"I'll give you two hundred dollars when you place the paper in my hands."
"All right," said Ben. "If I can find the man, I'll offer him a little something to begin with. It won't be of any use to him, you know."
They sat down to supper. Ben partook heartily, feeling that he had as good as got the two hundred dollars, while Mrs. Oakley was pale and nervous, and had no appetite. How differently she would have felt if she had only known that the lost will was all the while laid snugly away in Ben's coat-pocket!
CHAPTER XXXIII.
A STRANGE METAMORPHOSIS.
Ben decided not to produce the will too soon. It would look suspicious. Besides, the longer it remained missing, the more rejoiced his mother would be to recover it, and so naturally the more ready to pay the reward she had promised. The afternoon of the next day he thought would be quite soon enough to "find" it.
Meanwhile the next morning Ben strolled over to the tavern, thinking he might find Winchester. But that young man had gone out on a fishing excursion, and had left word to that effect with the landlord.
So Ben strolled down to the river. It was a delightful day, and the desire seized him to "go in swimming." Though he cared little for other athletic exercises, he was fond of swimming, and was quite a fair swimmer.