บทที่ บทที่ 41 · But worse was to follow. The American public likes gossip about

well-known people, and the Kanes were wealthy and socially prominent.

The report was that Lester, one of its principal heirs, had married a

servant girl. He, an heir to millions! Could it be possible? What a

piquant morsel for the newspapers! Very soon the paragraphs began to

appear. A small society paper, called the South Side Budget,

referred to him anonymously as "the son of a famous and wealthy

carriage manufacturer of Cincinnati," and outlined briefly what it

knew of the story. "Of Mrs. ----" it went on, sagely, "not

so much is known, except that she once worked in a well-known

Cleveland society family as a maid and was, before that, a

working-girl in Columbus, Ohio. After such a picturesque love-affair

in high society, who shall say that romance is dead?"

Lester saw this item. He did not take the paper, but some kind soul

took good care to see that a copy was marked and mailed to him. It

irritated him greatly, for he suspected at once that it was a scheme

to blackmail him. But he did not know exactly what to do about it. He

preferred, of course, that such comments should cease, but he also

thought that if he made any effort to have them stopped he might make

matters worse. So he did nothing. Naturally, the paragraph in the

Budget attracted the attention of other newspapers. It sounded

like a good story, and one Sunday editor, more enterprising than the

others, conceived the notion of having this romance written up. A

full-page Sunday story with a scare-head such as "Sacrifices Millions

for His Servant Girl Love," pictures of Lester, Jennie, the house at

Hyde Park, the Kane manufactory at Cincinnati, the warehouse on

Michigan Avenue--certainly, such a display would make a

sensation. The Kane Company was not an advertiser in any daily or

Sunday paper. The newspaper owed him nothing. If Lester had been

forewarned he might have put a stop to the whole business by putting

an advertisement in the paper or appealing to the publisher. He did

not know, however, and so was without power to prevent the

publication. The editor made a thorough job of the business. Local

newspaper men in Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Columbus were instructed

to report by wire whether anything of Jennie's history was known in

their city. The Bracebridge family in Cleveland was asked whether

Jennie had ever worked there. A garbled history of the Gerhardts was

obtained from Columbus. Jennie's residence on the North Side, for

several years prior to her supposed marriage, was discovered and so

the whole story was nicely pieced together. It was not the idea of the

newspaper editor to be cruel or critical, but rather complimentary.

All the bitter things, such as the probable illegitimacy of Vesta, the

suspected immorality of Lester and Jennie in residing together as man

and wife, the real grounds of the well-known objections of his family

to the match, were ignored. The idea was to frame up a Romeo and

Juliet story in which Lester should appear as an ardent,

self-sacrificing lover, and Jennie as a poor and lovely working-girl,

lifted to great financial and social heights by the devotion of her

millionaire lover. An exceptional newspaper artist was engaged to make

scenes depicting the various steps of the romance and the whole thing

was handled in the most approved yellow-journal style. There was a

picture of Lester obtained from his Cincinnati photographer for a

consideration; Jennie had been surreptitiously "snapped" by a staff

artist while she was out walking.

And so, apparently out of a clear sky, the story

appeared--highly complimentary, running over with sugary phrases,

but with all the dark, sad facts looming up in the background. Jennie

did not see it at first. Lester came across the page accidentally, and

tore it out. He was stunned and chagrined beyond words. "To think the

damned newspaper would do that to a private citizen who was quietly

minding his own business!" he thought. He went out of the house, the

better to conceal his deep inward mortification. He avoided the more

populous parts of the town, particularly the down-town section, and

rode far out on Cottage Grove Avenue to the open prairie. He wondered,

as the trolley-car rumbled along, what his friends were

thinking--Dodge, and Burnham Moore, and Henry Aldrich, and the

others. This was a smash, indeed. The best he could do was to put a

brave face on it and say nothing, or else wave it off with an

indifferent motion of the hand. One thing was sure--he would

prevent further comment. He returned to the house calmer, his

self-poise restored, but he was eager for Monday to come in order that

he might get in touch with his lawyer, Mr. Watson. But when he did see

Mr. Watson it was soon agreed between the two men that it would be

foolish to take any legal action. It was the part of wisdom to let the

matter drop. "But I won't stand for anything more," concluded

Lester.

"I'll attend to that," said the lawyer, consolingly.

Lester got up. "It's amazing--this damned country of ours!" he

exclaimed. "A man with a little money hasn't any more privacy than a

public monument."

"A man with a little money," said Mr. Watson, "is just like a cat

with a bell around its neck. Every rat knows exactly where it is and

what it is doing."

"That's an apt simile," assented Lester, bitterly.

Jennie knew nothing of this newspaper story for several days.

Lester felt that he could not talk it over, and Gerhardt never read

the wicked Sunday newspapers. Finally, one of Jennie's neighborhood

friends, less tactful than the others, called her attention to the

fact of its appearance by announcing that she had seen it. Jennie did

not understand at first. "A story about me?" she exclaimed.

"You and Mr. Kane, yes," replied her guest. "Your love

romance."

Jennie colored swiftly. "Why, I hadn't seen it," she said. "Are you

sure it was about us?"

"Why, of course," laughed Mrs. Stendahl. "How could I be mistaken?

I have the paper over at the house. I'll send Marie over with it when

I get back. You look very sweet in your picture."

Jennie winced.

"I wish you would," she said, weakly.

She was wondering where they had secured her picture, what the

article said. Above all, she was dismayed to think of its effect upon

Lester. Had he seen the article? Why had he not spoken to her about

it?

The neighbor's daughter brought over the paper, and Jennie's heart

stood still as she glanced at the title-page. There it all

was--uncompromising and direct. How dreadfully conspicuous the

headline--"This Millionaire Fell in Love With This Lady's Maid,"

which ran between a picture of Lester on the left and Jennie on the

right. There was an additional caption which explained how Lester, son

of the famous carriage family of Cincinnati, had sacrificed great

social opportunity and distinction to marry his heart's desire. Below

were scattered a number of other pictures--Lester addressing

Jennie in the mansion of Mrs. Bracebridge, Lester standing with her

before an imposing and conventional-looking parson, Lester driving

with her in a handsome victoria, Jennie standing beside the window of

an imposing mansion (the fact that it was a mansion being indicated by

most sumptuous-looking hangings) and gazing out on a very modest

working-man's cottage pictured in the distance. Jennie felt as though

she must die for very shame. She did not so much mind what it meant to

her, but Lester, Lester, how must he feel? And his family? Now they

would have another club with which to strike him and her. She tried to

keep calm about it, to exert emotional control, but again the tears

would rise, only this time they were tears of opposition to defeat.

She did not want to be hounded this way. She wanted to be let alone.

She was trying to do right now. Why couldn't the world help her,

instead of seeking to push her down?