"Why, yes," stammered Jack.
It was the one article of value that he possessed. He unhooked it from its chain and passed it over. The banker opened the back of the case as if aware of what was to be found there, and the smiling face of Jack's mother as a bride was revealed. From the drawer he took an old-fashioned cabinet photograph, and compared it with the picture in the watch case.
Jack catching sight of the second picture was startled out of his diffidence. "My mother's picture! Where did you get that?"
Mr. Delamare showed him the two faces side by side. "Not the same photograph, but unquestionably the same woman. You may have both now."
He handed them over. The picture he had taken from the drawer showed Jack's mother at an earlier period, just graduating into womanhood with all the touching innocence of youth about her. Jack's eyes filled.
"What does it mean?" he murmured.
"One more question," said Mr. Delamare. "Give me a brief account of yourself as far back as you can remember."
Jack did so, wonderingly, and the banker checked his story with another typewritten sheet that he held.
"That will do," he said at last. "I'm satisfied."
"How did you learn all this?" asked Jack. "I didn't think anybody in the world was interested what jobs I had or where I lived."