"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." CHAPTER X. AT THE OFFICE OF MR. CODICIL. In one of the large business buildings appropriated chiefly to offices, within a stone's throw of Printing-House Square, were the commodious offices of Nathan Codicil, a prominent lawyer, whose business related chiefly to the estates of wealthy clients. Mr. Codicil himself was a dignified-looking gentleman, of grave aspect, whose whitening locks seemed to indicate that he had reached the age of threescore. He was a cautious, careful, trustworthy man, whose reputation was deservedly high. Mr. Grafton and Ben, stepping out of the elevator, paused before the door of Mr. Codicil's office for a moment, when the former opened the door and entered.