The money returns on the stocks or shares he had been induced to buy had been ample evidence of that, He had dealt through one broker and another, having failed to get in on the original corporate organizations.
He wanted to pick up such stock as he could in one organization and another, for he believed they all had a future, and most of all he wanted to get control of a line or two.

In connection with this idea he was looking for some reliable young man, honest and capable, who would work under his direction and do what he said.

Then he learned of Cowperwood, and one day sent for him and asked him to call at his house.
Cowperwood responded quickly, for he knew of Butler, his rise, his connections, his force.

He called at the house as directed, one cold, crisp February morning.

He remembered the appearance of the street afterward--broad, brick-paved sidewalks, macadamized roadway, powdered over with a light snow and set with young, leafless, scrubby trees and lamp-posts.