'
'Aren't they always correctly kept? I thought that was what book-keepers
were hired for.'
'If books were always correctly kept there would be little for us to do;
but it happens, unfortunately for some, but fortunately for us, that
people occasionally do not keep their accounts accurately.'
'And can you always find that out if you examine the books?'
'Always.'
'Can't a man make up his accounts so that no one can tell there is
anything wrong?'
'The belief that such a thing can be done has placed many a poor wretch
in prison. It has been tried often enough.'
'I am sure they can do it in the States. I have read of it being done and
continued for years. Men have made off with great sums of money by
falsifying the books, and no one found it out until the one who did it
died or ran away.'
'Nevertheless, if an expert accountant had been called in, he would have
found out very soon that something was wrong, and just where the wrong
was, and how much.'
'I didn't think such cleverness possible. Have you ever discovered
anything like that?'
'I have.'
'What is done when such a thing is discovered?'
'That depends upon circumstances. Usually a policeman is called in.'
'Why, it's like being a detective. I wish you would tell me about some of
the cases you have had. Don't make me ask so many questions. Talk.'
'I don't think my experiences would interest you in the least. There
was one case with which I had something to do in London, two years
ago, that----'
'Oh, London! I don't believe the book-keepers there are half so sharp as
ours.
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