WEBVTT NOTE XVI. Gate of Enigma 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.000 Chapter 16. Gate of Enigma. 2 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:10.000 1. And now began the last phase of his career. 3 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:17.000 Lying there in that state, unable so much as to raise his hand, with a mind all but disembodied, 4 00:00:17.000 --> 00:00:21.000 he intended his thoughts to the passion that ruled him still. 5 00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:26.000 The doctors warned him that it would be extremely dangerous to exercise his mind. 6 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:29.000 It would cause the threat of life to part. 7 00:00:29.000 --> 00:00:33.240 That made no difference. What was the threat of life for? 8 00:00:33.240 --> 00:00:36.760 Three times a week, Mordecai came to talk with him. 9 00:00:36.760 --> 00:00:40.280 These visits, beginning naturally as between friends, 10 00:00:40.280 --> 00:00:44.440 soon became conferences of a consequential character between principal 11 00:00:44.440 --> 00:00:48.680 and banker. They examined problems, discussed measures, 12 00:00:48.680 --> 00:00:53.960 evolved policies and spent hours, sometimes whole days, together. 13 00:00:53.960 --> 00:00:57.720 Mordecai became Galt's self-objectified. 14 00:00:57.720 --> 00:01:04.160 He executed his will, promulgated his ideas, represented him in all situations. 15 00:01:04.160 --> 00:01:08.840 He sat for him at board meetings and in general Wall Street councils. 16 00:01:08.840 --> 00:01:12.140 This became soon an institutional fact. 17 00:01:12.140 --> 00:01:17.480 No business of a high nature proceeded far in Wall Street until Mordecai was asked, 18 00:01:17.480 --> 00:01:19.440 What does Mr. Galt say? 19 00:01:19.440 --> 00:01:22.160 Or what would Mr. Galt think? 20 00:01:22.160 --> 00:01:27.080 A paralyzed hand ruled the world of finance. 21 00:01:27.080 --> 00:01:29.720 Walt's mind was clear and insatiable. 22 00:01:29.720 --> 00:01:32.880 It comprehended both details and principles. 23 00:01:32.880 --> 00:01:39.440 He directed minutely the expenditure of that 500 millions and verified his own prophecy. 24 00:01:39.440 --> 00:01:46.160 The outlay of this vast sum upon railroad works averted a period of industrial depression. 25 00:01:46.160 --> 00:01:49.320 I remained permanently at Moonstuhl. 26 00:01:49.320 --> 00:01:54.160 The room in which at first I had established merely a point of contact with the outside 27 00:01:54.160 --> 00:01:59.640 World to meet such emergencies as might arise became a regular office. 28 00:01:59.640 --> 00:02:03.580 We installed news printing machines and direct telephones. 29 00:02:03.580 --> 00:02:08.460 Stock exchange quotations were received by a private telegraph wire. 30 00:02:08.460 --> 00:02:13.980 We had presently a staff of clerks, typists and statisticians, all living in the house 31 00:02:13.980 --> 00:02:16.060 and keeping hours. 32 00:02:16.060 --> 00:02:21.920 The personnel of this singular organization included one fresco painter. 33 00:02:21.920 --> 00:02:26.000 More than anything else, Galt missed his maps and charts. 34 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:30.160 A map of any portion of the Earth's surface enthralled him. 35 00:02:30.160 --> 00:02:33.500 The act of gazing at it stimulated his thoughts. 36 00:02:33.500 --> 00:02:39.320 And statistical charts, those diagrams in which quantities, ratios and velocities are 37 00:02:39.320 --> 00:02:44.060 symbolized by lines that rise and fall in curves. 38 00:02:44.060 --> 00:02:48.320 These were to him what mathematical symbols are to an astronomer. 39 00:02:48.320 --> 00:02:51.400 He could not think easily without them. 40 00:02:51.400 --> 00:02:58.520 We had tried various devices for getting maps and charts before him, and they were all unsatisfactory. 41 00:02:58.520 --> 00:03:02.560 One day he said, I can look at the ceiling and walls without effort. 42 00:03:02.560 --> 00:03:04.820 Why not put them there? 43 00:03:04.820 --> 00:03:09.480 But we could not get maps large enough to show from the ceiling, and there was a similar 44 00:03:09.480 --> 00:03:14.320 difficulty about charts, even though we drew them ourselves. 45 00:03:14.320 --> 00:03:16.620 Then we thought of painting them. 46 00:03:16.620 --> 00:03:22.080 We found a fresco painter possessing the rudiments of the peculiar kind of intelligence required 47 00:03:22.080 --> 00:03:26.020 for such work, and then trained him to it. 48 00:03:26.020 --> 00:03:30.300 We painted a map of the world in two hemispheres on the ceiling. 49 00:03:30.300 --> 00:03:35.380 The United States had to be carefully put in, with the great Midwestern system showing 50 00:03:35.380 --> 00:03:37.860 in bold red lines. 51 00:03:37.860 --> 00:03:42.620 On the walls, we painted statistical charts to the number of eight. 52 00:03:42.620 --> 00:03:47.180 Several were permanent, such as the one showing the combined earnings of the Galt Railroad 53 00:03:47.180 --> 00:03:51.260 properties and another, the state of general business. 54 00:03:51.260 --> 00:03:56.980 They had only to be touched up from time to time as new statistics came in. 55 00:03:56.980 --> 00:04:02.220 Others were ephemeral, serving to illustrate some problem his mind was working on. 56 00:04:02.220 --> 00:04:06.860 They were frequently painted out and new ones put in their place. 57 00:04:06.860 --> 00:04:12.100 Under these conditions, gazing for hours at the world map, he conceived a project which 58 00:04:12.100 --> 00:04:15.940 which was destined to survive him in the form of an idea. 59 00:04:15.940 --> 00:04:19.260 If he had lived, it might have been realized. 60 00:04:19.260 --> 00:04:25.380 This was a pan-American railroad, a vertical system of land transportation articulating 61 00:04:25.380 --> 00:04:28.440 the North and South American continents. 62 00:04:28.440 --> 00:04:30.580 It was painted there on the ceiling. 63 00:04:30.580 --> 00:04:33.700 Mordecai saw it and wept. 64 00:04:33.700 --> 00:04:38.100 How easily the mind accommodates itself to any situation. 65 00:04:38.100 --> 00:04:43.660 In a short time all of this seemed quite natural because it was taking place. 66 00:04:43.660 --> 00:04:49.240 Having accepted Galt as a dynast in the flesh, Wall Street now accepted him as an invisible 67 00:04:49.240 --> 00:04:55.580 force pervading all its affairs, as if it might go on that way forever. 68 00:04:55.580 --> 00:05:01.420 Through Mordecai it solicited his advice and opinion on matters that were not his. 69 00:05:01.420 --> 00:05:05.180 Once Mordecai brought him the problem of a railroad that was in trouble. 70 00:05:05.180 --> 00:05:07.900 He bought the railroad to save it from bankruptcy. 71 00:05:07.900 --> 00:05:13.300 People, seeing this, began to think he was not ill at all, but preferred to work in a 72 00:05:13.300 --> 00:05:15.460 mysterious manner. 73 00:05:15.460 --> 00:05:21.740 Great Midwestern stock, meanwhile, was rising, always rising, and touched at last the fabulous 74 00:05:21.740 --> 00:05:25.220 price of $300 a share. 75 00:05:25.220 --> 00:05:31.060 Faith in it now was as unreasoning as distrust of it had once been. 76 00:05:31.060 --> 00:05:32.860 2. 77 00:05:32.860 --> 00:05:37.140 Galt entertained no thought of malice toward his old enemies. 78 00:05:37.140 --> 00:05:40.180 Proof of this was dramatic and unexpected. 79 00:05:40.180 --> 00:05:44.180 A servant came up one afternoon with the name of Bullgard. 80 00:05:44.180 --> 00:05:45.980 I could hardly believe it. 81 00:05:45.980 --> 00:05:51.500 I found him standing in the middle of the hall, just inside the door, a large, impenetrable 82 00:05:51.500 --> 00:05:55.140 figure, giving one the impression of immovable purpose. 83 00:05:55.140 --> 00:05:57.740 I had never seen him before. 84 00:05:57.740 --> 00:06:03.060 I wish to see Mr. Galt, he said, in a voice like a tempered north wind. 85 00:06:03.060 --> 00:06:04.780 Nobody sees him, you know. 86 00:06:04.780 --> 00:06:07.220 I must see him, he replied. 87 00:06:07.220 --> 00:06:08.500 I will ask him. 88 00:06:08.500 --> 00:06:10.000 Is it a matter of business? 89 00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:12.900 It is very personal, he said. 90 00:06:12.900 --> 00:06:17.780 The way he said this gave me suddenly a glimpse of his hidden character. 91 00:06:17.780 --> 00:06:23.980 Beneath that terrifying aspect, back of that glowering under which strong men quailed, 92 00:06:23.980 --> 00:06:29.180 A More Shy Human Gentleness Than Would Be Easily Imagined 93 00:06:29.180 --> 00:06:30.660 Galt received him. 94 00:06:30.660 --> 00:06:33.420 They were alone together for a full hour. 95 00:06:33.420 --> 00:06:35.940 What passed between them will never be known. 96 00:06:35.940 --> 00:06:41.260 I waited in the library room, one removed from Galt's bedchamber, and saw a bullguard 97 00:06:41.260 --> 00:06:42.260 leave. 98 00:06:42.260 --> 00:06:47.500 He passed me unawares, looking straight ahead of him, as one in a hypnotic trance. 99 00:06:47.500 --> 00:06:53.940 Outside, he forgot his car and went stalking down the drive in that same unseeing manner, 100 00:06:53.940 --> 00:07:23.940 3. One of the minor triumphs of this time was the collapse of the social feud. Mrs. Valentine's subjects began to revolt. Society made definite overtures to the Galt women, but nobody now cared. Mrs. Galt and Natalie lived only for Galt, 101 00:07:23.940 --> 00:07:27.740 and they were the two who would, in any case, be interested. 102 00:07:27.740 --> 00:07:30.460 Mrs. Galt was his silent companion. 103 00:07:30.460 --> 00:07:36.380 Natalie was his Mercury, going errands swiftly between his bedchamber and the office. 104 00:07:36.380 --> 00:07:41.260 She was absorbed in what went on, and a good deal of it she understood in an imaginative 105 00:07:41.260 --> 00:07:42.580 manner. 106 00:07:42.580 --> 00:07:47.340 Coming with a message from Galt, perhaps a request for information or data, she would 107 00:07:47.340 --> 00:07:53.480 often sit at my desk to hear or see the results, saying, I feel so stupid when I don't know 108 00:07:53.480 --> 00:08:03.480 In the evening, as we might be walking or driving together, she would review the transactions of the day and get them all explained. 109 00:08:03.480 --> 00:08:11.480 Vera lived in New York at her studio, but came often to Moonstuhl. Her engagement to Lord Porteous was renewed. 110 00:08:11.480 --> 00:08:16.480 She spoke to me about it one evening on the West Terrace after sunset. 111 00:08:16.480 --> 00:08:22.980 You were right about Lord Porteous, she said. He refused from the beginning to consider our engagement broken. 112 00:08:22.980 --> 00:08:30.980 Of course, I said. That was evidently not what she expected me to say. She gave me a slow, sidewise look. 113 00:08:30.980 --> 00:08:37.480 I'm very glad, I added, making it worse. We took several turns in silence. 114 00:08:37.480 --> 00:08:44.480 Why are you glad, she asked, in a tone she seldom used. Isn't that what I should say? 115 00:08:44.480 --> 00:08:50.520 I don't know what I was thinking, nor why I am glad. 116 00:08:50.520 --> 00:08:55.400 We stood for a long time, a little apart, watching the afterglow. 117 00:08:55.400 --> 00:08:56.400 She shivered. 118 00:08:56.400 --> 00:08:58.920 I am cold, she said. 119 00:08:58.920 --> 00:09:01.320 Let's go in, please. 120 00:09:01.320 --> 00:09:03.200 4. 121 00:09:03.200 --> 00:09:08.440 The next day, in the midst of a conference with Mordecai, Galt's eyes closed. 122 00:09:08.440 --> 00:09:10.360 The doctor was in the house. 123 00:09:10.360 --> 00:09:13.020 He shook his head knowingly. 124 00:09:13.020 --> 00:09:18.640 There followed a fortnight of horrible suspense. Most of the time we did not know at a given 125 00:09:18.640 --> 00:09:25.100 moment whether he was alive or dead. Once, for three days, he did not open his eyes and 126 00:09:25.100 --> 00:09:30.160 we thought it was over. Then he looked at us again and we knew he had been conscious 127 00:09:30.160 --> 00:09:36.440 all the time. The faculty of speech never returned. There would be a rumor that he was 128 00:09:36.440 --> 00:09:42.340 dead and prices would fall on the stock exchange, then a rumor that he wasn't and prices would 129 00:09:42.340 --> 00:09:52.340 The newspapers established a death watch in the private Galt station and kept reporters there day and night to flash the news away. 130 00:09:52.340 --> 00:10:00.340 To keep them from the house, I had to promise them solemnly that I would send word down promptly if the fatality happened. 131 00:10:00.340 --> 00:10:07.340 Mrs. Galt and Natalie watched alternately. One or the other sat at his bedside all the time. 132 00:10:07.340 --> 00:10:13.340 One evening, about 8 o'clock, I was sharing the vigil with Natalie when Galt opened his eyes. 133 00:10:13.340 --> 00:10:24.340 We were sitting on opposite sides of his bed. He looked from one of us to the other slowly, several times, and then fixed a wanting expression on me. 134 00:10:24.340 --> 00:10:32.340 I knew what he wanted without asking. Natalie knew also. It concerned us deeply, uniting our lives. 135 00:10:32.340 --> 00:10:33.340 of Life. 136 00:10:33.340 --> 00:10:37.040 Yet at that moment we were hardly conscious of ourselves. 137 00:10:37.040 --> 00:10:42.740 What thrilled us was the thought of something we should do for him because he wanted it. 138 00:10:42.740 --> 00:10:45.760 I put out my hand to her across the bed. 139 00:10:45.760 --> 00:10:47.380 She clasped it firmly. 140 00:10:47.380 --> 00:10:50.580 That is what you mean, I said. 141 00:10:50.580 --> 00:10:53.040 Yes, he answered. 142 00:10:53.040 --> 00:10:55.760 A flood of recollection swept through me. 143 00:10:55.760 --> 00:11:00.600 I saw Natalie all the way back to girlhood to that night of our first meeting in her 144 00:11:00.600 --> 00:11:02.140 father's house. 145 00:11:02.140 --> 00:11:05.060 I could not remember when I had not loved her. 146 00:11:05.060 --> 00:11:10.260 I saw everything that had happened between us, saw it in sunlight, and wondered how I 147 00:11:10.260 --> 00:11:12.780 could have been so unaware. 148 00:11:12.780 --> 00:11:18.900 Trifling incidents almost forgotten became suddenly luminous, precious, and significant. 149 00:11:18.900 --> 00:11:23.020 And this instant had been from the beginning, appointed. 150 00:11:23.020 --> 00:11:29.940 Natalie, still clasping my hand, leaned far over and gazed intently into his eyes. 151 00:11:29.940 --> 00:11:36.060 You want me to marry Coxie, she asked, in a tone of caressing anxiety, which seemed wholly 152 00:11:36.060 --> 00:11:39.340 unconscious of me, almost excluding? 153 00:11:39.340 --> 00:11:45.540 Yes, he answered, repeating it several times, if that may be understood. 154 00:11:45.540 --> 00:11:48.040 The answer lingered in his eyes. 155 00:11:48.040 --> 00:11:54.820 Then they closed slowly, as ponderous gates swinged too, against his utmost will. 156 00:11:54.820 --> 00:11:57.800 And they never opened again. 157 00:11:57.800 --> 00:12:00.640 He was buried in the side of Moonstuhl. 158 00:12:00.640 --> 00:12:04.600 All of his great enemies came to assist at the obsequies. 159 00:12:04.600 --> 00:12:06.920 Bullgard was one of the pallbearers.