ration,
brought him the morning papers, and these, except for the financial
news, he read indifferently. Late in the afternoon Steger arrived,
saying he had been busy having certain proceedings postponed, but that
he had arranged with the sheriff for Cowperwood to be permitted to see
such of those as had important business with him.

By this time, Cowperwood had written Aileen under no circumstances to
try to see him, as he would be out by the tenth, and that either that
day, or shortly after, they would meet. As he knew, she wanted greatly
to see him, but he had reason to believe she was under surveillance by
detectives employed by her father. This was not true, but it was preying
on her fancy, and combined with some derogatory remarks dropped by Owen
and Callum at the dinner table recently, had proved almost too much for
her fiery disposition. But, because of Cowperwood's letter reaching her
at the Calligans', she made no move until she read on the morning of the
tenth that Cowperwood's plea for a certificate of reasonable doubt had
been granted, and that he would once more, for the time being at least,
be a free man. This gave her courage to do what she had long wanted to
do, and that was to teach her father that she could get along without
him and that he could not make her do anything she did not want to do.
She still had the two hundred dollars Cowperwood had given her and some
additional cash of her own--perhaps three hundred and fifty dollars in
all. This she thought would be sufficient to see her to the end of her
adventure, or at least until she could make some other arrangement for
her personal well-being. From what she knew of the feeling of her family
for her, she felt that the agony would all be on their side, not hers.
Perhaps when her father saw how determined she was he would decide to
let her alone and make peace with her. She was determined to try it,
anyhow, and immediately sent word to Cowperwood that she was going to
the Calligans and would welcome him to freedom.

In a way, Cowperwood was rather gratified by Aileen's message, for
he felt that his present plight, bitter as it was, was largely due to
Butler's opposition and he felt no compunction in striking him through
his daughter. His former feeling as to the wisdom of not enraging Butler
had proved rather futile, he thought, and since the old man could not be
placated it might be just as well to have Aileen demonstrate to him that
she was not w