, relative to the immediate business in hand.
"you may bring me a rossington," said mr. rawn, with dignity, "but please do not have too much orange peel in it." he spread his coat tails with perhaps unnecessary wideness as he pushed back into the great chair. you or i might not have had precisely his air in precisely these surroundings, but john rawn had methods of his own.
"i've never liked too much orange peel," said he gravely, putting the tips of his fingers together. "the last time, i thought they had just a trace too much. a suspicion is all i ever cared for."
they listened to him with respect. as a matter of fact, mr. rawn had never tasted alcoholic beverages of any sort whatever until within the year last past. all the better for his physique, as perhaps one might have said after a glance at these pudgier forms adjacent to him now. all the better, too, for his nerves. but it is not always the case that the beginner in alcohol can drink less than one of ancient acquaintance therewith; the reverse is often true. in john rawn's system strong drink produced only a somber glow, a confident enlargement of his belief in his own powers. it never brought levity, mirth, flippancy into his demeanor.
v
his acquaintances saw now in mr. rawn, the last member received into their august affiliations, a man of breeding, long used to good things in life, and trained to a nice discrimination. perhaps the fact that he was the new president of the new international power company, a concern capitalized at many millions and reputed to have one of the best things going, may have brought added respect to the attitude of some of those who sat about the little table. thus, one passed a gold cigarette-box; yet another proffered selections from divers cigars, of the best the club could provide; which was held thereabouts to be the best that any club could provide.
"i was just telling mason, here, when you came in, rawn," said the large man who had risen to greet him, "that at last it looks as though that jumping-jack, roosevelt, was down and out for good. i always said he'd get his before long. good god! when you stop to think about it, hasn't he been a menace to the prosperity of this country?"
"he certainly has been, the everlasting butter-in," ventured a by-sitter.
"in my belief," said rawn solemnly, "he hasn't the ghost of a show for the nomination—not the ghost of a show!"
"certainly not," assented the large man. "he's been politically repudiated in his own state and city for years, and now it's just soaking into the heads of western men that he won't do. he's been the old man of the sea on all kinds of business development. in my belief, half the labor troubles in this country are traceable to him—anyhow to him and the confounded newspapers that keep stirring things up. progress! if these progressives had their way, i reckon we'd all be progressing backwards, that's where we'd be. look at all these new men, too! it makes me sick to think how our senate is changing." he spoke of "our" senate with a fine proprietary air.
"but there is talk that roosevelt'll run again," said another speaker, reaching for his second cocktail.
"no chance!" said the large man, who had had his second. "this whole fool movement for unsettling business is going to come to an end. there never was a time when unsuccessful people were not discontented. let the people growl if they like. they haven't got any reason. talk's cheap. let 'em talk."
"money talks best," ventured john rawn oracularly, nodding his head. the others solemnly assented to this very original proposition.
"the business of this country," went on the large man, "has got nothing to do with teddy's ten commandments."
"i have no doubt," said john rawn, "that mr. roosevelt has, as you say, been the most disturbing cause in the unsettling of labor conditions all over the country. i've been following his speeches. he's always putting out that same old foolish doctrine about the equality of mankind—a doctrine exploded long ago. it's nothing short of criminal to talk that way to the lower classes to-day—it only makes them more unhappy. what's the use in misleading the laboring man and making him think he's going to get something he can't get? i tell you, i believe that at heart roosevelt is a socialist. anyhow, he's a stumbling-block to the progress of this republic. why, in our own factory—"
"you're right," interrupted the first speaker. "absolutely right. that sort of talk means ruin to the country. i'd like to know what all the men that make up these labor unions would do if we were to shut down all the mills and factories and offices—where'd they get any place to work if we didn't give it to them? yet they bite the very hand that feeds them."
"it sometimes looks as though we'd lost almost the whole season's work in the senate," gloomily contributed another of the group. "we've got the tariff framed up to suit us, but how long will it last? besides, what's the use of a tariff, if we're going to have strikes that practically are riots and revolutions, all over the country? our laboring men are not willing to work. that's the trouble, i tell you—all this foolishness about the brotherhood of man. oh, hell!"
"you have precisely my attitude, my friend," said john rawn, turning to him gravely. "precisely. i have always said so."
vi
they all nodded now gravely as they sipped their second or third cocktails. here and there a face grew more flushed, a tongue more fluent. the large man, colder headed, presently turned to mr. rawn.
"by the way, rawn," said he, "i hear it around the street all the time that you've got about the best thing there is going—this international power. what's the meaning of all this talk, anyhow? it's leaking out that you're going to revolutionize the business world with all this power-producing scheme of yours. some crazy newspaper child got lit up the other day and printed a fake story about your plan of running wires from the river over to chicago! anything in that?—but of course there isn't."
"not as you state it," said john rawn. "we have a very desirable proposition, however, in our belief."
—"say yes!" broke in the smaller man across the table. "but it looks like you've got the ark of the covenant concealed, you keep it so close. none of the stock seems to get out. you haven't listed anything, and nobody can guess within a million dollars what a share is worth."
"no," said john rawn sententiously, "you couldn't. i couldn't, myself. i couldn't yet guess large enough."
"but they tell me it's reviving commerce all up and down the river—in the old towns."
mr. rawn nodded assentingly, smiling.
"newspaper story was that there was going to be some fly-by-night, over-all, free-for-all wireless transmission, and all that! i say, that was deuced good market work, wasn't it! we all want in on that killing when it comes. but how are we going to get in on the killing if there isn't any stock to be had, and if it isn't listed so the public can be got in?"
"standley and ackerman got the lion's share," grumbled the large man, explanatorily.
"did they?" smiled john rawn, showing his teeth a trifle.
"well, of course that's the talk—i don't know anything about how the facts are. but when the time comes, let us in."
"certainly," said rawn easily. "but we're not saying much just yet, of course. just beginning."
"but now, was there anything in that crazy fool's newspaper story?"
"we're working on that idea," rawn admitted, still smiling.
vii
they threw themselves back in their chairs and joined in a burst of laughter. "you're a wonder, rawn!" said the large man admiringly.
the second cocktail had served to steady john rawn. "why?" he inquired evenly.
"why, according to that story, every one of us manufacturers would be put out of business. we'd literally have to come and feed from your hand when we wanted power, according to that."
"it would figure that way on one basis," admitted rawn. "that would be something, wouldn't it? almost rather."
"almost rather!" repeated the small man. "i say, that's pretty good, isn't it? well now, i'll tell you what; we'd almost rather you'd let us in on the ground floor, m'friend! no more coal bills, no more walking delegates, no more strikes, no more roosevelt 'n lafol't! just touch button. too bad, rawn, you didn't go into fiction yourself—it must have been you 'nvented that newspaper story, o' course."
"you have another guess," said john rawn. "but you haven't guessed big enough yet. i told you, i myself couldn't guess big enough."
the large man laughed, reached into his pocket and handed out a bunch of keys. "take 'em along," said he. "i might as well give you the key to my office, also to my home—and maybe one or two others." some smiled at this last remark.
"my keys against yours," said john rawn keenly. "you can take everything i've got if the time doesn't come when our company will do everything you're laughing at now. but we're not after our friends. why couldn't we get together—and together get the public?"
"fine! now you converse," smiled the large man.
"i don't deny i've got an idea up my sleeve, and have had," continued rawn. "i don't deny that we may make some tremendous changes in business methods. when you tell me we can't do these things, that my idea won't make good, and all that, why, you almost make me talk. not that i'm a talking man. but international power isn't after its friends.
"but i'm just starting home now," he concluded. "i only dropped in for a moment. we're just getting things begun and i'm rushed day and night. i'm rather a new man here in town as yet. but i'll see you often."
"the central offices will be here, then?" inquired the large man.
"yes, our main headquarters will be here for a time."
"oh, joy! i'll drop in some time and have you do me up a choice line of philosopher's stones, so that i can turn things into gold. why pay rent?" the large man laughed largely.
"oh, all right," rejoined rawn, also laughing. "but our invention is not so very wonderful. the only wonder is, that 't hasn't been thought of before. nothing is wonderful, you know."
"by jove! i'm just going to come in with you there," assented the last speaker, suddenly sitting up in his chair. "there isn't anything stranger in the world than things that happen right along, every day. look here."
he pulled out of his waistcoat pocket some blue strips of paper. "tickets to the aviation meet. fifty-cent gate. what do you see? why, you see men doing what men couldn't have been supposed to do a little while ago. it's easy now—and they do that—they really fly. i tell you, fellows, when you get about four drinks in you and begin to think, this ain't just the world our daddies knew; and if it ain't, what sort of world is it going to be that our sons will know?"
"precisely," assented john rawn, with affability. "for instance, i'm going out now to take my car home. nobody wonders at that. what would we all have thought of such speed ten or twelve years ago? speed, gentlemen, speed—and power! the man who has those has got the world in the hollow of his hand." with a nod, half negligent, he turned away.
viii
"ave c?sar!" irreverently remarked a man with a gray mustache as rawn passed toward the cloak room.
"he sets me thinking, just the same," commented the large man grumblingly. "that fellow's a comer. he's building him a fine place, up the north shore, they tell me. his family must have had money, 'though it's odd, i never heard of him till just lately. who's going to pay for his house? why, maybe we are!"
"believe i'll go home for dinner to-night myself. haven't been home for three days," yawned one.
—"and nights," added a smiling friend.
"naturally. but let's have another little drink. i'm telling you, fellows, that fellow rawn has got me guessing, too."
