Ben hesitated. He could not at all understand what was happening to him. "Of course," said the gentleman, "your present clothing won't do for my private secretary. The contents of this trunk are yours, if the clothes fit you." Ben proceeded to remove his clothing, and in a few minutes he was newly rigged from top to toe. Every article fitted admirably. "Now look at yourself in the mirror," said the gentleman, evidently pleased with the transformation. Ben looked in the mirror, and was delighted with the change in his appearance. His outer suit was of fine French cloth, all his under-garments were of costly fabric, and he found himself transformed from a country boy in badly-cut garments of coarse cloth to a finely-dressed young gentleman. "How do you like it?" asked the gentleman, smiling. "Very much," said Ben, sincerely. "So do I," answered the gentleman. "Where shall I put my old clothes?" asked Ben. "Make a bundle of them and give them to some poor boy. You won't need them." Ben resolved, instead, to send them home by express. They might come in use some time. "Now," said the gentleman, "there is one thing more. Have you a pocket-book?" "Yes, sir." "Here is a little money in advance. You will need to carry some about with you." He took from his own pocket-book fifteen dollars in bills and handed them to Ben. "I wonder if I am dreaming," thought our hero. "This may be like the fairy gold I have read of." As a matter of fact, however, they were bank-notes on the Park Bank of New York, and Ben soon had occasion to test their genuineness. "We will go down to lunch now," said Richard Grafton, for that was the name of the gentleman, as Ben discovered. Ben entered the large dining-room and took a seat next his employer. Though new to hotel life he copied what he saw other guests do, and no one suspected that the handsomely-dressed boy had not all his life been used to luxury. When the meal was over, Mr. Grafton said: "You can go where you please this afternoon, but be on hand at six o'clock. We shall go to some theatre this evening." Mr. Grafton left the hotel. Ben took an opportunity to examine the hotel register soon after. He discovered that Mr. Grafton had arrived the day before. This was the entry: "RICHARD GRAFTON, London, England." Underneath, to his amazement, he read another name: "MASTER PHILIP GRAFTON, London, England." "I suppose that means me," he said to himself. "What does it all mean? How did Mr. Grafton know that I would be here? He had never seen me. And how did he find clothes to fit me so exactly?" There was certainly a mystery, but it was fraught with so much to the advantage of our hero that he resolved to cease asking questions and accept the gifts of fortune. CHAPTER VIII. AN UNEXPECTED MEETING AT THE GRAND OPERA HOUSE.