ben meets his cousin.
ben supposed that his new guardian would be in favor of making an immediate call upon his uncle, but the cuban counselled delay.
"first," he said, "i wish to find, if i can, the broker through whom your uncle sold the securities of which he robbed your father. we can make out a case without it, but with this our case will be complete."
"won't it be difficult to find out, mr. novarro?" asked ben.
"difficult, but not impossible. to begin with, i know the date of probable transfer. next, i know the securities. by visiting the offices of different brokers i may obtain some information. at any rate, i have mapped out my plan of procedure, and hope within a week to obtain a clew."
[306]
ben asked no questions, feeling that he could safely leave the whole matter in the hands of so experienced a business man as his new guardian.
they did not go to a hotel, but to a boarding-house kept by a cuban lady, a friend of his guardian, which they found quite as comfortable and more homelike than the metropolitan or the windsor.
meanwhile ben thought it best not to make a call at the office of his uncle. indeed, remembering the cruel way in which he had wronged his mother, he would have found it disagreeable to meet him.
but one day, on broadway, he met his cousin, clarence plantagenet. he would have avoided the encounter, but it was too late, for clarence had seen him.
"what! ben!" he exclaimed. "i had no idea you were back in new york. when did you arrive?"
"three days since," answered ben.
"where are you staying?"
"at a boarding-house in forty-second street."
[307]
"how is major grafton?"
"i don't know; i am no longer with him."
"what!" exclaimed clarence, pricking up his ears. "you are no longer in his employ?"
"no."
"where is he?"
"i left him in europe."
"what did he discharge you for?" asked clarence, cheerfully.
"he didn't discharge me. he was opposed to my leaving him, but we couldn't agree."
"i think you are a fool!" said clarence, bluntly. "with him you could live like a gentleman. you haven't got another place, have you?"
"no."
"and you won't get one very soon, i can tell you that, except as a boy at three or four dollars a week."
ben smiled.
"i can look round, at any rate," he answered.
"that's all the good it'll do. you mustn't expect my father to help you."
[308]
"i don't. if i had, i should have called before this."
"after throwing up a good place, if you were not discharged, you don't deserve help."
"i am not sure that i shall look for another place," said ben.
"you are not?" asked clarence, mystified.
"no; i may go to school a little longer. i haven't as good an education as i should like."
"but how are you going to live while you are doing all this?"
"don't you think your father would give me a home in his family and let me attend school in the city?"
"well, ben baker, you have got cheek, i declare! if that is what you are counting on, you may as well give it up."
"it's as well to know the worst," said ben, tranquilly.
"i shall have to be going along," said clarence, coldly.
he told his father at dinner about his meeting with ben.
"i'll tell you what, father," he said. "i couldn't account at first for ben's seeming so [309] cool and independent. i think i understand it now."
"well, suppose you explain, then."
"i think he's robbed major grafton of a sum of money and taken french leave. he said he was not 'bounced' and that the major did not want him to leave."
"i hope you are wrong, my son. i haven't the highest opinion of your cousin, but i earnestly hope he is honest. to have him guilty of such a crime would be a disgrace to our family. always be honest, clarence! depend upon it, honesty is the best policy, and a boy or man makes a great mistake who appropriates what is not his own."
"of course, pa, i know all that. do you think i would steal? as to ben baker, that's a different matter. he's always been poor, and i suppose the temptation was too strong for him."
"let us hope not. dishonesty i could not overlook, even in a relation."
who would imagine that this man, so strict in his ideas of honesty, had deliberately stolen a hundred thousand dollars from his widowed sister and her son!
