[43]
After his term as sheriff ended, Cleveland returned to his law practice, opening a firm with his friends Lyman K. Bass and Wilson S. Bissell.[44] Elected to Congress in 1872, Bass did not spend much time at the firm, but Cleveland and Bissell soon rose to the top of Buffalo's legal community.[45] Up to that point, Cleveland's political career had been honorable and unexceptional. As biographer Allan Nevins wrote, "Probably no man in the country, on March 4, 1881, had less thought than this limited, simple, sturdy attorney of Buffalo that four years later he would be standing in Washington and taking the oath as President of the United States."[46]
It was during this period that Cleveland began courting a widow, Maria Halpin. She later accused him of raping her.[47][48] It is unclear if Halpin was actually raped by Cleveland as some early reports stated or if their relationship was consensual.[49] In March 1876, Cleveland accused Halpin of being an alcoholic and had the child removed from her custody. The child was taken to the Protestant Orphan Asylum, and Cleveland paid for his stay there.