He was in the police court during Paul’s trouble quite by accident, having called in, out of kindness to little Simpkins, who was the accredited reporter of the _Daily Mercury_, and who was in a delicate state of health. “I knew the little fellow was ill, and as he’s only just pushing his way on the Press, I have dropped in occasionally and relieved him. His father was an old friend of my father’s, and I feel a good deal of interest in him.” This was the brief explanation of Mr. Williamson’s presence in court, which he thought it necessary to give Paul, and then he sat down quietly beside the prisoner, and made notes of all that Paul wished him to know. CHAPTER XVIII. RETURNS TO THE MEETING AT THE LONDON TAVERN. The honourable proprietor continued to keep back his secret for some time, in face of all opposition; several directors drew various devices on the blotting pads before them; the reporters for the London papers smiled, took notes, sharpened their pencils, and nibbed their pens; the Yorkshire cleric insisted upon knowing the position of the bank, and the stalwart layman from the same county loudly proclaimed his opinion that it was just simply “dommed nonsense to go on like this.” The financial orator was a gentleman of experience; he had fought shareholders and directors before now, and he was not going to give way to these Eastern Bank fellows: he said this in a quiet whisper to a friendly M.P. who was standing by his side. Then turning towards the directorial seats, he said that a certain empty chair at the board that day did not at all surprise him. “Name! name!” cried a few shareholders again; and then suddenly, for the first time, the chairman looked round the room nervously, as if he sought an absent face; and the shareholders gradually became quiet. “The gentleman who is most conspicuous by his absence on this occasion is the absentee to whom I refer,” said the financial orator. Still the shareholders were at fault; some shook their heads, others looked as if they knew all about it; and the poor parson, in a moment of exhausted patience, again insisted upon knowing the position of the bank. The chairman fidgetted uneasily in his seat: sundry anonymous letters making grave charges against his son, several questionable monetary transactions in which he had reason to suspect he was engaged, and one or two recent little disputes which he had had with his son, occurred to him, and he began to fear that the disclosure of the absentee’s name would be a very painful one to himself.