you?"

"That's a secret," said the young man, good-naturedly.

"Is it? Well, I'll excuse you."

"You're very kind. That's a stylish coat you've got on."

"Isn't it?" said Sam, proudly, and rising from the chair he turned
around in order to display fully the admired garment.

"Who is your tailor?"

"I forget his name, but he hangs out on Chatham Street. I only bought
this coat yesterday."

"Don't you think it's a little too long?"

"Maybe it is," said Sam, "but I don't mind it. I can cut it down if I
want to. Maybe they've got another like it, if you want one."

"I'm supplied just at present," said the young man. "What do you
expect to do here?"

"I'm to be the errand boy. Does the boss work you very hard?"

"Oh, no, he's reasonable. How did you happen to get in with him?"

"I brought home his little boy. The little chap was cryin' round the
streets, when I met him and took him home."

"Oh! you're the boy I heard him speak of. Well, you're in luck, for
Mr. Dalton is an excellent employer."

"Have you been with him long?"

"About four years."

"Do you think he'll raise me soon?"

"That will depend a good deal upon yourself. If you work faithfully,
no doubt he will."

Sam made a resolution to work faithfully, but then he found it easier
to make resolutions than keep them.

"There's Mr. Dalton now," said the clerk.

Sam rose and faced his employer. The latter looked at him in some
surprise, not immediately recognizing under the strange dress the boy
whom he had engaged.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"I'm the new boy," said Sam. "Don't you remember you told me you'd
hire me at five dollars a week?"

"Oh, you are the boy, are you? Why, you look like an old man! Where
did you raise that coat?"

"I bought it."

"It makes you look like your own grandfather."

"Does it?" said Sam, rather taken aback. "I thought it was stylish."

"You better exchange it. I don't want a boy in my employment to be
dressed in that way. You'll be taken for an old gentleman from the
country."

Sam smiled, but looked rather disturbed.

"I don't know as the man will take it back," he said.

"Go and see. I'll give you a couple of dollars. He will change it if
you pay him something extra."

"I'll fix it," said Sam, accepting the money with alacrity. "Shall I
go now?"

"Yes, and come back when you have made the exchange. Get something
suitable for a boy of your age, and not too large."

Sam left the counting-room,