The bank premises were quite near--in Leadenhall Street. Having arrived there, Hewitt and Mr. Lyster made their way to the firm's private rooms. As they were passing an outer waiting-room, Hewitt noticed two women. One, the elder, in widow's weeds, was sitting with her head bowed in her hand over a small writing-table. Her face was not visible, but her whole attitude was that of a person overcome with unbearable grief; and she sobbed quietly. The other was a young woman of twenty-two or twenty-three. Her thick black veil revealed no more than that her features were small and regular, and that her face was pale and drawn. She stood with a hand on the elder woman's shoulder, and she quickly turned her head away as the two men entered. Mr. Neal, one of the partners, received them in his own room. "Good-morning, Mr. Hewitt," he said, when Mr. Lyster had introduced the detective. "This is a serious business--very. I think I am sorrier for Laker himself than for anybody else, ourselves included--or, at any rate, I am sorrier for his mother. She is waiting now to see Mr. Liddle, as soon as he arrives--Mr. Liddle has known the family for a long time. Miss Shaw is with her, too, poor girl. She is a governess, or something of that sort, and I believe she and Laker were engaged to be married. It's all very sad." "Inspector Plummer, I understand," Hewitt remarked, "has the affair in hand, on behalf of the police?" "Yes," Mr. Neal replied; "in fact, he's here now, going through the contents of Laker's desk, and so forth; he thinks it possible Laker may have had accomplices. Will you see him?" "Presently. Inspector Plummer and I are old friends. We met last, I think, in the case of the Stanway cameo, some months ago. But, first, will you tell me how long Laker has been a walk-clerk?" "Barely four months, although he has been with us altogether seven years. He was promoted to the walk soon after the beginning of the year." "Do you know anything of his habits--what he used to do in his spare time, and so forth?" "Not a great deal. He went in for boating, I believe, though I have heard it whispered that he had one or two more expensive tastes--expensive, that is, for a young man in his position," Mr. Neal explained, with a dignified wave of the hand that he peculiarly affected. He was a stout old gentleman, and the gesture suited him. "You have had no reason to suspect him of dishonesty before, I take it?" "Oh, no. He made a wrong return once, I believe, that went for some time undetected, but it turned out, after all, to be a clerical error--a mere clerical error." "Do you know anything of his associates out of the office?" "No, how should I? I believe Inspector Plummer has been making inquiries as to that, however, of the other clerks. Here he is, by the bye, I expect. Come in!"