appear properly righteous.  Beyond that he was to be left to the mercy of the governor, who could ease things up for him if he chose, and if the leaders wished.  In the silly mind of the general public the various judges of Quarter Sessions, like girls incarcerated in boarding-schools, were supposed in their serene aloofness from life not to know what was going on in the subterranean realm of politics; but they knew well enough, and, knowing particularly well from whence came their continued position and authority, they were duly grateful.

Chapter XL

When Cowperwood came into the crowded courtroom with his father and Steger, quite fresh and jaunty (looking the part of the shrewd financier, the man of affairs), every one stared.  It was really too much to expect, most of them thought, that a man like this would be convicted.  He was, no doubt, guilty; but, also, no doubt, he had ways and means of evading the law.  His lawyer, Harper Steger, looked very shrewd and canny to them.  It was very cold, and both men wore long, dark, bluish-gray overcoats, cut in the latest mode.  Cowperwood was given to small boutonnieres in fair weather, but to-day he wore none.  His tie, however, was of heavy, impressive silk, of lavender hue, set with a large, clear, green emerald.  He wore only the thinnest of watch-chains, and no other ornament of any kind.  He always looked jaunty and yet reserved, good-natured, and yet capable and self-sufficient.  Never had he looked more so than he did to-day.

He at once took in the nature of the scene, which had a peculiar interest for him.  Before him was the as yet empty judge’s rostrum, and at its right the empty jury-box, between which, and to the judge’s left, as he sat facing the audience, stood the witness-chair where he must presently sit and testify.  Behind it, already awaiting the arrival of the court, stood a fat bailiff, one John Sparkheaver whose business it was to present the aged, greasy Bible to be touched by the witnesses in making oath, and to say, “Step this way,” when the testimony was over.  There were other bailiffs—­one at the gate giving into the railed space before the judge’s desk, where prisoners were arraigned, lawyers sat or pleaded, the defendant had a chair, and so on; another in the aisle leading to the jury-room, and still another guarding the door by which the public entered.  Cowperwood surveyed Stener, who was one of the witnesses, and who now, in his helpless fright over his own fate, was without malice toward any one.  He had really never borne any.  He wished if anything now that he had followed Cowperwood’s advice, seeing where he now was, though he still had faith that Mollenhauer and the political powers represented by him would do something for him with the governor, once he was sentenced.  He was very pale and comparatively thin.  Already he had lost that ruddy bulk which had been added during the days of his prosperity.  He wore a new gray suit and a brown tie, and was clean-shaven.  When his eye caught Cowperwood’s steady beam, it faltered and drooped.  He rubbed his ear foolishly.  Cowperwood nodded.