“Ben didn’t strike me as a trouble maker. Who told you about him?”
“Why, I don’t remember—Jason Cordell, I suppose.”
“That’s just the point!” Penny cried. “Cordell hated him because Ben gained damaging evidence against him! Then to protect himself, Cordell told lies about Ben and got all of Riverview’s publishers to blacklist him!”
“What gave you that idea, Penny?”
“I talked to Ben tonight.”
“It strikes me he filled you with hot air,” the newspaper owner commented dryly. “Penny, you must learn not to believe everything you hear.”
“Then you’ll not consider hiring Ben?”
“Afraid not,” her father declined. “I’ve no special liking for Jason Cordell, who always impressed me as a stubborn, unscrupulous fellow, but I certainly can’t employ Ben without more evidence in his favor than you have presented.”
“There is more,” said Penny, “but I’m too tired to tell you tonight.”
She went wearily to bed, and though she slept hard, still felt tired when the alarm went off the next morning. Hastening through breakfast, she rode with her father to the office, and en route related to him how Ben had rescued the stranger from the river.