“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 she had raised, all certified, and totaling some thousands more.

His own check for twenty-five thousand was now honored.  The relief which he felt was tremendous after the weeks of grueling anxiety.  At once he hurried to a broker’s and placed an order for the stocks he had used on which to borrow.  He could now replace everything in the safe, straighten out the books, could make everything look right to the systematizer, could blame any apparent irregularity on his old system.  Even ignorance was better than dishonesty.

Constance, meanwhile, had installed herself in the little office they had hired, as stenographer and secretary.  Once having embarked on the hazardous enterprise she showed no disposition to give it up yet An office boy was hired and introduced at the bank.

The mythical realty company prospered, at least if prosperity is measured merely by the bank book.  In less than a week the skilful pen and brush of Constance had secured them a balance, after straightening out Carlton’s debts, that came well up to a hundred thousand dollars, mostly in small checks, some with genuine signatures and amounts altered, others complete forgeries.

As they went deeper and deeper, Constance began to feel the truth of their situation.  It was she who was really at the helm in this enterprise.  It had been her idea; the execution of it had been mainly her work; Carlton had furnished merely the business knowledge that she did not possess.  The more she thought of it during the hours in the little office while he was at work downtown, the more uneasy did she become.

What if he should betray himself in some way?  She was sure of herself.  But she was almost afraid to let him go out of her sight.  She felt a sinking sensation every time he mentioned any of the happenings in the banking house.  Could he be trusted alone not to betray himself when the first hint of discovery of something wrong came?

It was now near the middle of the month.  It would not pay to wait until the end.  Some one of the many firms whose checks they had forged might have its book balanced at any time now.  From day to day small amounts in cash had already been withdrawn until they were twenty thousand dollars to the good.  They planned to draw out thirty thousand now at one time.  That would give them fifty thousand, roughly half of their forgeries.