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closely, nor had he talked to either of his confreres since the original conference between them.
"There haven't been any outside parties mixed up with this, have there?" His own shrewd,
political mind was working.
"No-o. I wouldn't call him an outside party, exactly, Senator," went on Butler suavely. "It's
Cowperwood himself I'm thinkin' of. There's somethin' that has come up since I saw you
gentlemen last that makes me think that perhaps that young man isn't as innocent as he might
be. It looks to me as though he was the ringleader in this business, as though he had been
leadin' Stener on against his will. I've been lookin' into the matter on me own account, and as far
as I can make out this man Stener isn't as much to blame as I thought. From all I can learn,
Cowperwood's been threatenin' Stener with one thing and another if he didn't give him more
money, and only the other day he got a big sum on false pretinses, which might make him
equally guilty with Stener. There's sixty-thousand dollars of city loan certificates that has been
paid for that aren't in the sinking-fund. And since the reputation of the party's in danger this fall, I
don't see that we need to have any particular consideration for him." He paused, strong in the
conviction that he had sent a most dangerous arrow flying in the direction of Cowperwood, as
indeed he had. Yet at this moment, both the Senator and Mollenhauer were not a little
surprised, seeing at their last meeting he had appeared rather friendly to the young banker, and
this recent discovery seemed scarcely any occasion for a vicious attitude on his part.
Mollenhauer in particular was surprised, for he had been looking on Butler's friendship for
Cowperwood as a possible stumbling block.
"Um-m, you don't tell me," observed Senator Simpson, thoughtfully, stroking his mouth with his
pale hand.
"Yes, I can confirm that," said Mollenhauer, quietly, seeing his own little private plan of
browbeating Cowperwood out of his street-railway shares going glimmering. "I had a talk with
Stener the other day about this very matter, and he told me that Cowperwood had been trying to
force him to give him three hundred thousand dollars more, and that when he refused
Cowperwood managed to get sixty thousand dollars further without his knowledge or consent."
"How could he do that?" asked Senator Simpson, incredulously. Mollenhauer explained the
transaction.
Oh," said the Senator, when Mollenhauer had finished, "that indicates a rather sharp person,
doesn't it? And the certificates are not in the sinking-fund, eh?"
"They're not," chimed in Butler, with considerable enthusiasm.
"Well, I must say," said Simpson, rather relieved in his manner, "this looks like a rather good
thing than not to me. A scapegoat possibly. We need something like this. I see no reason under
the circumstances for trying to protect Mr. Cowperwood. We might as well try to make a point of
that, if we have to. The newspapers might just as well talk loud about that as anything else.
They are bound to talk; and if we give them the right angle, I think that the election might well
come and go before the matter could be reasonably cleared up, even though Mr. Wheat does
interfere. I will be glad to undertake to see what can be done with the papers."
"Well, that bein' the case," said Butler, "I don't see that there's so much more we can do now;
but I do think it will be a mistake if Cowperwood isn't punished with the other one. He's equally
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