Chapter 5

by Upton Sinclair

　　Montague hesitated only an instant. He sprang up to the deck. "Whereis Mrs. Taylor?" he cried.

　　"She went below, sir," said the man, hesitating; but Montague sprangpast him and down the companionway.

　　At the foot of the stairs he found himself in a broad entrance-hall,lighted by a glass dome above. He sprang toward a door which openedin the direction of the cry he had heard, and shouted aloud, "Lucy!Lucy!" He heard her answer beyond the doorway, and he seized theknob and tried it. The door was locked.

　　"Open the door!" he shouted.

　　There was no sound. "Open the door!" he called again, "or I'll breakit down."

　　Suiting his action to the word, he flung his weight upon it. Thebarrier cracked; and then suddenly he heard a man's voice. "Allright. Wait."

　　Someone fumbled at the knob; and Montague stood crouching andwatching breathlessly, prepared for anything. The door opened, andhe found himself confronted by Dan Waterman.

　　Montague recoiled a step in consternation; and the other strode out,and without a word went past him down the hall. There was just timeenough for Montague to receive one look--of the most furious ragethat he had ever seen upon a human face.

　　He rushed into the room. Lucy was standing at the farther end,leaning upon a table to support herself. Her clothing was indisarray, and her hair was falling about her ears; her face wasflushed, and she was panting in great agitation.

　　"Lucy!" he gasped, running to her. She caught at his arm to steadyherself.

　　"What is the matter?" he cried. She turned her face away, making nota sound.

　　For a minute or so he stood staring at her. Then she whispered,"Quick! let us go from here!"

　　And with a sudden movement of her hands, she swept her hair backfrom her forehead, and straightened her clothing, and started to thedoor, leaning upon her friend.

　　They went up to the deck, where the officer was still standing inperplexity.

　　"Mrs. Taylor wishes to go ashore," said Montague. "Will you get us aboat?"

　　"The launch will be back in a few minutes, sir--" the man began.

　　"We wish to go at once," said Montague. "Will you let us have one ofthose rowboats? Otherwise I shall hail that tug."

　　The man hesitated but a moment. Montague's voice was determined, andso he turned and gave orders to lower a small boat.

　　In the meantime, Lucy stood, breathing heavily, and gazing about hernervously. When at last they had left the yacht, he heard her sighwith relief.

　　They sat in silence until she had stepped upon the landing. Then shesaid, "Get me a cab, Allan."

　　He led her to the street and hailed a vehicle. When they wereseated, Lucy sank back with a gasp. "Please don't ask me to talk,Allan," she said. And she made not another sound during the longdrive to the hotel.

　　* * *

　　"Is there anything I can do for you?" he said, after he had seen hersafely to her apartment.

　　"No," she answered. "I am all right. Wait for me."

　　She retired to her dressing-room, and when she came back, all tracesof her excitement had been removed. Then she seated herself in achair opposite Montague and gazed at him.

　　"Allan," she began, "I have been trying to think. What can I do tothat man?"

　　"I am sure I don't know," he answered.

　　"Why, I can hardly believe that this is New York," she gasped. "Ifeel as though I had got back into the Middle Ages!"

　　"You forget, Lucy," he replied, "that I don't know what happened."

　　Again she fell silent. They sat staring at each other, and thensuddenly she leaned back in her chair and began to laugh. Once shehad started, burst after burst of merriment swept over her. "I tryto stay angry, Allan!" she gasped. "It seems as if I ought to. But,honestly, it was perfectly absurd!"

　　"I am sure you'd much better laugh than cry," said he.

　　"I will tell you about it, Allan," the girl went on. "I know I shallhave to tell somebody, or I shall simply explode. You will have toadvise me about it, for I was never more bewildered in my life."

　　"Go ahead," said he. "Begin at the beginning."

　　"I told you how I met Waterman at his art gallery," said Lucy. "Mr.David Alden took me, and the old man was so polite, and sodignified--why, I never had the slightest idea! And then he wrote mea little note--in his own hand, mind you--inviting me to be one of aparty for the first trip of the _Brünnhilde_. Of course, I thought itwas all right. I told you I was going, you know, and you didn't haveany objections either.

　　"I went down there, and the launch met me and took me on board, anda steward took me down into that room and left me, and a secondlater the old man himself came in. And he shut the door behind himand locked it!

　　"How do you do, Mrs. Taylor?' he said, and before I had a chanceeven to open my mouth and reply, he came to me and calmly put hisarms around me.

　　"You can fancy my feelings. I was simply paralysed!

　　"Mr. Waterman?' I gasped.

　　"I didn't hear what he said; I was almost dazed with anger andfright. I remember I cried several times, 'Let me go!' but he paidnot the slightest attention to me. He just held me tight in hisarms.

　　"Finally I got myself together, a little. I didn't want to bite andscratch like a kitchen-wench. I tried to speak calmly.

　　"'Mr. Waterman,' I said, 'I want you to release me.'

　　"'I love you,' he said.

　　"'But I don't love you,' I protested. I remember thinking even thenhow absurd it sounded. I can't think of anything that wouldn't havesounded absurd in such a situation.

　　"'You will learn to love me,' he said. 'Many women have.'

　　"'I am not that sort of a woman,' I said. 'I tell you, you have madea mistake. Let me go.'

　　"'I want you,' he said. 'And when I want a thing, I get it. I nevertake any refusal--understand that. You don't realise the situation.It will be no disgrace to you. Women think it an honour to have melove them. Think what I can do for you. You can have anything youwant. You can go anywhere you wish. I will never stint you.'

　　"I remember his going on like that for some time. And fancy, there Iwas! I might as well have been in the grip of a bear. You would notthink it, you know, but he is terribly strong. I could not move. Icould hardly think. I was suffocated, and all the time I could feelhis breath on my face, and he was glaring into my eyes like someterrible wild beast.

　　"'Mr. Waterman,' I protested, 'I am not used to being treated inthis way.'

　　"'I know, I know,' he said. 'If you were, I should not want you. ButI am different from other men. Think of it--think of all that I haveon my hands. I have no time to make love to women. But I love you. Iloved you the minute I saw you. Is not that enough? What more canyou ask?'

　　"'You have brought me here under false pretences,' I cried. 'Youhave taken cowardly advantage of me. If you have a spark of decencyin you, you should be ashamed of yourself.'

　　"'Tut, tut,' he said, 'don't talk that kind of nonsense. You knowthe world. You are no spring chicken.'--Yes, he did, Allan--Iremember that very phrase. And it made me so furious--you can'timagine! I tried to get away again, but the more I struggled, themore it seemed to enrage him. I was positively terrified. You know,I don't believe there was another person on board that yacht excepthis servants.

　　"'Mr. Waterman,' I cried, 'I tell you to take your hands off me. Ifyou don't, I will make a disturbance. I will scream.'

　　"'It won't do you any good,' he said savagely.

　　"'But what do you want me to do?" I protested.

　　"'I want you to love me,' he said.

　　"And then I began to struggle again. I shouted once or twice,--I amnot sure,--and then he clapped his hand over my mouth. Then I beganto fight for my life. I really believe I would have scratched theold creature's eyes out if he had not heard you out in the hall.When you called my name, he dropped me and sprang back. I never sawsuch furious hatred on a man's countenance in my life.

　　"When I answered you, I tried to run to the door, but he stood in myway.

　　"'I will follow you!' he whispered. 'Do you understand me? I willnever give you up!'

　　"And then you flung yourself against the door, and he turned andopened it and went out."

　　* * *

　　Lucy had turned scarlet over the recalling of the scene, and she wasbreathing quickly in her agitation. Montague sat staring in front ofhim, without a sound.

　　"Did you ever hear of anything like that in your life before?" sheasked.

　　"Yes," said he, gravely, "I am sorry to say that I have heard of itseveral times. I have heard of things even worse."

　　"But what am I to do?" she cried. "Surely a man can't behave likethat with impunity."

　　Montague said nothing.

　　"He is a monster!" cried Lucy. "I ought to have him put in jail."

　　Montague shook his head. "You couldn't do that," he said.

　　"I couldn't!" exclaimed the other. "Why not?"

　　"You couldn't prove it," said Montague.

　　"It would be your word against his, and they would take his everytime. You can't go and have Dan Waterman arrested as you could anyordinary man. And think of the notoriety it would mean!"

　　"I would like to expose him," protested Lucy. "It would serve himright!"

　　"It would not do him the least harm in the world," said Montague. "Ican speak quite positively there, for I have seen it tried. Youcouldn't get a newspaper in New York to publish that story. All thatyou could do would be to have yourself blazoned as an adventuress."

　　Lucy was staring, with clenched hands. "Why, I might as well beliving in Turkey," she cried.

　　"Very nearly," said he. "There's an old man in this town who hasspent his lifetime lending money and hoarding it; he has somethinglike eighty or a hundred millions now, I believe, and once every sixmonths or so you will read in the newspapers that some woman hasmade an attempt to blackmail him. That is because he does to everypretty girl who comes into his office just exactly what old Watermandid to you; and those who are arrested for blackmail are simply theones who are so unwise as to make a disturbance."

　　"You see, Lucy," continued Montague, after a pause, "you mustrealise the situation. This man is a god in New York. He controlsall the avenues of wealth; he can make or break any person hechooses. It is really the truth--I believe he could ruin any man inthe city whom he chose to set out after. He can have anything thathe wants done, so far as the police are concerned. It is simply amatter of paying them. And he is accustomed to rule in everything;his lightest whim is law. If he wants a thing, he buys it, and thatis his attitude toward women. He is used to being treated as amaster; women seek him, and vie for his favour. If you had been ableto hold it, you might have had a million-dollar palace on RiversideDrive, or a cottage with a million-dollar pier at Newport. You mighthave had carte blanche at all the shops, and all the yachting tripsand private trains that you wanted. That is all that other womenwant, and he could not understand what more you could want."Montague paused.

　　"Is that the way he spends his money?" Lucy asked.

　　"He buys everything he takes a fancy to," said Montague. "They sayhe spends five thousand dollars a day. One of the stories they tellin the clubs is that he loved the wife of a physician, and he gave amillion dollars to found a hospital, and one of the conditions ofthe endowment was that this physician should go abroad for threeyears and study all the hospitals of Europe."

　　Lucy sat buried in thought. "Allan," she asked suddenly, "what doyou suppose he meant by saying he would follow me? What could hedo?"

　　"I don't know," said Allan, "it is something which we shall have tothink over very carefully."

　　"He made a remark to me that I thought was very strange," she said."I just happened to recall it. He said, 'You have no money. Youcannot keep up the pace in New York. What you own is worth nothing.'Do you suppose, Allan, that he can know anything about my affairs?"

　　Montague was staring at her in consternation. "Lucy!" he exclaimed.

　　"What is it?" she cried.

　　"Nothing," he said; and he added to himself, "No, it is absurd. Itcould not be." The idea that it could have been Dan Waterman who hadset the detectives to follow him seemed too grotesque forconsideration. "It was nothing but a chance shot," he said to Lucy,"but you must be careful. He is a dangerous man."

　　"And I am powerless to punish him!" whispered Lucy, after a pause.

　　"It seems to me," said Montague, "that you are very well out of it.You will know better next time; and as for punishing him, I fancythat Nature will attend to that. He is getting old, you know; andthey say he is morose and wretched."

　　"But, Allan!" protested Lucy. "I can't help thinking what would havehappened to me if you had not come on board! I can't help thinkingabout other women who must have been caught in such a trap. Why,Allan, I would have been equally helpless--no matter what he haddone!"

　　"I am afraid so," said he, gravely. "Many a woman has discovered it,I imagine. I understand how you feel, but what can you do about it?You can't punish men like Waterman. You can't punish them foranything they do, whether it is monopolising a necessity of life andstarving thousands of people to death, or whether it is an attackupon a defenceless woman. There are rich men in this city who makeit their diversion to answer advertisements and decoy young girls. Astenographer in my office told me that she had had over twentypositions in one year, and that she had left every one because someman in the office had approached her."

　　He paused for a moment. "You see," he added, "I have been findingout these things. You thought I was unreasonable, but I know whatyour dangers are. You are a stranger here; you have no friends andno influence, and so you will always be the one to suffer. I don'tmean merely in a case like this, where it comes to the police andthe newspapers; I mean in social matters--where it is a question ofyour reputation, of the interpretation which people will place uponyour actions. They have their wealth and their prestige and theirprivileges, and they stand at bay. They are perfectly willing togive a stranger a good time, if the stranger has a pretty face and alively wit to entertain them; but when you come to trespass, or tothreaten their power, then you find out how they can hate you, andhow mercilessly they will slander and ruin you!"