"Good luck to you, Ben, then! I will expect to see you to-night." And Hugh Manton kept on his way down town, to see what work had been laid out for him at the office. CHAPTER V. A YOUNG DUDE. Ben entered the great store, gazing not without admiration at the long counters loaded with piles of clothing. "My uncle must be a very rich man," he said to himself. "Surely he can find a place for me in so large a store." "Do you wish to buy a suit?" asked a spruce young man, coming forward to meet our hero. "No; I would like to see Mr. Walton," answered Ben. The young man surveyed Ben's country garb with a smile of depreciation. He was apt to judge others by their clothes, being conscious, perhaps, that they were his own chief claim to consideration. "I don't think Mr. Walton will see you, youngster," he said. "Why not?" demanded Ben, looking him calmly in the eye. "His time is of too much value to waste on country kids." "Mr. Walton is my uncle," said Ben, quietly. "Your uncle!" repeated the clerk, in considerable surprise. "Oh, well, that alters the case. Just go through the store and you will find Mr. Walton in his office." Ben followed directions, and found the office without further inquiry. Through the open door he saw a short man, of fifty or thereabouts, sitting at a desk. There was another person in the office--a boy, somewhere near his own age--dressed in the fashion, with a gold watch-chain across his vest, a showy pin in his scarf, and the air of a young coxcomb. This was Clarence Plantagenet Walton, the only son of the merchant, and of course Ben's cousin. The two, however, had not met since both were very young boys, and neither would have recognized the other. Ben overheard a fragment of the conversation between his uncle and cousin. "You spend too much money, Plantagenet. It is less than a week since I gave you ten dollars." "The fellows I go with are all rich, and spend plenty of money. You wouldn't want them to look upon me as mean, pa?" "The boys of the present day are altogether too extravagant," said his father, frowning. "Why, when I was a boy, I didn't spend ten dollars in three months." "You were not in fashionable society like me, pa," said Clarence Plantagenet, consequentially. "Much good it does you!" muttered Mr. Walton. "What do you want money for particularly to-day?" "I am going with Percy Van Dyke to a base-ball match this afternoon. Percy lives in a splendid house on Fifth avenue, and his family is one of the first. I suppose we shall get home late, and I want to give him a little supper at Delmonico's." "The Van Dykes stand very high," said Mr. Walton, complacently. "I am very glad to have you associate with such a high-toned family. I suppose I must let you have the money." He drew out a ten-dollar bill and tendered it to Clarence.