ten o'clock
There was a not unpleasant excitement among the clerks , as they whispered to each other on arrival that old Clifford was come and Roland Sefton was still absent . But this excitement deepened into agitation and misgiving as the hour for opening the bank drew near and Acton did not arrive . Such a circumstance had never occurred before , for Acton had made himself unpopular with those beneath him by expecting devotion equal to his own to the interests of the firm . When ten o'clock was close at hand a clerk ran round to Acton 's lodgings ; but before he could return a breathless messenger rushed into the bank as the doors were thrown open , with the tidings that the head clerk had been found by his landlady lying dead in his bed . More quickly than if the town-crier had been sent round the streets with his bell to announce the news , it was known that Roland Sefton was missing and the managing clerk had committed suicide . The populace from all the country round was flocking into the town for the fair , three fourths of whom did business with the Old Bank . No wonder that a panic took possession of them .