tention by Stener himself. It was
Mollenhauer, not Butler who saw that by taking advantage of Cowperwood's
situation, he might save the local party from blame, and at the same
time most likely fleece Cowperwood out of his street-railway shares
without letting Butler or Simpson know anything about it. The thing to
do was to terrorize him with a private threat of prosecution.

Butler was not long in arriving, and apologized for the delay.
Concealing his recent grief behind as jaunty an air as possible, he
began with:

"It's a lively life I'm leadin', what with every bank in the city
wantin' to know how their loans are goin' to be taken care of." He took
a cigar and struck a match.

"It does look a little threatening," said Senator Simpson, smiling. "Sit
down. I have just been talking with Avery Stone, of Jay Cooke & Company,
and he tells me that the talk in Third Street about Stener's connection
with this Cowperwood failure is growing very strong, and that the
newspapers are bound to take up the matter shortly, unless something is
done about it. I am sure that the news will also reach Mr. Wheat, of
the Citizens' Reform Association, very shortly. We ought to decide now,
gentlemen, what we propose to do. One thing, I am sure, is to eliminate
Stener from the ticket as quietly as possible. This really looks to me
as if it might become a very serious issue, and we ought to be doing
what we can now to offset its effect later."

Mollenhauer pulled a long breath through his cigar, and blew it out in
a rolling steel-blue cloud. He studied the tapestry on the opposite wall
but said nothing.

"There is one thing sure," continued Senator Simpson, after a time,
seeing that no one else spoke, "and that is, if we do not begin a
prosecution on our own account within a reasonable time, some one else
is apt to; and that would put rather a bad face on the matter. My own
opinion would be that we wait until it is very plain that prosecution is
going to be undertaken by some one else--possibly the Municipal Reform
Association--but that we stand ready to step in and act in such a way
as to make it look as though we had been planning to do it all the time.
The thing to do is to gain time; and so I would suggest that it be
made as difficult as possible to get at the treasurer's books.
An investigation there, if it begins at all--as I think is very
likely--should be very slow in producing the facts."

The Senator was not at all for mincing