check for $25,000 certified, while if he appears, a stranger, before
the window of the paying teller to cash a check for twenty-five
dollars he would almost be thrown out of the bank. Banks will
certify at a glance practically any check that looks right, but they
pass on the responsibility of cashing them. Thus before the close of
banking hours Dunlap was able to deposit in his new bank the check
certified by the Gorham.

Twenty-four hours must elapse before he could draw against the check
which he had deposited. He did not propose to waste that time, so
that the next day found him at Green & Co.'s, feeling much better.
Really he had come prepared now to straighten out the books, knowing
that in a few hours he could make good.

The first hesitation due to the newness of the game had worn off by
this time. Nothing at all of an alarming nature had happened. The
new month had already begun and as most firms have their accounts
balanced only once a month, he had, he reasoned, nearly the entire
four weeks in which to operate.

Conscience was dulled in Constance, also, and she was now busy with
ink eraser, the water colors, and other paraphernalia in a wholesale
raising of checks, mostly for amounts smaller than that in the first
attempt.

"We are taking big chances, anyway," she urged him. "Why quit yet? A
few days more and we may land something worth while."

The next day he excused himself from the office for a while and
presented himself at his new bank with a sheaf of new checks which