|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 9
But when Drummond was gone he felt as he had on the night when he
had finally realized that he could never cover up the deficit in his
books. With an almost superhuman effort he gripped himself.
Interminably the hours of the rest of the day dragged on.
That night he sank limp into a chair on his return home. "A man
named Drummond was in the office to-day, my dear," he said. "Some
one in the office sent Reynolds a duplicate bill, and they know
about the check."
"Well?"
"I wonder if they suspect me?"
"If you act like that, they won't suspect. They'll arrest," she
commented sarcastically.
He had braced up again into his new self at her words. But there was
again that sinking sensation in her heart, as she realized that it
was, after all, herself on whom he depended, that it was she who had
been the will, even though he had been the intellect of their
enterprise. She could not overcome the feeling that, if only their
positions could be reversed, the thing might even yet be carried
through.
Drummond appeared again at the office the next day. There was no
concealment about him now. He said frankly that he was from the Burr
Detective Agency, whose business it was to guard the banks against
forgeries.
"The pen work, or, as we detectives call it, the penning," he
remarked, "in the case of that check is especially good. It shows
rare skill. But the pitfalls in this forgery game are so many that,
in avoiding one, a forger, ever so clever, falls into another."
Carlton felt the polite third degree, as he proceeded: "Nowadays the
forger has science to contend with, too. The microscope and camera
may come in a little too late to be of practical use in preventing
the forger from getting his money at first, but they come in very
neatly later in catching him. What the naked eye cannot see in this
check they reveal. Besides, a little iodine vapor brings out the
original 'Green & Co.' on it.
"We have found out also that the protective coloring was restored by
water color. That was easy. Where the paper was scratched and the
sizing taken off, it has been painted with a resinous substance to
restore the glaze, to the eye. Well, a little alcohol takes that
off, too. Oh, the amateur forger may be the most dangerous kind,
because the professional regularly follows the same line, leaves
tracks, has associates, but," he concluded impressively, "all are
caught sooner or later--sooner or later."
Dunlap managed to maintain his outward composure admirably. Still
the little lifting of the curtain on the hidden mysteries of the new
detective art produced its effect. They were getting closer, and
Dunlap knew it, as Drummond intended he should. And, as in every
crisis, he turned naturally to Constance. Never had she meant so
much to him as now.
That night as he entered the apartment he happened to glance behind
him. In the shadow down the street a man dodged quickly behind a
tree. The thing gave him a start. He was being watched.
"There is just one thing left," he cried excitedly as he hurried
upstairs with the news. "We must both disappear this time."
Constance took it very calmly. "But we must not go together," she
added quickly, her fertile mind, as ever, hitting directly on a plan
of action. "If we separate, they will be less likely to trace us,
for they will never think we would do that."
It was evident that the words were being forced out by the conflict
of common sense and deep emotion. "Perhaps it will be best for you
to stick to your original idea of going west. I shall go to one of
the winter resorts. We shall communicate only through the personal
column of the Star. Sign yourself Weston. I shall sign Easton."
The words fell on Carlton with his new and deeper love for her like
a death sentence. It had never entered his mind that they were to be
separated now. Dissolve their partnership in crime? To him it seemed
as if they had just begun to live since that night when they had at
last understood each other. And it had come to this--separation.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|