"We haven't any directory, sir," said the clerk, "but if you will step across the street you can find one at that little shop with the green door. Everybody goes there to look at the directory."
The green door on the opposite side of the street, approached by a single flat step of stone, had a tin sign upon it, on which was painted:
"INFORMATION OF EVERY VARIETY FURNISHED WITHIN."
Pushing open the door, Lawrence entered a long, narrow room, not very well lighted, with a short counter on one side, and some desks, partially screened by a curtain, at the farther end. A boy was behind the counter, and to him Lawrence addressed himself, asking permission to look at a city directory.
"One cent, if you look yourself; three cents, if we look," said the boy, producing a thick volume from beneath the counter.
"One cent?" said Lawrence, smiling at the oddity of this charge, as he opened the book and turned to the letter K.
"Yes," said the boy, "and if the fine print hurts your eyes, we'll look for three cents."
At this moment a man came from one of the desks at the other end of the room, and handed the boy a letter with which that young person immediately departed. The new-comer, a smooth-shaven man of about thirty, with the air of the proprietor or head manager very strong upon him, took the boy's position behind the counter, and remarked to Lawrence: "Most people, when they first come here, think it rather queer to pay for looking at the directory, but you see we don't keep a directory to coax people to come in to buy medicines or anything else. We sell nothing but information, and part of our stock is what you get out of a directory. But it's the best plan all round, for we can afford to give you a clean, good book instead of one all jagged and worn; and as you pay your money, you feel you can look as long as you like, and come when you please."
"It is a very good plan," said Lawrence, closing the book, "but the name
I want is not here."
"Perhaps it is in last year's directory," said the man, producing another volume from under the counter.