His honesty was strongly illustrated by the way he kept his accounts with his law-partner. When he had taken a fee in the latter’s absence, he put one half of it into his own pocket, and laid the other half carefully away, labeling it Billy, “ the name by which he familiarly addressed his partner. When asked why he did not make a record of the amount and, for the time being, use the whole, Mr. Lincoln answered: Because I promised my mother never to use money belonging to another person.