Cowperwood walked briskly to the window, which gave out on the lawn in front, now embedded in snow, and said he thought this was all right.  Both his father and Steger were willing and anxious to confer with him for hours, if he wished; but there was nothing to say.  He did not wish to talk.

“Let Ed bring in some fresh linen in the morning and a couple of suits of clothes, and I will be all right.  George can get my things together.”  He was referring to a family servant who acted as valet and in other capacities.  “Tell Lillian not to worry.  I’m all right.  I’d rather she would not come here so long as I’m going to be out in five days.  If I’m not, it will be time enough then.  Kiss the kids for me.”  And he smiled good-naturedly.

After his unfulfilled predictions in regard to the result of this preliminary trial Steger was almost afraid to suggest confidently what the State Supreme Court would or would not do; but he had to say something.

“I don’t think you need worry about what the outcome of my appeal will be, Frank.  I’ll get a certificate of reasonable doubt, and that’s as good as a stay of two months, perhaps longer.  I don’t suppose the bail will be more than thirty thousand dollars at the outside.  You’ll be out again in five or six days, whatever happens.”

Cowperwood said that he hoped so, and suggested that they drop matters for the night.  After a few fruitless parleys his father and Steger finally said good night, leaving him to his own private reflections.  He was tired, however, and throwing off his clothes, tucked himself in his mediocre bed, and was soon fast asleep.

Chapter XLV

Say what one will about prison life in general, modify it ever so much by special chambers, obsequious turnkeys, a general tendency to make one as comfortable as possible, a jail is a jail, and there is no getting away from that.  Cowperwood, in a room which was not in any way inferior to that of the ordinary boarding-house, was nevertheless conscious of the character of that section of this real prison which was not yet his portion.  He knew that there were cells there, probably greasy and smelly and vermin-infested, and that they were enclosed by heavy iron bars, which would have as readily clanked on him as on those who were now therein incarcerated if he had not had the price to pay for something better.  So much for the alleged equality of man, he thought, which gave to one man, even within the grim confines of the machinery of justice, such personal liberty as he himself was now enjoying, and to another, because he chanced to lack wit or presence or friends or wealth, denied the more comfortable things which money would buy.