crowd--nevertheless Cowperwood had no hesitation in going to him. He
wished to overcome or forestall any unfavorable impression. Though
Hand, a solemn man of shrewd but honest nature, had heard a number of
unfavorable rumors, he was inclined to be fair and think the best.
Perhaps Cowperwood was merely the victim of envious rivals.

When the latter first called on him at his office in the Rookery
Building, he was most cordial. "Come in, Mr. Cowperwood," he said. "I
have heard a great deal about you from one person and another--mostly
from the newspapers. What can I do for you?"

Cowperwood exhibited five hundred thousand dollars' worth of West
Chicago Street Railway stock. "I want to know if I can get two hundred
and fifty thousand dollars on those by to-morrow morning."

Hand, a placid man, looked at the securities peacefully. "What's the
matter with your own bank?" He was referring to the Chicago Trust
Company. "Can't it take care of them for you?"

"Loaded up with other things just now," smiled Cowperwood,
ingratiatingly.

"Well, if I can believe all the papers say, you're going to wreck these
roads or Chicago or yourself; but I don't live by the papers. How long
would you want it for?"

"Six months, perhaps. A year, if you choose."

Hand turned over the securities, eying their gold seals. "Five hundred
thousand dollars' worth of six per cent. West Chicago preferred," he
commented. "Are you earning six per cent.?"

"We're earning eight right now. You'll live to see the day when these
shares will sell at two hundred dollars and pay twelve per cent. at
that."

"And you've quadrupled the issue of the old company? Well, Chicago's
growing. Leave them here until to-morrow or bring them back. Send over
or call me, and I'll tell you."

They talked for a little while on street-railway and corporation
matters. Hand wanted to know something concerning West Chicago land--a
region adjoining Ravenswood. Cowperwood gave him his best advice.

The next day he 'phoned, and the stocks, so Hand informed him, were
available. He would send a check over. So thus a tentative friendship
began, and it lasted until the relationship between Cowperwood and Mrs.
Hand was consummated and discovered.

In Caroline Barrett, as she occasionally preferred to sign herself,
Cowperwood encountered a woman who was as restless and fickle as
himself, but not so shrewd. Socially ambitious, she was anything but
socially conventi