"How?"
"Steal it. You have every opportunity."
"And become a thief?"
"Yes."
"Never!"
"Why not? Are you not already a forger? I hold three notes of Mr. Simpson, the manager of the Bank of California, which he never signed, though you did it for him; and if those notes are presented for payment you will go right up to the State Prison at Stockton quicker than railroading."
Clarence Holt groaned deeply.
He was, indeed, in the power of this man, and, struggle as he could, he was unable to extricate himself.
Mr. Smith gathered from this conversation that Dan Markham had got the young man in his power with some object in view.
Clarence Holt was a clerk in the Bank of California, and had forged the name of Mr. Simpson, the manager, to the extent of three thousand dollars, Markham holding the forged notes.