CLEAVER. But you remember running, do you?     

       FALDER. I was all out of breath when I got to the bank.     

       CLEAVER. And you don't remember altering the cheque?     

       FALDER. [Faintly] No, sir.     

       CLEAVER. Divested of the romantic glamour which my friend is casting over the case, is this anything but an ordinary forgery? Come.     

       FALDER. I was half frantic all that morning, sir.     

       CLEAVER. Now, now! You don't deny that the 'ty' and the nought were so like the rest of the handwriting as to thoroughly deceive the cashier?     

       FALDER. It was an accident.     

       CLEAVER. [Cheerfully] Queer sort of accident, wasn't it? On which day did you alter the counterfoil?     

       FALDER. [Hanging his head] On the Wednesday morning.     

       CLEAVER. Was that an accident too?     

       FALDER. [Faintly] No.     

       CLEAVER. To do that you had to watch your opportunity, I suppose?     

       FALDER. [Almost inaudibly] Yes.     

       CLEAVER. You don't suggest that you were suffering under great excitement when you did that?     

       FALDER. I was haunted.     

       CLEAVER. With the fear of being found out?     

       FALDER. [Very low] Yes.     

       THE JUDGE. Didn't it occur to you that the only thing for you to do was to confess to your employers, and restore the money?     

       FALDER. I was afraid. [There is silence]     

 Prev. P 37/85 next