As he spoke he handed some money to Paul, and he in turn handed it to Ben, who said, as he took it rather unwillingly,
"We don't want any pay for comin' here with Polly, an', besides, it warn't very far, so we won't say nothin' 'bout it."
"All we shall say about it, my boy, is that you will keep that money in order that I may keep my word. To-morrow we will see what can be done to reward you for your kindness to Paul, and he and I will call at your house some time in the evening, where I hope you will all wait for us."
Ben concluded from this that Mr. Weston wanted to be alone with his son, and he said, as he went towards the door,
"We'll keep the money, though it don't seem jest right; it kinder looks as though we was takin' what didn't belong to us, an' the only way I know of to get square on it is for us to give a show all for you alone, an' let you come in for nothin'."
Mr. Weston seemed highly pleased at the novel idea, and he told them, as he shook their hands in parting, that he would be obliged to give the matter some considerable attention before he could accept any such generous offer, but that they could talk the matter over the following evening. Paul bade them good-night, with the assurance that he would see them the next day, and the boys marched out of the hotel saying not a word, but looking as if they believed they had grown considerably in importance during their call.
Once in the street, Mopsey stopped under the nearest gas-light and asked Ben to see how much money Mr. Weston had given them. Ben unfolded the bills, which he held crumpled up in his hand, and the surprise of all four may be imagined when he unrolled five twenty-dollar notes.
"Jinks!" squeaked Dickey, with delight, after he had turned four consecutive hand-springs to quiet himself down a little, "that's a hundred dollars; an' if we don't swell 'round with that it'll be 'cause we don't know how to put on style."
Then, quite as fast as they had left Mrs. Green's, they ran back to relate the startling news, and surprise their landlady and her daughter with the treasure that had come because of their generous act.
As may be supposed, Paul's good-fortune in finding his father was the topic of conversation during the forenoon following that happy event, and there was even more excitement regarding it in the news-selling world than there had been when the fact was first circulated that Ben and Johnny had embarked in a theatrical enterprise.