some of those which had been practised on last night, to see whether
she had made any improvement in her technique of forgery, when
Carlton returned with the punch and the blank checks on the Gorham
Bank.

From one of the blank checks he punched out a number of little stars
until there was one which in watermark and scroll work corresponded
precisely with that punched out in the original check.

Constance, whose fingers had long been accustomed to fine work,
fitted in the little star after the $25, then took it out, moistened
the edges ever so lightly with glue on the end of a toothpick, and
pasted it back again. A hot iron completed the work of making the
edges smooth and unless a rather powerful glass had been used no one
could have seen the pasted-in insertion after the $25.

Careful not to deviate the fraction of a hair's breadth from the
alignment Carlton took the punch, added three 0's, and a star after
the 25, making it $25,000. Finally the whole thing was again ironed
to give it the smoothness of an original. Here at last was the
completed work, the first product of their combined skill in crime:

No. 15711. Dec. 27,191--. THE GORHAM NATIONAL BANK

Pay to the order of... The Carlton Realty Co.

Twenty-five Thousand 00/100.........Dollars $25,000.00/100

W. J. REYNOLDS Co., per CHAS. M. BROWN, Treas.