accept his offer, and I shall try and tell you why later, gentlemen.  For the present we will proceed with the testimony, and for the defense all I ask is that you give very close attention to all that is testified to here to-day.  Listen very carefully to Mr. W. C. Davison when he is put on the stand.  Listen equally carefully to Mr. Cowperwood when we call him to testify.  Follow the other testimony closely, and then you will be able to judge for yourselves.  See if you can distinguish a just motive for this prosecution.  I can’t.  I am very much obliged to you for listening to me, gentlemen, so attentively.”

He then put on Arthur Rivers, who had acted for Cowperwood on ’change as special agent during the panic, to testify to the large quantities of city loan he had purchased to stay the market; and then after him, Cowperwood’s brothers, Edward and Joseph, who testified to instructions received from Rivers as to buying and selling city loan on that occasion—­principally buying.

The next witness was President W. C. Davison of the Girard National Bank.  He was a large man physically, not so round of body as full and broad.  His shoulders and chest were ample.  He had a big blond head, with an ample breadth of forehead, which was high and sane-looking.  He had a thick, squat nose, which, however, was forceful, and thin, firm, even lips.  There was the faintest touch of cynical humor in his hard blue eyes at times; but mostly he was friendly, alert, placid-looking, without seeming in the least sentimental or even kindly.  His business, as one could see plainly, was to insist on hard financial facts, and one could see also how he would naturally be drawn to Frank Algernon Cowperwood without being mentally dominated or upset by him.  As he took the chair very quietly, and yet one might say significantly, it was obvious that he felt that this sort of legal-financial palaver was above the average man and beneath the dignity of a true financier—­in other words, a bother.  The drowsy Sparkheaver holding up a Bible beside him for him to swear by might as well have been a block of wood.  His oath was a personal matter with him.  It was good business to tell the truth at times.  His testimony was very direct and very simple.

He had known Mr. Frank Algernon Cowperwood for nearly ten years.  He had done business with or through him nearly all of that time.  He knew nothing of his personal relations with Mr. Stener, and did not know Mr. Stener personally.  As for the particular check of sixty thousand dollars—­yes, he had seen it before.  It had come into the bank on October 10th along with other collateral to offset an overdraft on the part of Cowperwood & Co.  It was placed to the credit of Cowperwood & Co. on the books of the bank, and the bank secured the cash through the clearing-house.  No money was drawn out of the bank by Cowperwood & Co. after that to create an overdraft.  The bank’s account with Cowperwood was squared.