ok-keepers were selected from
among our own people.

The Clinton Bank and the new mills went into operation about the same
time. Years of prosperity followed. Money was plenty in our town, and
everybody was growing better off. Dewey was still the manufacturing
partner of the large house in New York, whose demand for goods it seemed
impossible to satisfy. He was a great man in S----. People spoke of
him as possessing vast mental as well as money resources; as having
expansive views of trade and finance; as being a man of extraordinary
ability. I listened to all these things as I passed around among our
citizens, plodding along in my profession, and managing to grow just a
little better off each year; and wondered within myself if I were really
mistaken in the man--if there was a solid basis of right judgment below
all this splendid seeming.

And what of our friend Wallingford, during those busy years? Like
myself, he moved so quietly through his round of professional duties,
as to attract little attention. But he had been growing in all this
time--growing in mental stature; and growing in the confidence of all
just men. Judge Bigelow's interest in the mills, and in the new Bank,
drew his attention so much away from his law cases, that clients began
to grow dissatisfied, and this threw a great deal of excellent business
into the hands of Wallingford, who, if not always successful in his
cases, so managed them as to retain the confidence and good will of all
who employed him. He got the character in our town of a safe adviser. If
a man had a difficulty with a neighbor, and talked of going to law with
him, in all probability some one would say--

"Go to Mr. Wallingford; he will tell you, on the spot, if there is any
chance for you in Court."

And he bore this character justly. A thorn in the side he had proved
to the three great mill owners, Judge Bigelow, Squire Floyd, and Ralph
Dewey. The two former failed entirely, in his view, as to the right
steps for discovering the heirs to the large property in their hands,
all of which had been changed from its original position; while the
latter showed ill-feeling whenever Wallingford, as he continued to do,
at stated intervals, filed interrogatories, and required answers as to
the condition of the trust, and the prospects of finding heirs.

Ten years had elapsed since the discovery of Mr. Allen's will, and yet
no heirs had presented themselves. And now Mr. Wallingford took f