CLARENCE IS PUZZLED.
Clarence Plantagenet was so puzzled by the appearance of his cousin
at a fashionable theatre at a time when he supposed him to be
enjoying the hospitality of the police authorities that he paid
little attention to the stage performance. He had a large share of
curiosity, and resolved to gratify it, even if it were necessary to
speak to Ben himself.
At the end of the second act, Ben, feeling thirsty, and having
noticed that ice-water could be obtained in the lobby, left his seat
and walked up the aisle.
Clarence, observing this, rose also, and followed him.
He came to the water-fount just as Ben had quenched his thirst. He
was surprised anew when he observed how elegantly his cousin was
dressed. He was fastidious as to his own dress, but was obliged to
confess that Ben surpassed him in this respect.
Ben was conscious of the same thing, and, under the circumstances,
it gratified him.
Another thing also was evident to Clarence, though he admitted it
with reluctance, that Ben was a strikingly handsome boy. He had
appeared somewhat to disadvantage in his country-made suit, but all
signs of rusticity had now disappeared.
"Good evening," said Clarence, with a good deal more politeness than
he had displayed at the office.
"Good evening," said Ben, politely.
"I am surprised to see you here," continued Clarence.
"Yes," answered Ben. "I didn't expect to see you here."
"Oh, I come here often. I thought you would spend the evening in an
entirely different place," said Clarence, significantly.
"You are kind to think of me at all," said Ben, smiling.
Clarence was puzzled. He began to think that he must have been
mistaken in the person when he supposed he saw Ben in the custody
of an officer. Now he came to think of it, the boy under arrest had
shown no signs of recognition. We know that it was because Ben was
far from wishing to attract the attention of any one who knew him.
"Have you passed the day pleasantly?" inquired Clarence, thinking he
might lead up to the subject on which he desired light.
"Quite pleasantly," answered Ben. "New York is a beautiful city."
"I was afraid you had got into a scrape," said Clarence. "As I was
walking along Broadway, soon after you left father's office, I saw a
boy just like you in charge of a policeman."
"Poor fellow! I hope he got off. Did you stop and speak to him?"
"No; I was so surprised that I stood still and stared till it was
too late."
"I am not at all anxious to make the acquaintance of the police,"
said Ben, not sorry to have put his cousin off the scent.
"You have changed your dress," said Clarence, wishing to satisfy
his curiosity in another direction.
"Yes," answered Ben, with studied indifference.
"You have a good seat to-night."
"Yes; I have an excellent view of the play."
"The orchestra seats are high-priced. I thought you were short of
money."
"I was, but I am earning a good income now, and----"
"You haven't got a place, have you?" ejaculated his cousin, in
surprise.
"Yes, I have."
"Is it in a store?"
"No; I am private secretary to a gentleman living at the
Metropolitan Hotel."
"Private secretary!" exclaimed Clarence, in continued surprise. "You
can't be fit for such a position. How did you get it?"
"I am not sure whether I shall suit," said Ben, "but the gentleman
applied to me, and I accepted."
"I never heard of anything so strange. How much pay do you get?"
"Fifty dollars a month and board."
"It can't be possible!"
"That is what I say to myself," responded Ben, good-naturedly. "I am
afraid that my employer will find out that he is paying me too much
money."
"Are you staying at the Metropolitan, too?"
"Yes, for the present."
"I will call on you before long."
"Thank you."
"My aristocratic cousin seems disposed to be very polite to me now,"
thought Ben. "I am glad I put him off the track about the arrest."
"Excuse me," he said. "I believe the curtain is rising."
"Who is that fine-looking boy you were just speaking to?" asked
Percy Van Dyke, who came up at this moment.
"It is a cousin of mine," answered Clarence, not unwillingly.
"I should like to know what tailor he employs. He is finely
dressed, and a handsome fellow, besides."
"Of course, being a cousin of mine," said Clarence, with a smirk.
"How does it happen I have never met your cousin before?"
"He has only recently come to the city. He is staying at the
Metropolitan just at present."
Wonders will never cease. Here was Clarence Plantagenet Walton, the
son of a wealthy merchant, actually acknowledging with complacency
his relationship to a country cousin whom earlier in the day he had
snubbed.
He did not have another chance to speak to Ben that evening, as his
cousin remained in his seat till the close of the performance, and
in the throng at the close he lost sight of him.
As he and his father were walking home, Clarence said:
"I saw Ben in the lobby, between the acts."
"What did he say?" asked the merchant, who was himself not without
curiosity.
"I must have been mistaken about his being in charge of a
policeman," said Clarence.
"I thought you were."
"But the boy I saw looked precisely like Ben."
"What did your cousin say?"
"He has had a stroke of good luck. He has been engaged as private
secretary to a gentleman staying at the Metropolitan Hotel."
"Is this true, Clarence?"
"So Ben says; and he says, also, that he is to receive fifty dollars
a month."
"He can't be fitted for any such position with his country
education."
"So I told him."
"And what did he say?"
"He agreed with me. He said he was afraid his employer would find
out that he was paying him too much."
"The boy is candid. If all this is true, he is strangely lucky."
"Did you notice how stylishly he was dressed, pa?"
"I observed that he was dressed a good deal better than when he
called at my office to-day."
"Even Percy Van Dyke noticed it, and asked me who he was."
"Did you tell him?"
"Yes, I said he was a cousin of mine, who was staying at the
Metropolitan. He wanted to find out who was Ben's tailor."
"Your cousin seems a very smart boy. Perhaps he was right in
thinking that he would be better off in the city."
"I never saw such a change in a boy in my life. I told him I would
call on him at the hotel."
"Do so, Clarence. I confess I have a curiosity to learn how he has
managed to get such a position."
Certainly this had been a day of strange vicissitudes to Ben. He had
been in the depths of humiliation and at the summit of joy.
He had come to the city in the morning, a poor country boy. In the
evening he had attended a performance at a fashionable theatre as
elegantly dressed as any of his own age in the audience.
Mr. Grafton's room contained two beds, a large and a small one. The
latter was appropriated to Ben.
Our hero was very tired, and Mr. Grafton was obliged to call him
the next morning.
"Wake up, my boy," he said; "it is half-past eight."
"Half-past eight! Why, I got up at half-past six in the country."
"Dress yourself and we will go down to breakfast. Afterward I have
to make a business call, and you must go with me."