Fame and Fortune | Page 3

ready for you, and you may bring your trunks when you please. My hours are, breakfast at seven, lunch at half-past twelve, and dinner at six."
"We shan't be able to come to lunch," said Fosdick. "Our stores are too far off."
"Then I will make half a dollar difference with each of you, making nine dollars a week instead of ten."
The boys went downstairs, well pleased with the arrangement they had made. Dick insisted upon paying five dollars and a half of the joint weekly expense, leaving three and a half to Fosdick. This would leave the latter two dollars and a half out of his salary, while Dick would have left four and a half. With economy, both thought they could continue to lay up something.
There was one little embarrassment which suggested itself to the boys. Neither of them had a trunk, having been able to stow away all their wardrobe without difficulty in the drawers of the bureau with which their room in Mott Street was provided.
"Why are you like an elephant, Fosdick?" asked Dick, jocosely, as they emerged into the street.
"I don't know, I'm sure."
"Because you haven't got any trunk except what you carry round with you."
"We'll have to get trunks, or perhaps carpet-bags would do."
"No," said Dick, decisively, "it aint 'spectable to be without a trunk, and we're going to be 'spectable now."
"Respectable, Dick."
"All right,--respectable, then. Let's go and buy each a trunk."
This advice seemed reasonable, and Fosdick made no objection. The boys succeeded in getting two decent trunks at three dollars apiece, and ordered them sent to their room in Mott Street. It must be remembered by my readers, who may regard the prices given as too low, that the events here recorded took place several years before the war, when one dollar was equal to two at the present day.
At the close of the afternoon Fosdick got away from the store an hour earlier, and the boys, preceded by an expressman bearing their trunks, went to their new home. They had just time to wash and comb their hair, when the bell rang for dinner, and they went down to the dining-room.
Nearly all the boarders were assembled, and were sitting around a long table spread with a variety of dishes. Mrs. Browning was a good manager, and was wise enough to set a table to which her boarders could not object.
"This way, if you please, young gentlemen," she said, pointing to two adjoining seats on the opposite side of the table.
Our hero, it must be confessed, felt a little awkward, not being used to the formality of a boarding-house, and feeling that the eyes of twenty boarders were upon him. His confusion was increased, when, after taking his seat, he saw sitting opposite him, a young man whose boots he remembered to have blacked only a week before. Observing Dick's look, Mrs. Browning proceeded to introduce him to the other.
"Mr. Clifton," she said, "let me introduce Mr. Hunter and his friend, Mr. Fosdick,--two new members of our family."
Dick bowed rather awkwardly, and the young man said, "Glad to make your acquaintance, Mr. Hunter. Your face looks quite familiar. I think I must have seen you before."
"I think I've seen you before," said Dick.
"It's strange I can't think where," said the young man, who had not the least idea that the well-dressed boy before him was the boot-black who had brushed his boots near the Park railings the Monday previous. Dick did not think proper to enlighten him. He was not ashamed of his past occupation; but it was past, and he wanted to be valued for what he might become, not for what he had been.
"Are you in business, Mr. Hunter?" inquired Mr. Clifton.
It sounded strange to our hero to be called Mr. Hunter; but he rather liked it. He felt that it sounded respectable.
"I am at Rockwell & Cooper's, on Pearl Street," said Dick.
"I know the place. It is a large firm."
Dick was glad to hear it, but did not say that he knew nothing about it.
The dinner was a good one, much better than the two boys were accustomed to get at the eating-houses which in times past they had frequented. Dick noticed carefully how the others did, and acquitted himself quite creditably, so that no one probably suspected that he had not always been used to as good a table.
When the boys rose from the table, Mrs. Browning said, "Won't you walk into the parlor, young gentlemen? We generally have a little music after dinner. Some of the young ladies are musical. Do either of you play?"
Dick said he sometimes played marbles; at which a young lady laughed, and Dick, catching the infection, laughed too.
"Miss Peyton, Mr. Hunter," introduced Mrs. Browning.
Miss Peyton made a sweeping courtesy, to which Dick responded by a