take place here. Therefore, the sooner we begin, the sooner we will be through.”
(“You don’t say!” commented Sippens to himself.)
“Yes, I believe that’s a good idea,” said Cowperwood. And pushing a button, he ordered Jamieson to bring in his official checkbook as well as the temporary agreements.
Johnson now took from a square leather bag—which was carried by an office boy who walked at his heels— the several books of the Traffic Electrical Company, its official seal, together with the act, and placed all upon Cowperwood’s desk. And Cowperwood, flanked by Bristol and Kitteredge, proceeded to examine them.
After checking over various commitments, decisions, expenditures, Greaves produced their option to buy, and the company, through its officers, attested to its validity. Mr. Delafield, as secretary and treasurer of Traffic Electrical Company, produced a copy of the act establishing their right to construct the line. Whereupon, a Mr. Blandish, of the London and County Bank, arrived with a certificate of deposit in favor of Frank Algernon Cowperwood for ?60,000 in British consols then and there in that bank. These the bank would surrender to him in exchange for his check for that amount.
Cowperwood then signed and handed to Messrs. Greaves and Henshaw his check for ?30,000 which by then was endorsed to Traffic Electrical Company. The company, through its officers, endorsed it to Cowperwood. Whereupon he wrote his check for ?60,000, and for that took over from the London and County Bank its legal acknowledgment of his ownership of the consols. After this, he handed Greaves a duly attested and guaranteed one-year’s non-negotiable agreement. The meeting then closed, with an atmosphere of enthusiasm which was hardly to be explained by the business of the moment.
The explanation of this was the personality of Cowperwood and its effect on all those present. Calthorpe, the chairman of Traffic Electrical, for instance, a blond and stocky man of fifty, had come stuffed with prejudice against any American attempting to manage a London railway property. Nevertheless, it was plainly evident that he was impressed by Cowperwood’s dynamic alertness. Rider studied Cowperwood’s clothes, taking note of his beautifully set jade cuff links, his dark tan shoes, and his well-tailored sand-colored suit. Obviously, America was producing a new and distinct type. Here was a man who could, if he wished, become a great force in London’s affairs.
Johnson thought Cowperwood had handled the situation with shrewdness and even an agreeable cunning. The man was ruthless, but in a way which the jumbled interests and oppositions of life required. He was about to leave when Cowperwood came over to him.
“From what I hear, Mr. Johnson, you are personally interested in this underground situation,” he said, smiling a cordial smile.
“Yes, to some extent,” replied Johnson, civilly, and yet with caution.
“My lawyers have informed me,” continued Cowperwood, “that you are more or less of an expert in the traction franchise field here. You see, I have been trained on the other side, and this is all new ground to me. If you have no objection, I would like to talk with you further. Perhaps we could have lunch or dinner together, either at my hotel or some place where we would not be likely to be interrupted.”
They agreed upon Brown’s Hotel for Tuesday evening of the following week.
Alone with Sippens after, they had all left, Cowperwood turned to him and said:
“Well, there you are, De Sota! We’ve just bought a lot more trouble. What do you think of these Englishmen, anyway?”
“Oh, they’re all well enough where they’re dealing with each other,” said Sippens, still irritated by Johnson’s manner, “but you’ll never see the day when you won’t have to look out for them, Chief. Your surest support will be the men you yourself have trained.”
“I guess you’re right, De Sota,” said Cowperwood, sensing what was in Sippens’ mind. “But I’m not sure that I won’t have to include some of these fellows over here, to make everything smooth and right. They can’t be expected to stand for too many of us all at once. You know that.”
“True enough, Chief, but you want enough Americans to keep them from catching you napping!”
But there was revolving in Cowperwood’s mind the thought that what perhaps was needed was a loyal and enthusiastic English group, men like this Johnson and Greaves and Henshaw, and even that quiet fellow, Rider, who had studied him so carefully but said nothing. In this rapid series of developments, some of these longtime American connections might lose value. He knew only too well that out of sentiment came nothing that was sufficient in any crisis to warrant its preservation. If life had taught him anything, it had taught him that. And he was not one to turn from his most relentlessly cruel and yet constructive teacher.
Chapter 31
Although it had been agreed that no information of any kind in connection with the transfer of the Charing Cross line was at present to be furnished to the press, the news somehow leaked out, possibly due to gossip emanating from Rider, Calthorpe, and Delafield. Having been shareholders as well as officers of Traffic Electrical Company before its property was thus transferred, they feared for their future and were inclined to discuss the matter. So that it was not long before financial as well as news reporters appeared, asking Cowperwood for confirmation of the fact.
Cowperwood informed them frankly that such a transfer was now in process, and that, in due time, a certificate of registration would be filed. Also, that originally he had not come to London to buy anything, seeing that his American interests still required so much of his time, but that certain representatives of London underground ventures had called upon him to urge his managerial as well as financial consideration of routes in which they were interested. The purchase of the Charing Cross had been the result of these overtures, and there were other ventures to which he had promised to give his attention. Whether this would result in a unified system which he would care to build depended on what his coming investigations would reveal.
In Chicago, the editorial comments following this announcement were little more than snarls of rage. That such a ruthless trickster, so recently ejected from that city, should proceed to London, and there, by reason of his wealth, cunning, and general effrontery, be able to cajole the powers of that great city into looking to him for the possible solution of their transit needs, was too much! Plainly, the British had not troubled to inquire into his highly sinister record. But once that was uncovered, as it presently would be, he would be as unwelcome there as he was to this hour and for years past had been in Chicago! There were equally unfavorable comments in the newspapers of a number of other American cities, the editors and publishers of which had taken their mood from that of Chicago.
On the other hand, in the London press, and not strange to relate—since its social, financial, and political opinions were highly realistic and never likely to be based on popular complaint—the reaction toward Cowperwood was most favorable. The
These comments were, from a financial point of view, as Cowperwood saw it, unfortunate. They were likely to concentrate not only English but American financial ambition on his own purpose and awaken obstructive activity, and in this he was certainly not wrong. For no sooner were the notices of the sale of the line confirmed, and his admission as to other offers and his possible future interest in the London transit problem made public, than the chief stockholders of both the District and the Metropolitan, the two lines most impugned, were in a fury of indignation, and in so far as the future was concerned, most certain to oppose him.
“Cowperwood! Cowperwood!” sniffed Lord Colvay, shareholder and one of the twelve directors of the Metropolitan, as well as of the new City and South London. He was having his breakfast, with the
