Down the stairs he plunged, springing across the passage to the door leading from the residential portion of the building to the banking chamber.
The door was locked.
"Thank God!" he exclaimed. "I was afraid it had been broken into."
He ran upstairs again, meeting his wife at the top.
"I can't wake that girl, Charlie. What shall I do?" she said.
"Shy cold water over her," he answered abruptly as he went on to his room, where he seized his clothes and fumbled nervously for his keys.
They were in the pocket where he always kept them.
The discovery reassured him. Whatever else had happened, the bank was safe, for without the keys no one would be able to get at the cash. It was curious how everyone in the house had overslept themselves, but that was a detail to be unravelled subsequently. For the moment he must race into his clothes and be downstairs in time to have the bank's doors open to the public by ten.
He was nearly dressed when Mrs. Eustace returned to the room.
"Charlie, whatever has happened? Bessie can hardly stand. She's exactly as if she had been drinking."