The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-03-01
CHAPTER XVI.
An UItiunatum.

! An UItimatum. Settled at last in the luxurious up- l bo1stered seat of the palatial Pull man, Chester reverted to his old habit of soliloquy. The feeling of newness and pleasurable excitement attendant upon starting on any long l trip was intensified in this instance | by his recent experience. fHere I am,'' he said, as if trying to explain the situation to himself, ''sftting in the Twentieth Century ] Limited with a certified check for | twenty-five thousand dollars in my pocket, travelling about the United 1 States in order to build an electric | tramway where men experienced in l the business have failed. What I don't know about what I am about 1 to do would make a complete text l look the subject When I took up optimism es guide to life at the 1 suggestion of that little gambler I hardly realized where it was going to | land me. but I fancy that's going some since I bummed a free lunch off Jules Caesars friend. If con- tinued to live as rapidly as this, I'll be an old man before my time. That man Goldsmith certainly is as white as they make them. When am rich, I'll But he doesn't need money. He wouldn't be scattering around checks for twenty-five thou sand dollars in this reckless fashion if he were so awfully hard up. T.
  Twining before I left. wonder if I dare write to her. I had no definite appointment with her as an excuse. Well, Pm still too out of breath to write just at present anyway. "I wonder what Perry meant by his fooling about that five thousand dollars? Seems to me that I have cost him enough without that. Come to think of it he called me by my last name both this morning, and over tho telephone. Oh, thunder, he couldn't have been serious. I'll prob ably hear from him if there is any thing in it. I hope his investments with Goldsmith & E1kins come out all right. I don't know as much about them as I might, but I'll bet hat that Goldsmith is straight And then aloud: Porter, bring me some chicken sandwiches and a Scotch highbal1. I haven't had any IuncI.'
 this so1iloquy Perry Langham was at his bank inquiring if a check for five thousand dollars signed by him had come in.
 t.No, MT. Langham," replied the paying teller. after consulting his records. ''but if you have such 0 check out you are drawing it pretty fine. That's practically your entire balance.''
 CT know it, said Perry grossly. s.As long as it hasn't been deposited it is out of town, it will probably come in through the mails. Will you let me know when check for that amount comes in? want to see the endorsement.'
 twill you have memorandum of the number, the amount, the payee, and the date? You don't want to stop it?'
 Perry paused for moment to consider.
 .No," he said slowly, "I don't want to stopeit, but want it held until I see it."
 But Perry waited for days in vain to hear from the bank about the arrival of the check. The practice of kit1ng checks was not unknown to Monsieur Herve R1chepin. and just TOW he was keeping the amount in the air between Brussels and Paris, and was waiting till the last ditch before adding to his former clever forgery of the note which would land 'tentiary when it was discovered. For it was Richepin who had hit upon a plan of f1endish ingenuity by which he could not merely reproduce the writing of anyone of whose cf1fro- graphy he had 8 sample, but could actually transfer the writing itself from one piece of paper to another. The great New York mart of specu lation was tossing his fortunes to and fro, now tantalizing him with a gleam of hope that he would be able to retrieve all and suppress the check entirely, now casting him into depths of gloom when E1lkins began to look ominous over the slightness of his margins.
 In the meanwhile Miss May Fos-