BENJAMIN BOLTON, Attorney-at-law, 182 Nassau Street, New York City.
Ernest read this letter with eager interest, and showed it to Luke Robbins.
"What do you think of it, Luke?" he asked.
"What do I think of it? It looks very much as if you were entitled to some money."
"What shall I do?"
"Write this Mr. Bolton that you will go at once to New York, and call upon him."
"But how about the store? I should not like to leave Mr. Ames in the lurch."
"I will take your place here, and in order to qualify myself for it, I will come in to morrow and begin to serve an apprenticeship."
Ernest wrote to Bolton that he would start for New York in a week. He added that he had the money necessary for the journey. He said also that he was the son of Dudley Ray, and that he remembered visiting Elmira with his father.
When Bolton received this letter he exclaimed, triumphantly, "Now, Stephen Ray, I have you on the hip. You looked down upon me when I called upon you. In your pride and your unjust possession of wealth you thought me beneath your notice. Unless I am greatly mistaken, I shall be the instrument under Providence of taking from you your ill-gotten gains, and carrying out the wishes expressed in the last will of your deceased uncle."