ross the county line and a
car shall pass over said track from one county to the other" before the
fifteenth of March. Curiously enough, I learn that Tandy himself
suggested that stipulation to the county authorities. I hear he is
giving it out that he had to do so to save the election, but that's
nonsense, just as the provision itself is. Such a requirement will
greatly embarrass us in our negotiations with capitalists. For the line
will not be fully surveyed by that time, and nobody can tell, till that
is done, precisely where the road ought to cross that county line, or at
what grade. I can't imagine what Tandy meant by getting such a
provision inserted."

"Neither can I," answered Hallam; "but we'll find out some fine morning,
and we must be prepared to meet whatever comes. He's up to some trick of
course."

XXIX

A SCRAP OF PAPER

When Duncan assumed control of the bank as its president, his first care
was to acquaint himself minutely with its condition. In general he found
its affairs in excellent shape, for Tandy was a skillful banker and, on
the whole, a prudent one. There were many small loans to local
shopkeepers which Duncan could not approve, and these he called in as
they fell due, refusing to renew them. Beyond such matters he found
nothing wrong till he came to examine the record of Tandy's own dealings
with the bank.

There he found that in carrying on his multifarious enterprises, Tandy
had been in the habit of borrowing and using the bank's funds in ways
forbidden by the law of national banking. Had Tandy anticipated his own
removal from control he would doubtless have set his account in order so
that no complaint could be made. As it was, Duncan found that he was at
that very time heavily in debt to the institution for borrowings made in
evasion though possibly not in direct violation of a law carefully
framed for the protection of stockholders and depositors.

The matter troubled Duncan sorely, and acting upon the resolution he had
formed with regard to his relations with Barbara, he told her of it.

"I really don't know what to do," he said in a troubled tone. "Of course
the money is perfectly safe. Tandy is good for two or three times the
amount. And I learn that it is a practice among bank officers sometimes
to stretch their authority and borrow their own bank's funds in this
way."

"You say the thing is a violation of the law?" asked Barbara, going
straight to the marrow of the