ker" inserted elsewhere which nullified
this. Instantly there were stormy outbursts in the Chronicle,
Inquirer, and Globe; but Cowperwood, when he read them, merely smiled.
"Let them grumble," he said to himself. "I put a very reasonable
proposition before them. Why should they complain? I'm doing more now
than the Chicago City Railway. It's jealousy, that's all. If
Schryhart or Merrill had asked for it, there would have been no
complaint."

McKenty called at the offices of the Chicago Trust Company to
congratulate Cowperwood. "The boys did as I thought they would," he
said. "I had to be there, though, for I heard some one say that about
ten of them intended to ditch us at the last moment."

"Good work, good work!" replied Cowperwood, cheerfully. "This row will
all blow over. It would be the same whenever we asked. The air will
clear up. We'll give them such a fine service that they'll forget all
about this, and be glad they gave us the tunnel."

Just the same, the morning after the enabling ordinances had passed,
there was much derogatory comment in influential quarters. Mr. Norman
Schryhart, who, through his publisher, had been fulminating defensively
against Cowperwood, stared solemnly at Mr. Ricketts when they met.

"Well," said the magnate, who imagined he foresaw a threatened attack
on his Chicago City Street Railway preserves, "I see our friend Mr.
Cowperwood has managed to get his own way with the council. I am
morally certain he uses money to get what he is after as freely as a
fireman uses water. He's as slippery as an eel. I should be glad if
we could establish that there is a community of interest between him
and these politicians around City Hall, or between him and Mr. McKenty.
I believe he has set out to dominate this city politically as well as
financially, and he'll need constant watching. If public opinion can
be aroused against him he may be dislodged in the course of time.
Chicago may get too uncomfortable for him. I know Mr. McKenty
personally, but he is not the kind of man I care to do business with."

Mr. Schryhart's method of negotiating at City Hall was through certain
reputable but somewhat slow-going lawyers who were in the employ of the
South Side company. They had never been able to reach Mr. McKenty at
all. Ricketts echoed a hearty approval. "You're very right," he said,
with owlish smugness, adjusting a waistcoat button that had come loose,
and smoothing his cuffs.