ing-jacket, sitting up in bed in a small turret
bedroom, smiling, and almost genial.

"Will you take a seat, Mr.----? I didn't quite catch your name."

"Barnby, sir."

"Take a seat, Mr. Barnby. You've come to see me about money?"

"Yes, sir, an unpleasant matter, I fear."

"Depression in the market, eh? Things still falling? Ah! It's the war,
the war--curse it! Tell me more--tell me quickly!"

"It's a family matter, sir."

"Family matter! What has my family to do with my money--ha! I guess why
you've come. Yes--yes--something to do with my grandson?"

"Just so, sir."

"What is it now? Debts, overdrawn accounts--what--what?"

"To put the matter in a nutshell, sir, two checks were presented some
weeks ago, signed by you, one for two thousand dollars, the other for
five thousand dollars--which--"

"What!--when? I haven't signed a check for any thousand dollars for
months." This was true, as the miser's creditors knew to their cost. It
was next to impossible to collect money from him.

"One check was made out to your daughter, Mary Swinton, and presented at
the bank, and cashed by your grandson, Mr. Richard Swinton."

"Yes, for five dollars."

"Five thousand dollars, sir."

"But I tell you I never drew it."

"I'm very sorry to hear it, sir. The first check for two thousand dollars
looks very much as though it had been altered, having been originally for
two dollars; and, in the second check, made out to Mr. Swinton, the same
kind of alteration occurs--five seems to have been changed into five
thousand."

"What!" screamed the old man, raising himself on one hand and extending
the other. "Let me look! Let me look!"

His bony claw was outstretched, every finger quivering with excitement.

"These are the checks, sir. That is your correct signature, I believe?"

"I never signed them--I never signed them. Take them away. They're not
mine."

"Pardon me, sir, the signature is undoubtedly yours. Do you remember
signing any check for two dollars or for five?"

"Yes, yes, of course. I gave her two--yes--and I gave her five--for the
boy."

"Just so, sir. Well, some fraudulent person has altered the figures.
You'll see, if you look through this magnifying glass, holding the glass
some distance from the eyes, that the ink of the major part of the check
is different. When Mr. Swinton presented these checks, the ink was new,
and the alterations were not apparent. But, in the course of time, the
ink of the forg