One of the others—and it was obvious that the others were the two bank examiners—a man of middle age, answered soberly.
“You’re upset, Dryden,” he said. “You know we couldn’t do that—”
“On a teller’s word against the cashier’s—of course not!” the young man broke in caustically. “Well, you see now, don’t you?”
“We couldn’t do it then without proof,” amended the bank examiner quietly.
“Proof!” Dryden exclaimed. “My God—proof! Who tipped your people off to have you drop in there this afternoon? I did, didn’t I? Do you think I’d do that without knowing what I was about! Didn’t I tell you that there was nothing but the office fixtures left! Didn’t I? There were only the two of us on the staff, and didn’t I tell you that I had discovered that the books were cooked from cover to cover? Yes, I did! And you had to get your pencils out and start in on a thumb-rule examination, as though nothing were the matter! Well, what did you find? The securities in a mess, what there was left of them—and what was supposed to be twenty thousand dollars that came out from the city yesterday nothing but a package of blank paper!”
“You didn’t know that yourself until half an hour ago when we started to check up the cash,” returned the other a little sharply.
“Well, perhaps, I didn’t,” admitted Dryden; “but I knew about the books.”
“Besides that,” continued the bank examiner, “Mr. Forrester was in town this afternoon when we got to the bank and this is the first time we have seen him, so we could not very well have done anything other than we have done in any case. I mention this because you are talking wildly, and that sort of talk, if it gets out, won’t do any of us any good. You don’t want to blame Mr. Marner here and myself for Mr. Forrester’s death, do you?”
“No—of course, I don’t!” said Dryden, in a more subdued voice. “I don’t mean that at all. I guess you’re right—I’m excited. I—well”—he motioned jerkily toward the form on the floor—“I’m not used to walking into a room and finding that.”
It was Marner, the other bank examiner, who broke a moment’s silence.