ght to form a subsidiary silent
partnership with some man who was or would be well liked on 'change, and
whom he could use as a cat's-paw and a dummy.

Finally he hit upon a man who he thought would do. He did not amount to
much--had a small business; but he was honest, and he liked Cowperwood.
His name was Wingate--Stephen Wingate--and he was eking out a not too
robust existence in South Third Street as a broker. He was forty-five
years of age, of medium height, fairly thick-set, not at all
unprepossessing, and rather intelligent and active, but not too forceful
and pushing in spirit. He really needed a man like Cowperwood to make
him into something, if ever he was to be made. He had a seat on 'change,
and was well thought of; respected, but not so very prosperous. In times
past he had asked small favors of Cowperwood--the use of small loans at
a moderate rate of interest, tips, and so forth; and Cowperwood, because
he liked him and felt a little sorry for him, had granted them. Now
Wingate was slowly drifting down toward a none too successful old age,
and was as tractable as such a man would naturally be. No one for the
time being would suspect him of being a hireling of Cowperwood's, and
the latter could depend on him to execute his orders to the letter. He
sent for him and had a long conversation with him. He told him just what
the situation was, what he thought he could do for him as a partner, how
much of his business he would want for himself, and so on, and found him
agreeable.

"I'll be glad to do anything you say, Mr. Cowperwood," he assured the
latter. "I know whatever happens that you'll protect me, and there's
nobody in the world I would rather work with or have greater respect
for. This storm will all blow over, and you'll be all right. We can try
it, anyhow. If it don't work out you can see what you want to do about
it later."

And so this relationship was tentatively entered into and Cowperwood
began to act in a small way through Wingate.

Chapter XLVIII

By the time the State Supreme Court came to pass upon Cowperwood's plea
for a reversal of the lower court and the granting of a new trial, the
rumor of his connection with Aileen had spread far and wide. As has been
seen, it had done and was still doing him much damage. It confirmed the
impression, which the politicians had originally tried to create,
that Cowperwood was the true criminal and Stener the victim. His
semi-legitimate financ