The first thing he caught sight of when he entered was a little bunch of keys lying on the table. He knew at once that they were his mother's keys. It was certainly extraordinary that she should on that particular day have left them exposed. She was generally very careful. But it chanced that she had hurried away, and in her haste had forgotten the keys, nor did she think of them while absent.
Under ordinary circumstances Ben would have made no improper use of the keys thus thrown in his way; but, harassed as he was by the importunities of Winchester, it seemed to him a stroke of luck that placed them in his power.
He determined to open the drawers of his mother's bureau, and see what he could find. If only he could find the sum he wanted he could get out of his present difficulties, and perhaps explain it to his mother afterwards.
Ben, after several trials, succeeded in finding the key that fitted the upper drawer. He examined the contents eagerly. It was of course filled with a variety of articles of apparel, but in one corner Ben found a portemonnaie. He opened it, and discovered a roll of bills, six in number, each of the denomination of twenty dollars.
"One hundred and twenty dollars!" he said. "That's more than a third of the bill. Perhaps, if I pay that, Winchester'll wait for the rest."
It occurred to him, however, that a further search might reveal some more money. If he could get thirty dollars more, for example, that with the other would make one half the sum he owed Winchester, and with that surely the other might be content, for the present at least. The rest of the debt he could arrange to pay out of his weekly allowance, say at the rate of five dollars a week.
Accordingly Ben began to poke about until he found a folded paper. He opened it with curiosity and began to read. His interest deepened, and his excitement increased.
"By Jove," he said, "if this isn't the lost will I've heard so much talk about. The old lady's kept it mighty quiet. Wouldn't John Oakley give something to get hold of it?"
Ben sat down to reflect upon the discovery he had made.
"Mother's right to keep it quiet," he said to himself. "She ought to have destroyed it, and I verily believe she has tried," he continued, as he noticed the scorched appearance of the will. "I wonder she didn't."