Free Onyx by Jacqueline; Briskin Page B

handkerchief to dust off a place for Antonia. Water lilies floated, and there was an occasional splash of an unseen frog.
    â€œIt’s so lovely,” she murmured.
    â€œPeaceful,” he agreed, twining his fingers with hers in a fugitive, trembling clasp.
    They watched a squirrel, tail raised in a question mark, scamper across the path, and at the same instant turned to face each other. Tom felt the green world, the tranquil water, rush at him then recede. His heart pounded. Leaning toward her, he touched her mouth with a tender, light kiss. “I’ve thought of you every day since I first saw you. It was nearly impossible, staying away,” he whispered against her ear.
    â€œTom …”
    â€œI promised your uncle I wouldn’t come around until I had some prospects.”
    â€œTom …”
    Putting his arm over her shoulder, he said, “You’re beautiful, wonderful, far, far above me.” He touched the soft warmth of her earlobe.
    â€œNo.… I’m not.…”
    â€œAntonia.” With his forefinger he traced the satin smoothness of her lip. Again the drooping branches and bobbling water lilies rushed toward him and withdrew, leaving him scarcely able to breathe.
    A boy rolled a hoop along the path. They moved apart, rising.
    They said very little, but their hands were clasped, and the afternoon melted as if touched by a watercolor brush.
    VI
    The Major’s timing was terrible.
    Andrew Carnegie had begun the process of gathering the steel industry into his arms, and the Major’s financial kingpin, J. P. Morgan, was the steel magnate’s banker. The very day of the Major’s arrival in New York, Morgan was called to Pittsburgh. In his absence the Major sounded out other bankers regarding a loan on the largest furniture factory in Michigan, situated on prime Detroit River frontage, insured with Lloyd’s of London for $250,000. He never got a chance to display Heldenstern’s meticulously doctored books. Some bankers were courteous, others blunt, all informed him that no loans were being made on such collateral as a furniture factory.
    The Major felt himself falling into an abyss. Continually he reminded himself that he and Pierpont were good friends, they had shared raffish good times aboard the financier’s yacht, the Corsair III , Pierpont would not let him down. To escape the stifling claustrophobia of his doubts the Major attached himself to one of Mrs. Corbett’s protégées, a tall, slender, black-haired Southern girl of undepletable sexual talent and most extravagant taste.
    The Monday of the second week of Morgan’s absence, the Major boarded a crowded early train to Washington to visit his patent attorney, Mitchell Polhemus.
    In the well-polished office the Major unlocked his pigskin case, taking out the two rolls of blueprints.
    â€œMore?” inquired Mitchell Polhemus. A hunchback, he wore his frock coat in the generously cut style of thirty years earlier. “Are these also connected to the horseless carriage?”
    â€œYes. Improvements of the carburetor and cooling system.”
    â€œMajor Stuart, do you honestly believe this machine has a chance of becoming popular?” Mitchell Polhemus was an honest lawyer. Never casual about his profession, he played devil’s advocate with his clients before a blueprint crossed the cherrywood desk.
    â€œPopular? Never, Mr. Polhemus, never. But quite a substantial number are being built in Europe, and this year in America maybe a thousand were sold.”
    â€œThat many? I never would have believed it.”
    â€œThe figure came from Horseless Age , so doubtless it is exaggerated. Still, think of Newport. Mrs. Belmont has motorcar tournaments on the lawn of Belcourt—her friends decorate their vehicles with flowers. The Vanderbilts, Stuyvesant Fish, the Whitneys.”
    â€œThe toys of a few won’t bring you royalties enough to pay my