windled my client out of six hundred dollars by inducing him
to cash a worthless check."

"What have you to say, Mr. Gottlieb?" asked the judge.

"Confession and avoidance, your Honor," replied the attorney, with
what appeared to me to be the slightest possible drawing down of
his right eyelid. "Confession and avoidance. We admit the fact,
but we deny the imputation of guilt. My client, Mr. Robinson,
whose abilities as an actor have no doubt hitherto given your Honor
much pleasure, was so careless as to forget the precise amount of
his bank account and happened to draw a check for too large an
amount. No one was more surprised and horrified at the discovery
than he. And his intention is at once to reimburse in full the
complainant, whose action in having him arrested seems most
extraordinary and reprehensible."

"Your Honor," interrupted the other lawyer, "were there the slightest
possibility of any such outcome I should be glad to withdraw the
charge; but, as a matter of fact, this person is a worthless, lazy
fellow who has not a cent to his name, and who induced my client
to cash his check by leading him to believe that he was a man of
substance and position. No doubt he has spent the money, and if
not we might as well try to squeeze it out of a stone. This fellow
is guilty of a crime and he ought to be punished. I ask your Honor
to hold him for the grand jury."

"Well, Mr. Gottlieb," remarked the judge, "tell me, if you can,
why I should not lock your client up. Did he not falsely pretend,
by requesting the complainant to cash the check, that he had money
in the bank to meet it?"

"By no means, your Honor," answered Gottlieb. "The proffering of
a check with a request for money thereon is merely asking that the
money be advanced on the faith that the bank will honor the demand
made upon it. One who cashes a check does so at his own risk. He
has a full remedy at civil law, and if the bank refuses to pay no
crime has been committed. This is not a case for the penal law."

"That seems reasonable," said the judge, turning to the other.
"How do you make this out a crime? What false pretence is there
in merely inviting another to cash a check?"

"Why," answered the attorney, "if I ask you to cash a check for
me, do I not represent that I have a right to draw upon the bank
for the amount set forth? If not, no one would ever cash a check.
The innocent person who advances the money has the right to assu