The Delta independent., 1896-08-12

be doing the talking. Tell me about
yourself. What do you do in London ?''
Il work hard. 1 am an accountant"
And what is an accountant? What
does he do? Keep accounts?''
"Some of them do; do not. see,
rather, that accounts other people keep
hnve been correctly kept"
aren't they always correctly kept:
were hired for"
IF books We're always correctly kept
there would be little for us to DO; but
il happens, unfortunately for some but
fortunately for us, that people occa-
sionuliy do not keep their accounts ac-
eurately."
"And can you always find that out il
you examine the books?"
Always"
Cant n man make his accounts so
that no one can tell that there is any
thing wrong?"
'The belief that such a thing can be
done has placed many q poor wretch in
prison. 1t has been tried often enough"
Il am sure they can do it in the states.
have read of ii being done and con-
tnued for years. Men have made or
with great sums of money by falsify-
ing the books, and no one found it out
until the one who did it died or ran
away"
Nevertheless. IL an expert tnccountant
hnd been called in he would have found
out very soon that something was
wrong. and just where the wrong was
and how much"
Il didn't think such cleverness pos
sible. Have you ever discovered any
thing like that?"
~ have"
what is done when such q thing is
discovered?"
THAT depends upon circumstances.
Usually policeman is called in"
why, it's like being IA detective. j
wish you would tell me about some Of
the cases you have had. Don't make me
ask too many questions. Talk"
II don't think my experiences would
interest you i'll the least. There was one
case with which had something to do
IN London two years ago that"
"Oh, London. Idon't believe the book
keepers there are half so sharp as ours.
If you had to deal with American nc
countauts you would not find out SO
easily what they had OF had not done"
well, Miss Brewster. what tell you
is, of course, in confidence. wouldn't
whisper it to any body else, but / may
say / have just had an experience of
that kind with some of your very sharp
est American bookkeepers. l found
that the books had been kept in the
most ingenious way, with the intent TO
deceive. The system had been going on
for years."
"How interesting. And did you call
in q Policeman"
"No. This was one of the cases where
q policeman was not necessary. The
books were kept with the object OF
showing that the profits Of the moi
the business-had been much greater
than they really were. l may say that
one of your American accountants lad
already looked over the books, and,
whether through ignorance or careless
ness, or from n worse motive, he re-
ported them all right. They were not
all right, and the fact that they were
not will mean the loss OF fortune to
some people on your side Of the water
and the saving Of good money to others
on my side"
Then think your profession must
be q very important one"
I'VE think SO. Miss Brewster. Iwould
like to be paid q percentage on the
money saved because Of my report"
And won't you?"
UNFORTUNATELY no."
II think that is too bad. Isuppose the
discrepancy must have been small. or
the American accountant would not
have overlookedit.
Ididn't say that he had overlooked it.
Still. the size Of the discrepancy does
not make the difference. A small error
is as easily found as large one. This
one was large. suppose there is no
harm in my saying that the books. TAX
ing them together, showed o profit Of
100000, when they should have shown
loss of nearly half that amount. I
hope nobody overhears me-"
'No; we are quite alone, and you may
be sure will not breathe word Of what
you have been telling me-"
Don't breathe it to Kenyon, at least.
He would think me insane il he knew
what have said"
'Is Mr.. Kenyon an accountant, too?"
"Oh, NO. He is . mineralogist. He can
go into q mine and tell with q reason
able certainty whether it will pay the
working of it or not. OF course, us he
says himself, any man can see six feet
into the earth rs well as he can. But it
is not every man that can gauge the
value Of q working mine SO well as John
Kenyon"
Then while you were delving among
the figures, your companion was dely-