menu_book Chapter 7

100% The Story of a Patriot by Upton Sinclair, sections 22 to 25. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Section 22. Peter was warned by the Rat-Faced Man that he must be careful how he spent any of that money.

Nothing would be more certain to bring suspicion on him than to have it whispered about that he was in funds. He must be able to show how he had come honestly by everything he had. And Peter agreed to that. He would hide the money away in a safe place until he was through with his job.

Then he in turn proceeded to warn McGivney. If they were to fire Ibbots from his job, it would certainly cause talk and might direct suspicion against Peter. McGivney answered with a smile that he wasn't born yesterday. They would promote Jack Ibbots, giving him some job where he couldn't get any news about

the Gupper case. Then after a bit, they would catch him up on some mistake, or get him into some trouble and fire him. At this meeting and at later meetings, Peter and the Rat-Faced Man talked out every aspect of the Gupper case which was becoming more and more complicated and bigger as a public

issue. New people were continually being involved and new problems continually arising. It was more fascinating than a game of chess. McGivney had spoken the literal truth when he said that the big business interests of American City had put up a million dollars to hang Gupper and his crowd.

At the very beginning there had been offered $17,000 in rewards for information and these rewards naturally had many claimants. The trouble was that people who wanted this money generally had records that wouldn't go well before a jury. The women nearly always turned out to be prostitutes and the men to be ex-convicts, forgers, gamblers

or what not. Sometimes they didn't tell their past records until the other side unearthed them and then it was necessary to doctor court records and pull wires all over the country. There were a dozen such witnesses as this in the Gupper case. They had told their stories before the grand jury and innumerable flaws and discrepancies

had been discovered, which made more work and trouble for Guffey and his lieutenants. Through a miserable mischance it happened that Jim Gupper and his wife had been watching the parade from the roof of a building a couple of miles away at the very hour when they were accused of having planted the suitcase with the bomb in it. Somebody had taken a photograph of the parade from this roof which showed both Gupper and

his wife looking over, and also a big clock in front of a jewelry store plainly indicating the very minute. Fortunately the prosecution got hold of this photograph first, but now the defense had learned of its existence and was trying to get a look at it. The prosecution didn't dare destroy it because its existence could be proven, but they had

photographed the photograph and rephotographed that until they had the face of the clock so dim that the time could not be seen. Now the defense was trying to get evidence that this trick had been worked. Then there were all the witnesses for the defense. Through another mischance it had happened that half a dozen different people had seen

the bomb thrown from the roof of Guggenheim's department store, which entirely contradicted the suitcase theory upon which the prosecution was based. So now it was necessary to reach these various witnesses. One perhaps had a mortgage on his home which could be bought and foreclosed. Another perhaps had a wife who wanted to divorce him and could be persuaded to help get him

into trouble. Or perhaps he was engaged in an intrigue with some other man's wife. Or perhaps some woman could be sent to draw him into an intrigue. Then again it appeared that very soon after the explosion some of Guffy's men had taken a sledgehammer and smashed the sidewalk, also the wall of the building where the explosion

had taken place. This was to fit with the theory of the suitcase bomb and they had taken a number of photographs of the damage. But now it transpired that somebody had taken a photograph of the spot before this extra damage had been done and that the defense was in possession of this photograph.

Who had taken this photograph and how could he be fixed? If Peter could help in such matters, he would come out of the Gubber case a rich man. Peter would go away from these meetings with McGivney with his head full of visions and would concentrate all his faculties upon the collecting of information. He and Jenny and Sadie talked about the case incessantly and Jenny and Sadie would tell

freely everything they had heard outside. Others would come in, Young McCormack and Miriam Jankovic and Miss Nibbins, the secretary to Andrews, and they would tell what they had learned and what they suspected, and what the defense was hoping to find out. They got hold of a cousin of the man who had taken the photograph on the roof, they were

working on him, to get him to persuade the photographer to tell the truth. Next day Donald Gordon would come in, cast down with despair because it had been learned that one of the most valuable witnesses of the defense, a grocery man, had once pleaded guilty to selling spoiled cheese. Thus every evening, before he went to sleep, Peter would jot down notes and sew them up

inside his jacket and once a week he would go to the meeting with McGivney and the two would argue and bargain over the value of Peter's news. Section 23 It had become a fascinating game and Peter would never have tired of it but for the fact that he had to stay all day in the house with little Jenny.

A honeymoon is all right for a few weeks, but no man can stand it forever. Little Jenny apparently never tired of being kissed and never seemed satisfied that Peter thoroughly loved her. A man got through with his lovemaking after a while, but a woman it appeared, never knew how to drop the subject.

She was always looking before and after and figuring consequences and responsibilities, her duty and her reputation and all the rest of it. Which of course was a bore. Jenny was unhappy because she was deceiving Sadie. She wanted to tell Sadie and yet somehow it was easier to go on concealing than admit

that one had concealed. Peter didn't see why Sadie had to be told at all. He didn't see why things couldn't stay just as they were and why he and his sweetheart couldn't have some fun now and then instead of always being sentimental, always having agonies over the class war, to say nothing of the world war, and the prospects of America

becoming involved in it. This did not mean that Peter was hard and feelingless. No, when Peter clasped trembling little Jenny in his arms he was very deeply moved. He had a real sense of what a gentle and good little soul she was. He would have been glad to help her, but what could he do about it?

The situation was such that he could not plead with her, he could not try to change her. He had to give himself up to all her crazy whims and pretend to agree with her. Little Jenny was by her weakness marked for destruction, and what good would it do for him to go to destruction along with her? Peter understood clearly that there were two kinds of people in the world, those who eat

and those who were eaten. It was his intention to stay among the former group. Peter had come in his twenty years of life to a definite understanding of the things called ideas and causes and religions. They were bait to catch suckers, and there is a continual competition between the suckers,

who of course don't want to be caught, and those people of superior wits who want to catch them, and therefore are continually inventing new and more plausible and alluring kinds of bait. Peter had by now heard enough of the jargon of the comrades to realize that theirs was an especially effective kind.

And here was poor little Jenny, stuck fast on the hook. And what could Peter do about it? Yet this was Peter's first love, and when he was deeply thrilled, he understood the truth of Guffey's saying that a man in love wants to tell the truth. Peter would have the impulse to say to her, Oh, drop all that preaching and give yourself

a rest. Let's you and me enjoy life a bit. Yes, it would be all he could do to keep from saying this, despite the fact that he knew it would ruin everything. Once little Jenny appeared in a new silk dress, brought to her by one of the rich ladies

whose heart was touched by her dowdy appearance. It was of soft grey silk, cheap silk but fresh and new, and Peter had never had anything so fine in his arms before. It matched Jenny's grey eyes, and its freshness gave her a pink glow. Or was it that Peter admired her and loved her more, and so brought the blood to her

cheeks? Peter had an impulse to take her out and show her off, and he pressed his face into the soft folds of the dress and whispered, Say, kid, some day you and me gotta cut all this hard luck business for a bit. He felt little Jenny stiffen and draw away from him, so quickly he had to set to work

to patch up the damage. I want you to get well, he pleaded. You're so good to everybody. You treat everybody well but yourself. It had been something in his tone rather than his actual words that had frightened

the girl. Oh, Peter! she cried. What does it matter about me, or about any other one person, when millions of young men are being shot to fragments and millions of women and children are starving to death? So there they were, fighting the war again.

Peter had to take up her burden, be a hero and a martyr and a red. That same afternoon, as fate willed it, three wobblies out of a job came to call. And oh, how tired Peter was of these wandering agitators, insufferable grouches. Peter would want to say, Oh, cut it out! What you call your cause is nothing but your scheme to work with your tongues instead of

with a pick and a shovel. And this would start an imaginary quarrel in Peter's mind. He would hear one of the fellows demanding, How much pick and shovel work you ever done? Another saying, Looks to me like you've been finding the easy jobs wherever you go. The fact that this was true did not make Peter's irritation any less, did not make it easier

for him to meet with comrade Smith and brother Jones and fellow-worker Brown just out of jail and listen to their hard luck stories and watch them take from the table food that Peter wanted and, the bitterest pill of all, let them think that they were fooling him with their patter. The time came when Peter wasn't able to stand it any longer.

Shut up in the house all day, he was becoming as irritable as a chained dog. Unless he could get out in the world again, he would surely give himself away. He pleaded that the doctors had warned him that his health would not stand indoor life. He must get some fresh air. So he got away by himself and after that he found things much easier.

He could spend a little of his money. He could find a quiet corner in a restaurant and get himself a beefsteak and eat all he wanted of it without feeling the eyes of any comrades resting upon him reprovingly. Peter had lived in a jail and in an orphan asylum and in the home of Shoemaker-Smithers. But nowhere had he fared so meagerly as in the home of the Todd Sisters, who were contributing

nearly everything they owned to the Goober defence and to the Clarion, the socialist paper of American City. Section 24 Peter went to see Andrews, the lawyer, and asked for a job. He wanted to be active in the case, he said, so he was set to work in the offices of the

defence committee where he heard people talking about the case all day and he could pick up no end of valuable tips. He made himself agreeable and gained friends. Before long he was intimate with one of the best witnesses of the defence and discovered that this man had once been named as correspondent in a divorce case.

Peter found out the name of the woman and Guffey set to work to bring her to American City. The job had to be done cleverly without the woman's even knowing that she was being used. She would have a little holiday and the spell of old love would reassert itself and Guffey would have half a dozen men to spring the trap, and there would be a star witness of

the Goober defence cleaned down and out. There's always something you can get them on, said McGivney, and cheerfully paid Peter Gudge five hundred dollars for the information he had brought. Peter would have been wildly happy, but just at this moment a dreadful calamity befell him.

Jenny had been talking about marriage more and more, and now she revealed to him a reason which made marriage imperative. She revealed it with downcast eyes, with blushes and trembling. And Peter was so overcome with consternation that he could not play the part that was expected of him.

Hitherto in these love crises he had caught Jenny in his arms and comforted her. But now, for a moment, he let her see his real emotions. Jenny promptly had a fit. What was the matter with him? Didn't he mean to marry her as he had promised?

Surely he must realize now that they could no longer delay, and Peter, who was not familiar with the symptoms of hysterics, lost his head completely and could think of nothing to do but rush out of the house and slam the door. The more he considered it, the more clearly he realized that he was in a devil of a predicament. As a servant of the Traction Trust, he had taken it for granted that he was immune to

all legal penalties and obligations. But here, he had a feeling, was a trouble from which the powerful ones of the city would be unable to shield their agent. Were they able to arrange it so that one could marry a girl and then get out of it when one's job was done?

Peter was so uneasy that he had to call up the office of Guffey and get hold of McGivney. This was dangerous because the prosecution was tapping telephone wires and they feared the defense might be doing the same. But Peter took a chance. He told McGivney to come and meet him at the usual place, and there they argued the matter

out and Peter's worst fears were confirmed. When he put the proposition up to McGivney, the rat-faced man guffawed in his face. McGivney found it so funny that he did not stop laughing until he saw that he was putting his spy into a rage. What's the joke?

demanded Peter. If I'm ruined, where you get any more information? But my God! said McGivney. What did you have to go and get that kind of a girl for?

I had to take what I could, answered Peter. Besides, they're all alike. They get into trouble and you can't help it. Sure you can help it, said McGivney. Why didn't you ask long ago?

Now if you've got yourself tied up with a marrying proposition, it's your own lookout. You can't put it off on me. They argued back and forth. The rat-faced man was positive there was no way Peter could pretend to marry Jenny and not have the marriage count.

He might get himself into no end of trouble and certainly he would be ruined as a spy. What he must do was to pay the girl some money and send her somewhere to get fixed up. McGivney would find out the name of a doctor to do the job. Yes, but what excuse can I give her? cried Peter.

I mean, why don't I marry her? Make something up, said McGivney. Why not have a wife already? Then seeing Peter's look of dismay, sure you can fix that. I'll get you one if you need her, but you won't have to take that trouble.

Just tell your girl a hard luck story. You've got a wife. You thought you could get free from her, but now you find you can't. Your wife's got wind of what you're doing here and she's trying to blackmail you. Fix it up so your girl can't do anything on account of hurting the goober defense.

If she's really sincere about it, she won't disgrace you. Maybe she won't even tell her sister. Peter hated to do anything like that. He had a vision of little Jenny lying on the sofa in his sterics as he had left her and he dreaded the long emotional scene that would be necessary.

However, it seemed that he must go through with it. There was no better way that he could think of. Also, he must be quick, because in a couple of hours Sadie would be coming home from work and it might be too late. Section 25

Peter hurried back to the Todd home and there was white-faced little Jenny lying on the bed still sobbing. One would think she might have used up her surplus stock of emotions, but no, there is never any limit to the emotions a woman can pour out. As soon as Peter got fairly started on the humiliating confession that he had a wife,

little Jenny sprang up from the bed with a terrified shriek and confronted him with a face like the ghost of an escaped lunatic. Peter tried to explain that it wasn't his fault. He had really expected to be free any day. But Jenny only clasped her hands to her forehead and screamed,

You have to save me! You have betrayed me! It was just like a scene in the movies, the bored little devil inside Peter was whispering. He tried to take her hand and reason with her, but she sprang away from him, she rushed to the other side of the room and stood there, staring at him as if she were some wild thing

that he had in a corner and was threatening to kill. She made so much noise that he was afraid that she would bring the neighbours in. He had to point out to her that if this matter became public, he would be ruined forever as a witness and thus she might be the means of sending Jim Goober to the gallows. Thereupon Jenny fell silent and it was possible for Peter to get in a word.

He told her of the intrigues against him. The other side had sent somebody to him and offered him $10,000 if he would sell out the Goober defence. Now since he had refused, they were trying to blackmail him using his wife. They had somehow come to suspect that he was involved in a love affair and this was to

be the means of ruining him. Jenny still would not let Peter touch her, but she consented to sit down quietly in a chair and figure out what they were going to do. Whatever happened, she said, they must do no harm to the Goober case. Peter had done her a monstrous wrong in keeping the truth from her, but she would suffer the

penalty whatever it might be. She would never involve him. Peter started to explain. Perhaps it wasn't so serious as she feared. He had been thinking things over.

He knew where Pericles Priam, his old employer, was living and Pericles was rich now and Peter felt sure that he could borrow $200 and there were places where little Jenny could go. There were ways to get her out of this trouble. But little Jenny stopped him. She was only a child in some ways, but in others she was a mature woman.

She had strange fixed ideas and when you ran into them it was like running into a stone wall. She would not hear of the idea Peter suggested. It would be murder. Nonsense, said Peter, echoing McGivney.

It's nothing. Everybody does it. But Jenny was apparently not listening. She sat staring with her wild, terrified eyes and pulling at her dress with her fingers. Peter got to watching these fingers and they got on his nerves.

They behaved like insane fingers. They manifested all the emotions which the rest of little Jenny was choking back and repressing. If you would only not take it so seriously, Peter pleaded. It's a miserable accident, but it's happened and now we've got to make the best of it. Someday I'll get free.

Someday I'll marry you. Stop, Peter, the girl whispered in her tense voice. I don't want to talk to you anymore if that's all you have to say. I don't know that I'd be willing to marry you now that I know you could deceive me, that you could go on deceiving me day after day for months.

Peter thought she was going to break out into hysterics again and he was frightened. He tried to plead with her, but suddenly she sprang up. Go away, she exclaimed. Please go away and let me alone. I'll think it over and decide what to do myself.

Whatever I do, I won't disgrace you, so leave me alone. Go quickly.