nding.

"So far, so good!" he muttered to himself. "Master Ben has been seen
coming out of a gambling house. That won't be likely to recommend him
to Mrs. Hamilton, and she shall know it before long."

Ben could not understand what had become of the note summoning him to
the gambling house. In fact, he had dislodged it from the vest pocket
in which he thrust it, and it had fallen upon the carpet near the desk
in what Mrs. Hamilton called her "office." Having occasion to enter
the room in the evening, his patroness saw it on the carpet, picked it
up, and read it, not without surprise.

"This is a strange note for Ben to receive," she said to herself. "I
wonder what it means?"

Of course, she had no idea of the character of the place indicated,
but was inclined to hope that some good luck was really in store for
her young secretary.

"He will be likely to tell me sooner or later," she said to herself.
"I will wait patiently, and let him choose his own time. Meanwhile I
will keep the note."

Mrs. Hamilton did not see Ben till the next morning. Then he looked
thoughtful, but said nothing. He was puzzling himself over what had
happened. He hardly knew whether to conclude that the whole thing was
a trick, or that the note was written in good faith.

"I don't understand why the writer should have appointed to meet me at
such a place," he reflected. "I may hear from him again."

It was this reflection which led him to keep the matter secret from
Mrs. Hamilton, to whom be had been tempted to speak.

"I will wait till I know more," he said to himself. "This Barnes
knows my address, and he can communicate with me if he chooses."

Of course, the reader understands that Conrad was at the bottom of the
trick, and that the object was to persuade Mrs. Hamilton that the boy
she trusted was in the habit of visiting gambling houses. The plan
had been suggested by Conrad, and the details agreed on by him and his
mother. This explains why Conrad was so conveniently near at hand to
see Ben coming out of the gambling house.

The boy reported the success of this plan to his mother.

"I never saw a boy look so puzzled," he said, with a chuckle, "when he
came out of the gambling house. I should like to know what sort of
time he had there. I expected he would get kicked out."

"I feel no interest in that matter," said his mother. "I am more
interested to know what Cousin Hamilton will say when she finds where
her m