t think it will, the charge
would be embezzlement or perhaps larceny as bailee. In this instance,
you were the bailee. And the only way out of that would be to swear that
you had received the check with Stener's knowledge and consent. Then it
would only be a technical charge of irresponsibility on your part, as I
see it, and I don't believe any jury would convict you on the evidence
of how this relationship was conducted. Still, it might; you never can
tell what a jury is going to do. All this would have to come out at a
trial, however. The whole thing, it seems to me, would depend on which
of you two--yourself or Stener--the jury would be inclined to believe,
and on how anxious this city crowd is to find a scapegoat for Stener.
This coming election is the rub. If this panic had come at any other
time--"

Cowperwood waved for silence. He knew all about that. "It all depends
on what the politicians decide to do. I'm doubtful. The situation is too
complicated. It can't be hushed up." They were in his private office at
his house. "What will be will be," he added.

"What would that mean, Harper, legally, if I were tried on a charge of
larceny as bailee, as you put it, and convicted? How many years in the
penitentiary at the outside?"

Steger thought a minute, rubbing his chin with his hand. "Let me see,"
he said, "that is a serious question, isn't it? The law says one to
five years at the outside; but the sentences usually average from one to
three years in embezzlement cases. Of course, in this case--"

"I know all about that," interrupted Cowperwood, irritably. "My case
isn't any different from the others, and you know it. Embezzlement
is embezzlement if the politicians want to have it so." He fell to
thinking, and Steger got up and strolled about leisurely. He was
thinking also.

"And would I have to go to jail at any time during the
proceedings--before a final adjustment of the case by the higher
courts?" Cowperwood added, directly, grimly, after a time.

"Yes, there is one point in all legal procedure of the kind," replied
Steger, cautiously, now rubbing his ear and trying to put the matter as
delicately as possible. "You can avoid jail sentences all through
the earlier parts of a case like this; but if you are once tried and
convicted it's pretty hard to do anything--as a matter of fact, it
becomes absolutely necessary then to go to jail for a few days, five
or so, pending the motion for a new trial and the obt