he had nothing to depend on save his experience as an insurance agent and real-estate dealer.  That had been precarious enough in the days when he was trying to get some small political foothold.  How would it be when he was known only as the man who had looted the treasury of five hundred thousand dollars and been sent to the penitentiary for five years?  Who would lend him the money wherewith to get a little start, even so much as four or five thousand dollars?  The people who were calling to pay their respects now and then, and to assure him that he had been badly treated?  Never.  All of them could honestly claim that they had not so much to spare.  If he had good security to offer—­yes; but if he had good security he would not need to go to them at all.  The man who would have actually helped him if he had only known was Frank A. Cowperwood.  Stener could have confessed his mistake, as Cowperwood saw it, and Cowperwood would have given him the money gladly, without any thought of return.  But by his poor understanding of human nature, Stener considered that Cowperwood must be an enemy of his, and he would not have had either the courage or the business judgment to approach him.

During his incarceration Cowperwood had been slowly accumulating a little money through Wingate.  He had paid Steger considerable sums from time to time, until that worthy finally decided that it would not be fair to take any more.

“If ever you get on your feet, Frank,” he said, “you can remember me if you want to, but I don’t think you’ll want to.  It’s been nothing but lose, lose, lose for you through me.  I’ll undertake this matter of getting that appeal to the Governor without any charge on my part.  Anything I can do for you from now on is free gratis for nothing.”

“Oh, don’t talk nonsense, Harper,” replied Cowperwood.  “I don’t know of anybody that could have done better with my case.  Certainly there isn’t anybody that I would have trusted as much.  I don’t like lawyers you know.”

“Yes—­well,” said Steger, “they’ve got nothing on financiers, so we’ll call it even.”  And they shook hands.

So when it was finally decided to pardon Stener, which was in the early part of March, 1873—­Cowperwood’s pardon was necessarily but gingerly included.  A delegation, consisting of Strobik, Harmon, and Winpenny, representing, as it was intended to appear, the unanimous wishes of the council and the city administration, and speaking for Mollenhauer and Simpson, who had given their consent, visited the Governor at Harrisburg and made the necessary formal representations which were intended to impress the public.  At the same time, through the agency of Steger, Davison, and Walter Leigh, the appeal in behalf of Cowperwood was made.  The Governor, who had had instructions beforehand from sources quite superior to this committee, was very solemn about the whole procedure.  He would take the matter under advisement.  He would look into