Theodore Dreiser Jennie Gerhardt; a novel

 
 

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CHAPTER XXIV 
The problem of the Gerhardt family and its relationship to himself 
comparatively settled, Kane betook himself to Cincinnati and to his business 
duties. He was heartily interested in the immense plant, which occupied two 
whole blocks in the outskirts of the city, and its conduct and development 
was as much a problem and a pleasure to him as to either his father or his 
brother. He liked to feel that he was a vital part of this great and growing 
industry. When he saw freight cars going by on the railroads labelled "The 
Kane Manufacturing Company—Cincinnati" or chanced to notice displays of 
the company's products in the windows of carriage sales companies in the 
different cities he was conscious of a warm glow of satisfaction. It was 
something to be a factor in an institution so stable, so distinguished, so 
honestly worth while. This was all very well, but now Kane was entering 
upon a new phase of his personal existence—in a word, there was Jennie. 
He was conscious as he rode toward his home city that he was entering on a 
relationship which might involve disagreeable consequences. He was a little 
afraid of his father's attitude; above all, there was his brother Robert. 
Robert was cold and conventional in character; an excellent business man; 
irreproachable in both his public and in his private life. Never overstepping 
the strict boundaries of legal righteousness, he was neither warm-hearted 
nor generous—in fact, he would turn any trick which could be speciously, or 
at best necessitously, recommended to his conscience. How he reasoned 
Lester did not know—he could not follow the ramifications of a logic which 
could combine hard business tactics with moral rigidity, but somehow his 
brother managed to do it. "He's got a Scotch Presbyterian conscience mixed 
with an Asiatic perception of the main chance." Lester once told somebody, 
and he had the situation accurately measured. Nevertheless he could not 
rout his brother from his positions nor defy him, for he had the public 
conscience with him. He was in line with convention practically, and 
perhaps sophisticatedly. 
The two brothers were outwardly friendly; inwardly they were far apart. 
Robert liked Lester well enough personally, but he did not trust his financial 
judgment, and, temperamentally, they did not agree as to how life and its 
affairs should be conducted. Lester had a secret contempt for his brother's 
chill, persistent chase of the almighty dollar. Robert was sure that Lester's 
easy-going ways were reprehensible, and bound to create trouble sooner or 
later. In the business they did not quarrel much—there was not so much 
chance with the old gentleman still in charge—but there were certain minor 
differences constantly cropping up which showed which way the wind blew. 
Lester was for building up trade through friendly relationship, concessions, 
personal contact, and favors. Robert was for pulling everything tight, cutting 

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down the cost of production, and offering such financial inducements as 
would throttle competition. 
The old manufacturer always did his best to pour oil on these troubled 
waters, but he foresaw an eventual clash. One or the other would have to get 
out or perhaps both. "If only you two boys could agree!" he used to say. 
Another thing which disturbed Lester was his father's attitude on the 
subject of marriage—Lester's marriage, to be specific. Archibald Kane never 
ceased to insist on the fact that Lester ought to get married, and that he was 
making a big mistake in putting it off. All the other children, save Louise, 
were safely married. Why not his favorite son? It was doing him injury 
morally, socially, commercially, that he was sure of. 
"The world expects it of a man in your position," his father had argued from 
time to time. "It makes for social solidity and prestige. You ought to pick out 
a good woman and raise a family. Where will you be when you get to my 
time of life if you haven't any children, any home?" 
"Well, if the right woman came along," said Lester, "I suppose I'd marry her. 
But she hasn't come along. What do you want me to do? Take anybody?" 
"No, not anybody, of course, but there are lots of good women. You can 
surely find some one if you try. There's that Pace girl. What about her? You 
used to like her. I wouldn't drift on this way, Lester; it can't come to any 
good." 
His son would only smile. "There, father, let it go now. I'll come around some 
time, no doubt. I've got to be thirsty when I'm led to water." 
The old gentleman gave over, time and again, but it was a sore point with 
him. He wanted his son to settle down and be a real man of affairs. 
The fact that such a situation as this might militate against any permanent 
arrangement with Jennie was obvious even to Lester at this time. He 
thought out his course of action carefully. Of course he would not give 
Jennie up, whatever the possible consequences. But he must be cautious; 
he must take no unnecessary risks. Could he bring her to Cincinnati? What 
a scandal if it were ever found out! Could he install her in a nice home 
somewhere near the city? The family would probably eventually suspect 
something. Could he take her along on his numerous business journeys? 
This first one to New York had been successful. Would it always be so? He 
turned the question over in his mind. 
The very difficulty gave it zest. Perhaps St. Louis, or Pittsburg, or Chicago 
would be best after all. He went to these places frequently, and particularly 
to Chicago. He decided finally that it should be Chicago if he could arrange 
it. He could always make excuses to run up there, and it was only a night's 

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ride. Yes, Chicago was best. The very size and activity of the city made 
concealment easy. After two weeks' stay at Cincinnati Lester wrote Jennie 
that he was coming to Cleveland soon, and she answered that she thought it 
would be all right for him to call and see her. Her father had been told about 
him. She had felt it unwise to stay about the house, and so had secured a 
position in a store at four dollars a week. He smiled as he thought of her 
working, and yet the decency and energy of it appealed to him. "She's all 
right," he said. "She's the best I've come across yet." 
He ran up to Cleveland the following Saturday, and, calling at her place of 
business, he made an appointment to see her that evening. He was anxious 
that his introduction, as her beau, should be gotten over with as quickly as 
possible. When he did call the shabbiness of the house and the manifest 
poverty of the family rather disgusted him, but somehow Jennie seemed as 
sweet to him as ever. Gerhardt came in the front-room, after he had been 
there a few minutes, and shook hands with him, as did also Mrs. Gerhardt, 
but Lester paid little attention to them. The old German appeared to him to 
be merely commonplace—the sort of man who was hired by hundreds in 
common capacities in his father's factory. After some desultory conversation 
Lester suggested to Jennie that they should go for a drive. Jennie put on her 
hat, and together they departed. As a matter of fact, they went to an 
apartment which he had hired for the storage of her clothes. When she 
returned at eight in the evening the family considered it nothing amiss.