Ben Stone at Oakdale
Page 30
CHAPTER XXX.
CLEAR SKIES.
The case against Ben Stone broke down right there. Lawyer Frances helda hurried consultation with Lemuel Hayden and his son, and on hisadvice the charge against Ben was withdrawn and Stone was dismissed,exonerated.
The demonstration which followed was remarkable. People crowded aroundBen and Jerry and insisted on shaking the former’s hand and telling himhow pleased they were because his innocence had been established. Hisschoolmates thumped him on the back and would have carried him on theirshoulders from the hall had he not fought against it. Mrs. Jones forcedher way through the crowd, with Jimmy hobbling on his crutches behindher, and, sobbing her joy, clasped Ben in her arms.
“I knowed he wa’n’t no thief!” she cried happily. “Nobody that could begood as he was to a little lame boy would steal. You’ve had a heap oftroubles, Ben, but they’re all over now. I don’t s’pose y’u have etanything since y’u was locked up; but I cal’lated you’d git off, an’I’ve got Sadie tendin’ a big roast, an’ we’ll have a feed that’ll givey’u injunjesshun, which I guess y’u can stand once if Joel, my latedeparted, could endure it all his born days. Land! but I’m so happy Ifeel like cryin’ my eyes out.”
“With your permission, madam,” said Henry Bailey, “I would like toaccompany these two lads to your house, having a matter of greatimportance to talk over with them.”
“Come right along, mister,” invited the widow. “There’ll be plenty ofvittles for y’u, too.”
Mr. Bailey was not the only one who accompanied them. Leaving thecourtroom, Ben and Jerry were escorted by a triumphal procession allthe way to Mrs. Jones’ gate, where twenty boys cheered the acquittedlad, who paused upon the steps to look back at them, his plain faceillumined by an expression of joy which made it seem actually comely.
“Thank you, fellows,” he said, holding out his open hands to them.“It’s good of you, and I’ll never forget it.”
Sleuth Piper started to make a speech.
“My deduction was——” he began.
“Your deduction was all right, Sleuth,” laughed Roger Eliot, giving hima slap on the shoulder. “You’ve established your reputation as thegreatest detective of modern times, Sherlock Holmes not excepted.”
Even after the house was entered those boys were heard cheering forStone as they marched back into the village.
“Set right down, everybody,” invited the widow. “Make yourselves tohome while I take a look at the roast an’ git the potatoes to bakin’.”
“It is very fortunate, boys,” said Henry Bailey, “that this affairterminated as well as it did. This is my first opportunity to talk withyou both together, and I’ll tell you now that much more good fortune isin store for you. Jerry put himself to needless trouble by running awayere his uncle’s will was read; for in that will, which was drawn upbarely two months before Asher Rand’s death, and which was found in Mr.Rand’s small private safe, a legacy was left to you both—a legacy thatwill place you beyond need.
“It seems that your father, in those years while he worked so privatelyin his home, was engaged upon a very clever invention, which he hadpractically perfected at the time of his unfortunate arrest. Thatinvention fell into the hands of Asher Rand, who, on learning itsvalue, was sorely tempted and kept its existence a secret, finallydisposing of it to a concern that pays a royalty upon it of threethousand dollars yearly. Your uncle’s conscience must have been prickedto a point which led him to draw up that last will, in which heprovides that the income from this invention shall be divided equallybetween you both.
“But since Mr. Rand’s death there have been disclosures of stillgreater importance. Nathan Driggs, the man who caused all your father’strouble and calamitous misfortune, has been ill for some months, andrecently he passed away. Ere he died, being satisfied beyond doubt thatthere was no hope for him, he made a confession which fully exoneratesyour father and clears his name of the stigma upon it. Driggs confessedthat your father’s testimony concerning him at the trial was absolutelytrue—that he did bring the packages of dies for making counterfeitmoney to your father, and, having deceived him regarding the contentsof those packages, induced him to conceal them in his house, where theywere found. Therefore Abner Stone was unjustly convicted of the crimeand died an innocent man through the effects of the wound he receivedwhile trying to escape from prison.”
All this was so marvelous that it left the two boys breathless.
The widow had listened with speechless delight; and now, her eyes againfilled with tears of joy, she cried:
“Lands to mercy! Now ain’t that jest amazin’! Here I’ve beenentertainin’ under my roof a couple of heirs to wealth! Three thousanddollars! Fifteen hundred dollars apiece! Why, it puts y’u both beyondthe touch of the tooth of avarice. I guess folks ’round this town willset up an’ take notice when they hear about it.”
Ben gave his blind brother a hug. Everybody laughed. The little yellowdog, sitting on his haunches and gazing at them, barked sharply, then,with his mouth open, wrinkled his nose and bobbed his tongue.
“Look,” cried Jimmy—“look at Pilot! He’s laughing, too.”
* * * * *
Every cloud was gone from the sky, swept away to return no more. BenStone, whose appearance in Oakdale had been so unfavorable, whose daysthere had been so filled with trouble and strife, found himself thehero of the village and the coveted friend of those lads who had onceregarded him with doubt and aversion. When he and Jerry and Pilotdeparted, with Henry Bailey, who took the boys away until such time asAsher Rand’s affairs should be definitely settled and a guardianappointed for them, nearly every lad in the village, together with anumber of the girls and not a few of the older citizens, accompaniedthem to the railway station.
“Ben,” said Roger Eliot, speaking for the party on the stationplatform, “we’re proud of you, and we hate to see you leave us. We needyou on the eleven. It’s too bad you’re going away now.”
“My deduction is,” interrupted Sleuth Piper, “that he will come back.”
“Yes, boys,” promised Ben, with his hand grasping the iron rail of thepassenger coach, “I shall come back if I can. I have talked about itwith Mr. Bailey, and he thinks there will be no trouble in making thearrangements. I have had something of a scramble in Oakdale, but I likethe place; for here at last I have found more friends that I ever knewbefore. Oh, yes, I’m coming back if I can.”
Then the train bore him away.
* * * * *
He did come back. In less than two weeks he returned to finish hiscourse at the academy, stopping, as before, at the home of the WidowJones, but now having the best room in the house.
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=The= =Golden Boys= =Series=