‘The Bank of New Holland has stopped payment.’
‘What? The Bank—that Bank! Impossible! Are you sure?’
‘Well, Jack Burton’s brother is accountant. He told me; some of the other fellows knew about it. And the door’s shut. I went to look. Burton says lots of other ones will stop. They are refusing bank-notes at the railway.’
Mr. Banneret groaned. ‘And is this the end of my life’s work?’ he thought—‘a bolt from the blue, and so on. Well, it’s lucky I put that thirty thousand into the British “Reduced Counsels,” as Mr. Weller, senr., called them. Rum time to fall back on Dickens, isn’t it? Might find a worse author, though. We shall have to adopt “Reduced Counsels” literally, it appears. Tell your mother I want her.’
His countenance informed that good wife and [135] ]trusty mother that something had happened out of the common track of surprises.
‘What is it? Anything the matter with Reggie and Rosamond?’ They were on their way to England by the P. & O. boat Ispahan.
‘Well, nothing very serious; but there’s a difficulty about money.’
‘Is that all? How did it come about? No imprudence, I hope?’
‘Not on Reggie’s part. Read his cable—short and strong: “Credit stopped. Please arrange.”’
‘How did it happen? I feel so relieved. Money’s nothing, compared with health, or accident. I thought Reggie might be ill, or hurt. But tell me.’