“Stay here and watch things, while I go down town and see what can be done,” he answered. He was angrier than he had ever been in his life. The injustice of being made a victim of fraud seemed to sear his spirit like hot iron. To be tricked, cheated, and have no redress was such a monstrous wrong! “To think,” he said to himself on his way down-town, “how I resisted the temptation not to tell old Madge my whole plan! This is the reward I get for being too conscientious. I ought not to have told a soul!” Bitter thoughts crowded fast upon him as he hurried along. He recalled a conversation he had once heard between two young men. One had said that there was not a rich man living who had acquired his wealth--unless it had been inherited--honestly and with a clear conscience. Ben had been impressed with this statement and had repeated it to his father, who had denounced it as false. “There are plenty of knaves among rich men, but there are honest men, too,” his father had said. “It must have been a poor man, envious of the wealth of others who said that thing.” Still, Ben reflected that his father had been a poor man, credulous, trusting in all men, to his own disadvantage sometimes. “In order to get on in the world was it necessary to deceive and cheat?” the boy questioned. “No, it isn’t true!” he exclaimed aloud, causing the passers-by to regard him curiously. “I’d rather be in my place and know that I’ve done the square thing than be in his! I wouldn’t stain my immortal soul for gold!” Sustained by this thought, he found courage to make his appeal. Mr. Hale was in his office, and in a few words Ben told him what had happened. “So, you’ve come to grief already, my boy,” the lawyer said. “Well, let’s see what can be done.” He asked Ben a few questions and dispatched a messenger to the City Hall to search for the recording of the lease. “Now, go home and wait,” he said in conclusion. “And don’t worry about it any more than you can help.” “Thank you. About paying you, Mr. Hale,--” Ben began, but the other interrupted him. “Never mind about that. I don’t expect any pay. I sometimes do things for pure love of humanity. Queer way to do business, isn’t it? But I made my own way in the world, boy, and I know what it is. Why, when I first went in for law, it was like climbing a greased pole backwards.” Ben left the office with a lighter heart; as, indeed, did most people. Like them, too, he had a conviction that the lawyer would find a way out of the dilemma. Mr. Hale had told Ben that he had no right to occupy or work the property while the injunction was pending; so he hastened back to consult with Mundon as to the best course to be pursued. He found the latter disconsolately sitting upon the fence. The mule was tied to a post alongside, and the pair presented a sorry appearance. The men had departed, Mundon said, after nailing up the gates.