first time in his life Cowperwood felt conscious of having been
in the presence of that interesting social phenomenon--the outraged
sentiment of a parent. While he had no absolute knowledge as to why
Butler had been so enraged, he felt that Aileen was the contributing
cause. He himself was a father. His boy, Frank, Jr., was to him not so
remarkable. But little Lillian, with her dainty little slip of a body
and bright-aureoled head, had always appealed to him. She was going to
be a charming woman one day, he thought, and he was going to do much
to establish her safely. He used to tell her that she had "eyes like
buttons," "feet like a pussy-cat," and hands that were "just five cents'
worth," they were so little. The child admired her father and would
often stand by his chair in the library or the sitting-room, or his
desk in his private office, or by his seat at the table, asking him
questions.

This attitude toward his own daughter made him see clearly how Butler
might feel toward Aileen. He wondered how he would feel if it were his
own little Lillian, and still he did not believe he would make much fuss
over the matter, either with himself or with her, if she were as old as
Aileen. Children and their lives were more or less above the willing
of parents, anyhow, and it would be a difficult thing for any parent
to control any child, unless the child were naturally docile-minded and
willing to be controlled.

It also made him smile, in a grim way, to see how fate was raining
difficulties on him. The Chicago fire, Stener's early absence, Butler,
Mollenhauer, and Simpson's indifference to Stener's fate and his. And
now this probable revelation in connection with Aileen. He could not
be sure as yet, but his intuitive instincts told him that it must be
something like this.

Now he was distressed as to what Aileen would do, say if suddenly she
were confronted by her father. If he could only get to her! But if he
was to meet Butler's call for his loan, and the others which would come
yet to-day or on the morrow, there was not a moment to lose. If he did
not pay he must assign at once. Butler's rage, Aileen, his own danger,
were brushed aside for the moment. His mind concentrated wholly on how
to save himself financially.

He hurried to visit George Waterman; David Wiggin, his wife's brother,
who was now fairly well to do; Joseph Zimmerman, the wealthy dry-goods
dealer who had dealt with him in the past; Judge Kitchen, a pr