"I can't understand it at all," said Mrs. Bradford, in helpless bewilderment.
"Then I'll tell you all about it," said Ben; and he did so.
"I shall have a high opinion of my legs from this time," he concluded, "for they have earned ten dollars in quicker time than my hands can earn twenty-five cents."
Even his aunt, in spite of her despondent mood, could not help being cheerful over such good fortune as that.
"You see, Aunt Jane, that even if I don't earn anything for the next two weeks, we shall be as well off as if I had been working at the factory all the time. So don't worry any more till that time has passed."
"You certainly have been very fortunate, Benjamin," Mrs. Bradford was forced to admit.
A copious rain is very apt to be followed by a protracted drought, and I am sorry to say that this was the case with Ben's luck. Day after day he went about Milltown, seeking for employment, and night after night he returned home disappointed and empty-handed. If it had depended only on himself, his courage would still have kept up; but his aunt's dismal forebodings affected his spirits. He did not find it quite so easy to wait and hope as he anticipated.
Three weeks passed, and Ben was painfully sensible that there was but a dollar in the house.
They had just risen from the dinner table on the day when their fortunes were at so low an ebb, when a knock was heard at the door. A man of about thirty-five, Mr. Jotham Dobson, was admitted. Mr. Dobson was a man with a brisk, business-like air.
"Won't you come in, Mr. Dobson?" asked Ben, who had answered the knock.