The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1916-12-06

at the teller's window At last the boy
was at the head of the line He had
lying open, with voracious NAV, on the
ledge below the wicket for the greedy
teller not raise the wicket and shove out
the money in a coveted pile2 Carlton
seemed to feel that something was
at the end of the queue began to grow
FESTIVE at the delay. One of the bank $
officers walked down and spoke to the
boy.
Carlton waited no longer. The game
was up. He rushed from his coign of OBJ
servation out of the bank building, and
dashed into telephone booth
Quick, Constance" he shouted over
holding up our check. They have discov-
cred something. Take a cab and drive
slowly around the square. You will find
me waiting for you at the north end"
That night the newspapers were full of
the story There was the whole thing
exaggerated, distorted, multiplied, until
they had become swindlers of millions in
stead Of thousands. But nevertheless II
grain of consolation. 1t was the last para
graph of the news item: There seems
to be no trace of the man and the woman
who worked this clever swindle. As If
by telepathic message they have van
ished at just the time when their whole
house Of cards collapsed"
They removed every vestige of their
| was destroyed. Constance even began a
new water color so that that might sug-
gest that she had not laid aside her
| painting.
| lost. But the twenty thousand dollars
was something. Now the great problem
was to conceal it and themselves. They
had lost, yet il ever before they loved,
| ii was as nothing to what it was now
that they had tasted together he bitter
| and he sweet of their mutual crime.
Carbon went down to the office the next
day, just as before. The anxious hours
| that his wife had previously spent think
| ing whether he might betray himself by
some slip were comparative safety as
| contrasted with the uncertainty of the
hours now. But the first day after the
alarm of the discovery passed off all
right. Carlton even discussed the case,
his case, with those in the. office, com
| and carried it off, he felt proud to say.
as we'll as Constance herself might have
done had she been in his place.
1t was the afternoon of the second day
that a man who gave the name of Drum
| mond called and presented a card Of the
Reynolds Company.
Have you ever been paid little bill
of twenty-five dollars by our company"
he asked
Down in his heart Carlton knew that
| this man was detective. 81 can't say
| without looking 1t up he replied.
Carlton touched button and an assist
ant appeared Something outside himself
LooS up our account with REYNOLDS me sH and
see If we have been paid-what is ISL
bill for Twenty-Five dollars. Do you re-
call it?'
yes, recall it," replied the assistant.
/ mo, Mr.. Dunlap, / don't think it has
/ been paid. 1t is a small matter. but we
sent them a duplicate bill yesterday |
thought the original must have gone
/ astray.'
/ c-arl+o, ,r,.-aa L;,, ,--.,-s1 e.. -
ing the. bill. But then. he reasoned, it
/ was only a question of time. after ALL
when the forgery would be discovered.
/ Drummond dropped into a half-conf-
not Somewhere along the line that check
/ has been stolen and raised to twenty five
thousand dollars" he remarked.
rs that SOP gasped Carlton, trying
| hard to show just the right amount of
| surprise and not too much. rs that sop
/ mo doubt you have read in the papers
OF this clever realty company swtndle
/ Wen, 1t seems to have been part of that
ct am sure that we shall be glad to do
/ all in our power to cooperate with Reyn-
olds," put in Dunlap.
| Il thought you would, comemnted
Drummond dryly. 81 may as well tell you
that | fear some one has been tamperins
| with your mall
"Tampering with our mail?' repeated
Dunlap, aghast. Impossible
Nothing is impossible until it is proved
So" answered Drummond looking him
4
finch He felt new power within him.
Eself, gained during the past few days o.
new association with Constance. For hel
he could face anything.
| But when Drummond was gone he fel
as he had on the night when he had final
ly realized that he could never cover Vi
the deficit in his books. With an almos
superhuman effort he gripped himself. In
terminably the hours of the rest of tn
day dragged on.
That night he sank limp into chat
| an re- ma
Drummond was in the office today. m
DEAR" he said. Some one in the offic
sent Reynalds a duplicate bill, and the.
kn .eWe n99u' 'ne ene'A
81 wonder If they suspect me?"
, ''If you act like that, they won't sus
pect- They'll arrest" she comments
He had braced up again into his new
self at her words But there was agai
, that sinking sensation in her heart, a
she realized that 1t was after all, her
: self on whom he depended, that IL wa
! she who had been the WILL even thong
he had been the intellect OF their enter
prise. She could not overcome the feel
! ing that, If only their positions could b
reversed. the thing might even yet b
| carried through
Drummond appeared again at the offic
: | the next day. There was no concealmen
! about him now. He said frankly that h
was from the Burr Detective Agency
/, | whose business il was to guard the bank
I | against forgeries.
THE pen work. or. as we detective
. call it, the penning,' he remarked, 4
: | the case of that check is especially good
1t shows rare skin. But the pitfalls j
/. this forgery game are so many that,
avoiding one, forger ever so clever, fan
! | into another.
? Carlton felt the polite third degre'
J | as he proceeded: Nowadays the forge
! | has science to contend with, too. tn
! | microscope and camera may come in
little too late to be of practical use
: preventing the forger from getting hi
money at first, but they come in yer
! neatly later in catching him. What I'll
!. naked eye cannot see in this check the
reveal. Besides, a little iodine vapc
brings out the original Green a. Co. o
: it.
I'VE have found out also that the pre-
, tective coloring was restored by waite
: color. That was easy. Where the pape
= / was scratched and the sizing taken of
4 it has been painted with a resinous sub
: stance to restore the glaze, to the ey,
Well a little alcohol takes that of, to-
, Oh, the amateur forger may be the mos
q dangerous kind. because the profession;
e regularly follows the same line, leave
| tracks, has associates, but" he concluc
Q ed impressively, "all are caught soons
: or later-sooner or later.
: Dunlap managed to maintain his oui
9 ward composure admirably. Still, the III