ding to him, most unwise to regret. He kept his
face and thoughts to the future.

But Mrs. Cowperwood was truly distressed in her way, and she went about
the house thinking, feeling wretchedly. She decided, since the letter
asked her to see for herself, to wait. She must think how she would
watch this house, if at all. Frank must not know. If it were Aileen
Butler by any chance--but surely not--she thought she would expose her
to her parents. Still, that meant exposing herself. She determined to
conceal her mood as best she could at dinner-time--but Cowperwood was
not able to be there. He was so rushed, so closeted with individuals, so
closely in conference with his father and others, that she scarcely saw
him this Monday night, nor the next day, nor for many days.

For on Tuesday afternoon at two-thirty he issued a call for a meeting of
his creditors, and at five-thirty he decided to go into the hands of a
receiver. And yet, as he stood before his principal creditors--a group
of thirty men--in his office, he did not feel that his life was ruined.
He was temporarily embarrassed. Certainly things looked very black. The
city-treasurership deal would make a great fuss. Those hypothecated city
loan certificates, to the extent of sixty thousand, would make another,
if Stener chose. Still, he did not feel that he was utterly destroyed.

"Gentlemen," he said, in closing his address of explanation at the
meeting, quite as erect, secure, defiant, convincing as he had ever
been, "you see how things are. These securities are worth just as much
as they ever were. There is nothing the matter with the properties
behind them. If you will give me fifteen days or twenty, I am satisfied
that I can straighten the whole matter out. I am almost the only one who
can, for I know all about it. The market is bound to recover. Business
is going to be better than ever. It's time I want. Time is the only
significant factor in this situation. I want to know if you won't give
me fifteen or twenty days--a month, if you can. That is all I want."

He stepped aside and out of the general room, where the blinds were
drawn, into his private office, in order to give his creditors an
opportunity to confer privately in regard to his situation. He had
friends in the meeting who were for him. He waited one, two, nearly
three hours while they talked. Finally Walter Leigh, Judge Kitchen,
Avery Stone, of Jay Cooke & Co., and several others came in. They were a