“Yes, yes!” and “Name! name!” cried a hundred voices; whilst a pair of stentorian lungs shouted, from the gallery at the extreme end of the room, “Why the deuce don’t you do it?” In the midst of the hubbub a grave, pale-faced gentleman rose and said this kind of discussion had gone far enough. He wanted to know the exact position of the bank. “Hear, hear!” shouted several shareholders close by; whilst others could not help laughing at this bit of clerical impracticability, seeing that the report stated the position of the bank, and the chairman’s address had been furthermore elucidatory. The chairman rose to order, and was greeted with cries of “Sit down!” “Don’t interfere!” “Let us have the name!” Meanwhile the financial orator stood, paper in hand, calmly contemplating the scene, and half-a-dozen other persons rose to speak, including the poor parson, who had been induced to invest all his money in this bank, chiefly on account of its classical connection with the East. “I insist upon knowing the position of the bank,” said the reverend gentleman, but his earnestness only raised a loud laugh. “I fail to see the humorous side of my question,” said the poor man, thinking of his wife and four little ones at the small rectory in Yorkshire. “Is this bank solvent, or is it not? Is it going to break? What is its position?” Laughter, cheers, and cries of “Bosh!” and “Go on with the meeting!” soon induced the poor rector to sit down, and then the financial orator said he would resume the case at the point where he had been interrupted. “Name! name!” the shareholders cried, and several directors at length grew sufficiently excited to join in the chorus; but the financial orator begged to be permitted to explain the whole case before complying with the general request; and whilst he is gradually “piling up the agony,” and drifting into his telling peroration, we propose to conduct you to an adjacent police court, where another extraordinary scene is being enacted. We can return and pick up the “name” which the honorable proprietor has been asked for so frequently. CHAPTER XVII. CHIEFLY CONCERNS THE FORTUNES OF PAUL SOMERTON. Whilst the honorable proprietor of the Eastern Bank was fulminating his financial thunders against somebody at present unnamed, Paul Somerton stood at the dock of a London police court. The prisoner seemed to be overwhelmed with the degradation of his position. The police inspector, who stood forward when the case was called from the charge sheet, said the prisoner had only been apprehended that morning. The evidence, however, was very short, and he thought it would hardly be necessary for him to ask for an adjournment. The prisoner was charged with stealing a purse containing three ten-pound notes, four sovereigns, and scrip of the Barwood Banking Company to the value of fifty pounds.