"Jess! Jess!" he cried, as he shook her. "Wake up, Jess! It's nearly ten o'clock. Wake up! Wake up!"
She stirred heavily, uneasily, drowsily.
"Wake up! Wake up!" he repeated. "Look what time it is."
She sat up with a gasp, pressing her hands to her head.
"Oh, what is it?" she exclaimed. "My head! How it throbs!"
"It's nearly ten o'clock," Eustace cried. "I don't hear anyone moving. The bank must be open in five minutes."
He hurried across the landing to his assistant's room and unceremoniously opened the door.
His assistant was in bed in a heavy sleep.
"Harding! Fred! Wake up, man! Do you know what time it is?" he said, as he grabbed the sleeper's arm and shook him so vigorously that he pulled him half out of bed.
Sleepily Harding's eyelids lifted to reveal glazed and lack-lustre eyes.