Dan, The Newsboy. Alger Horatio Jr.

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СКАЧАТЬ Mr. Grant would do so for him.

      Mr. Grant turned back, and said, quietly:

      "To whom are you speaking, sir?"

      "I beg your pardon, sir—it's that boy."

      "Then, sir, you will oblige me by stopping at once. That boy is in my company and under my protection."

      Nathan Gripp stared as if transfixed.

      "Do you know him, sir?" he asked.

      "Yes, sir."

      "You are mistaken in him, sir. He's an artful young rascal. He was here yesterday, and acted outrageously. He assaulted my clerk and insulted me."

      "I have nothing to do with that. He is in my company, and if I enter the store he will."

      "Oh, of course, if he's with you he can come in. Samuel, show the gentleman what he wants."

      Dan smiled, and nothing but a sense of his own interest prevented Mr. Gripp from objecting to his entrance.

      "What will I show you, sir?" asked the callow young man named Samuel, glaring at Dan in vivid remembrance of the blow which had doubled him up.

      "Have you any coats and vests that will fit this young gentleman?"

      "Young gentleman!" repeated Samuel, mechanically, glancing at Dan in silent hatred.

      "That means me, Samuel," said Dan, mischievously. "Samuel is an old friend of mine, Mr. Grant."

      "I think we can fit him," said Samuel, by no means relishing the task of waiting upon his young opponent. "Take off your coat, young feller."

      "Don't be too familiar, Samuel. You may call me Mr. Mordaunt," said Dan.

      "I'll be – if I do," muttered the young man.

      Dan took off his coat, and tried on the one submitted to his inspection. He afterward tried on the vest, and they proved to be a good fit.

      "Do they suit you, Dan?" asked Mr. Grant.

      "Yes, sir, they fit as well as if they had been made for me."

      "What is the price of these articles, young man?" asked Mr. Grant.

      "Twelve dollars," answered Samuel.

      "He'll take eight," suggested Dan, in a low voice.

      Mr. Grant knew well enough the ways of Chatham street merchants to appreciate the suggestion.

      "That is too high," he said, quietly.

      Samuel, who was trained to read customers, after a glance at Mr. Grant's face, prepared to reduce the price.

      "We might say eleven," he said, meditatively. "Shall I put them up?"

      "Not at that price."

      "You don't want us to give 'em away?" said Samuel, in the tone of one whose reasonable demands had been objected to.

      "There is no fear of that, I apprehend," returned Mr. Grant, dryly.

      "I've no objection, I'm sure," remarked Dan, on his own account.

      "I'd make a few remarks to you, young feller, if you were alone," he read in the eyes of the indignant salesman, and Dan enjoyed the restraint which he knew Samuel was putting upon himself.

      "You are still asking too much," said the customer.

      "What'll you give, sir?" asked Samuel, diplomatically.

      "Eight dollars."

      "Eight dollars! Why the cloth cost more than that!" protested Samuel.

      "The work didn't cost you much, I presume."

      "We pay the highest prices for work in this establishment, sir," said Samuel, hastily.

      He forgot that Dan knew better.

      "So they do, Mr. Grant," said Dan. "They pay twenty cents apiece for making vests."

      "We pay more than that to our best hands," said Samuel.

      "You told me you never paid more," retorted Dan.

      Mr. Grant interrupted this discussion.

      "Young man," said he, "I will give you eight dollars for the clothes."

      "Say nine, sir."

      "Not a cent more."

      As the regular price was eight dollars—when they couldn't get any more—Samuel felt authorized to conclude the bargain without consulting Mr. Gripp.

      "Shall I do up the clothes?" he asked.

      "No," said Dan, "I'll wear 'em. You may put up my old ones."

      Samuel felt it derogatory to his dignity to obey the orders of our hero, but there was no alternative.

      The bundle was placed in Dan's hands.

      "Now write me a receipt for the price," said Mr. Grant.

      This was done.

      Mr. Grant counted out six dollars and eighty cents.

      "I have an order upon you for the balance," he said.

      "I don't understand," ejaculated Samuel.

      "Your principal owes my young friend, or his mother, one dollar and twenty cents for work. This you will receive as part of the price."

      "I must see Mr. Gripp," said Samuel.

      Mr. Gripp came forward frowning.

      "We can't take the order, sir," he said. "The boy's money is not yet due."

      "Isn't the work done and delivered?"

      "Yes, sir; but it is our rule not to pay till a whole dozen is delivered."

      "Then it is a rule which you must break," said Mr. Grant, firmly.

      "We can't."

      "Then I refuse to take the suit."

      Nathan Gripp did not like to lose the sale on the one hand, or abdicate his position on the other.

      "Tell your mother," he said to Dan, "that when she has finished another half-dozen vests I will pay her the whole."

      He reflected that the stranger would be gone, and Dan would be in his power.

      "Thank you," said Dan, "but mother's agreed to work for Jackson. He pays better."

      "Then you'll have to wait for your pay," said Mr. Gripp, sharply.

      "Don't you care to sell this suit?" asked Mr. Grant, quickly.

      "Yes, sir, but under the circumstances we must ask all cash."

      "You won't get it, sir."

      "Then СКАЧАТЬ