"Whose clothes are they?" asked d.i.c.k.
"They are yours."
"Mine! Where did they come from?"
"Mr. Rockwell sent out and bought them for you. They are the same size as your wet ones."
"Is he here now?"
"No. He bought another suit for the little boy, and has gone back to New York. Here"s a note he asked me to give you."
d.i.c.k opened the paper, and read as follows,--
"Please accept this outfit of clothes as the first instalment of a debt which I can never repay. I have asked to have your wet suit dried, when you can reclaim it. Will you oblige me by calling to-morrow at my counting room, No. --, Pearl Street.
"Your friend, "JAMES ROCKWELL."
CHAPTER XXVII
CONCLUSION
When d.i.c.k was dressed in his new suit, he surveyed his figure with pardonable complacency. It was the best he had ever worn, and fitted him as well as if it had been made expressly for him.
"He"s done the handsome thing," said d.i.c.k to himself; "but there wasn"t no "casion for his givin" me these clothes. My lucky stars are shinin" pretty bright now. Jumpin" into the water pays better than shinin" boots; but I don"t think I"d like to try it more"n once a week."
About eleven o"clock the next morning d.i.c.k repaired to Mr.
Rockwell"s counting-room on Pearl Street. He found himself in front of a large and handsome warehouse. The counting-room was on the lower floor. Our hero entered, and found Mr. Rockwell sitting at a desk. No sooner did that gentleman see him than he arose, and, advancing, shook d.i.c.k by the hand in the most friendly manner.
"My young friend," he said, "you have done me so great service that I wish to be of some service to you in return. Tell me about yourself, and what plans or wishes you have formed for the future."
d.i.c.k frankly related his past history, and told Mr. Rockwell of his desire to get into a store or counting-room, and of the failure of all his applications thus far. The merchant listened attentively to d.i.c.k"s statement, and, when he had finished, placed a sheet of paper before him, and, handing him a pen, said, "Will you write your name on this piece of paper?"
d.i.c.k wrote in a free, bold hand, the name Richard Hunter. He had very much improved in his penmanship, as has already been mentioned, and now had no cause to be ashamed of it.
Mr. Rockwell surveyed it approvingly.
"How would you like to enter my counting-room as clerk, Richard?" he asked.
d.i.c.k was about to say "Bully," when he recollected himself, and answered, "Very much."
"I suppose you know something of arithmetic, do you not?"
"Yes, sir."
"Then you may consider yourself engaged at a salary of ten dollars a week. You may come next Monday morning."
"Ten dollars!" repeated d.i.c.k, thinking he must have misunderstood.
"Yes; will that be sufficient?"
"It"s more than I can earn," said d.i.c.k, honestly.
"Perhaps it is at first," said Mr. Rockwell, smiling; "but I am willing to pay you that. I will besides advance you as fast as your progress will justify it."
d.i.c.k was so elated that he hardly restrained himself from some demonstration which would have astonished the merchant; but he exercised self-control, and only said, "I"ll try to serve you so faithfully, sir, that you won"t repent having taken me into your service."
"And I think you will succeed," said Mr. Rockwell, encouragingly. "I will not detain you any longer, for I have some important business to attend to. I shall expect to see you on Monday morning."
d.i.c.k left the counting-room, hardly knowing whether he stood on his head or his heels, so overjoyed was he at the sudden change in his fortunes. Ten dollars a week was to him a fortune, and three times as much as he had expected to obtain at first. Indeed he would have been glad, only the day before, to get a place at three dollars a week. He reflected that with the stock of clothes which he had now on hand, he could save up at least half of it, and even then live better than he had been accustomed to do; so that his little fund in the savings bank, instead of being diminished, would be steadily increasing. Then he was to be advanced if he deserved it. It was indeed a bright prospect for a boy who, only a year before, could neither read nor write, and depended for a night"s lodging upon the chance hospitality of an alley-way or old wagon. d.i.c.k"s great ambition to "grow up "spectable" seemed likely to be accomplished after all.
"I wish Fosd.i.c.k was as well off as I am," he thought generously. But he determined to help his less fortunate friend, and a.s.sist him up the ladder as he advanced himself.
When d.i.c.k entered his room on Mott Street, he discovered that some one else had been there before him, and two articles of wearing apparel had disappeared.
"By gracious!" he exclaimed; "somebody"s stole my Washington coat and Napoleon pants. Maybe it"s an agent of Barnum"s, who expects to make a fortun" by exhibitin" the valooable wardrobe of a gentleman of fashion."
d.i.c.k did not shed many tears over his loss, as, in his present circ.u.mstances, he never expected to have any further use for the well-worn garments. It may be stated that he afterwards saw them adorning the figure of Micky Maguire; but whether that estimable young man stole them himself, he never ascertained. As to the loss, d.i.c.k was rather pleased that it had occurred. It seemed to cut him off from the old vagabond life which he hoped never to resume.
Henceforward he meant to press onward, and rise as high as possible.
Although it was yet only noon, d.i.c.k did not go out again with his brush. He felt that it was time to retire from business. He would leave his share of the public patronage to other boys less fortunate than himself. That evening d.i.c.k and Fosd.i.c.k had a long conversation.
Fosd.i.c.k rejoiced heartily in his friend"s success, and on his side had the pleasant news to communicate that his pay had been advanced to six dollars a week.
"I think we can afford to leave Mott Street now," he continued.
"This house isn"t as neat as it might be, and I shall like to live in a nicer quarter of the city."
"All right," said d.i.c.k. "We"ll hunt up a new room to-morrow. I shall have plenty of time, having retired from business. I"ll try to get my reg"lar customers to take Johnny Nolan in my place. That boy hasn"t any enterprise. He needs some body to look out for him."
"You might give him your box and brush, too, d.i.c.k."
"No," said d.i.c.k; "I"ll give him some new ones, but mine I want to keep, to remind me of the hard times I"ve had, when I was an ignorant boot-black, and never expected to be anything better."
"When, in short, you were "Ragged d.i.c.k." You must drop that name, and think of yourself now as"--
"Richard Hunter, Esq.," said our hero, smiling.
"A young gentleman on the way to fame and fortune," added Fosd.i.c.k.