"About an hour ago,—maybe an hour and a half," said Hannah.
"He is not here now."
"Isn't he, ma'am? I suppose he went out, but I didn't hear him."
"You are quite sure no one else has been in the house?" inquired her mistress.
"Certain sure, ma'am."
Mrs. Oakley went upstairs slowly. A new idea had forced its way into her mind. It must be that Ben had taken both the money and the will. That he should have taken the first didn't surprise her, for with all her love for her son, she had small confidence in his honesty. No doubt he had got into debt, and so was tempted to appropriate the bills. But why should he have taken the will? That was something she could not understand. For the money she cared little comparatively. But the loss of the will was ruin, if John or his friends found it, or, if not, she would live in perpetual fear of their discovering it.
"If I once get hold of it again," she said to herself, "I will take care that all danger from that source shall end and forever. Ben will never divulge its existence, of course. He will understand that it affects his interests too nearly."
She waited in nervous excitement for Ben's reappearance.
At length his step was heard—never more welcome than now.