"And longest," she added, with a bright smile. "There--go now, Henry; this scene is growing theatrical or Continental, and unbecoming the drawing-room of an English mother. There--go." And she hustled him to the door, opened the door, thrust him out, and closed the door upon him. As soon as she was sure he had left the vicinity of the door she threw herself down on a couch and burst into tears, exclaiming softly to herself between the sobs: "My Wat! my poor Wat! my darling child, is it come to this with you?" Then after a while she dried her eyes and sat up. "Perhaps all may go well with him after all. Perhaps this venture of his may come right. It was lucky I got him out of the room so soon. Another moment and I should have broken down, and been more dramatic and Continental than he, and that would never do. No son respects or relies on a mother who weeps on his bosom, and causes him to remember she is not his earliest and strongest friend." In the strong-room of the Daneford Bank all the money and securities held by the bank were kept. The last duty of Mr. Aldridge, manager of the Daneford Bank, each day, was to return the cash, bills, books, &c., to this strong-room. To this strong-room there were three keys in the possession of the staff of the bank, one held by the manager, one by the accountant, and one by the teller. The door could not be opened save by the aid of the three keys. Thus no officer of the Bank could commit a larceny in the strong-room without the countenance of two others. Mr. Grey had duplicates of the keys held by the accountant and teller. But the key held by the manager was unique, and even Mr. Grey himself could not enter the strong-room without the manager's key. In this strong-room were kept not only the valuables of the bank, but cases and chests containing all kinds of highly portable and extremely precious substances and papers belonging to customers of the Bank. Here were iron plate-chests, iron deed-boxes, jewel-caskets in great numbers, left for safe keeping, not being part of the Bank's property, and against which there was no charge by the Bank but an almost nominal one for storage. The evening after Mr. Grey had that interview with his mother, he called at the Bank, found the manager in, and having told Mr. Aldridge that a secret report had reached him to the disadvantage of a customer whose name he was not allowed to disclose, he wished to borrow the manager's key for half an hour, as he wanted to turn over the suspected man's account. He got the key and a candle, and went down to the strong-room. In half an hour he returned, and handing back the key to Mr. Aldridge, said: "I am glad to say that the account I spoke of is quite satisfactory, and that it will not be necessary to make any alteration in our dealings with the customer I alluded to."