e, or ten days, if it will do you any good.
Shannon won't make any objection to that, I'm sure. There's only one
hitch. Jaspers will be around here tomorrow looking for you. It's his
duty to take you into custody again, once he's notified that your appeal
has been denied. He'll be wanting to lock you up unless you pay him,
but we can fix that. If you do want to wait, and want any time off,
I suppose he'll arrange to let you out with a deputy; but I'm afraid
you'll have to stay there nights. They're pretty strict about that since
that Albertson case of a few years ago."

Steger referred to the case of a noted bank cashier who, being let out
of the county jail at night in the alleged custody of a deputy, was
permitted to escape. There had been emphatic and severe condemnation of
the sheriff's office at the time, and since then, repute or no repute,
money or no money, convicted criminals were supposed to stay in the
county jail at night at least.

Cowperwood meditated this calmly, looking out of the lawyer's window
into Second Street. He did not much fear anything that might happen
to him in Jaspers's charge since his first taste of that gentleman's
hospitality, although he did object to spending nights in the county
jail when his general term of imprisonment was being reduced no whit
thereby. All that he could do now in connection with his affairs, unless
he could have months of freedom, could be as well adjusted from a prison
cell as from his Third Street office--not quite, but nearly so. Anyhow,
why parley? He was facing a prison term, and he might as well accept it
without further ado. He might take a day or two finally to look after
his affairs; but beyond that, why bother?

"When, in the ordinary course of events, if you did nothing at all,
would I come up for sentence?"

"Oh, Friday or Monday, I fancy," replied Steger. "I don't know what move
Shannon is planning to make in this matter. I thought I'd walk around
and see him in a little while."

"I think you'd better do that," replied Cowperwood. "Friday or Monday
will suit me, either way. I'm really not particular. Better make it
Monday if you can. You don't suppose there is any way you can induce
Jaspers to keep his hands off until then? He knows I'm perfectly
responsible."

"I don't know, Frank, I'm sure; I'll see. I'll go around and talk to him
to-night. Perhaps a hundred dollars will make him relax the rigor of his
rules that much."

Cowperwood smiled gr