"Cheer up, Nelsy," he said, carelessly, "things always turn up. Remember the old motto: 'It took Noah six hundred years to learn how to build an ark; don't lose your grit.' I'll fish you out if you get too far under water."
Evan was not fond of the idea of being fished out. He wanted to swim unaided.
But he failed. All next day he worried over his "difference," giving a start whenever one cent detached itself from an amount. In the evening Bill called off the ledger to him. When they were nearing the end he called an amount one cent wrong.
"What's that, what's that?" Evan repeated, excitedly.
Bill called it again, but rightly. He chuckled quietly for a little space, greatly to Nelson's aggravation.
It was midnight the first of the month. The savings man struggled alone with his balance; the desks swam around the office and figures danced like devils before him.
"D—!" he muttered.
That was one of his first legitimate swear-words at Mt. Alban—but others would come. The recording angel up above might as well open an account first as last, for one more human being had entered a bank.
The front door jarred and some of the bankboys entered. Bill was not quite sober, and one of his companions had, what he himself insisted was, "about half a bun."
"Don't work all night, Nelsy," said Watson, "th-there's another d-day coming."