"So?" the salesman leaned his hands meditatively on the counter, and surveyed him. "Well, I'll show you some other goods. Come this way," and again they traversed some more aisles, took an elevator, and went up what seemed to Ben a great many floors, at last coming out to a department which, as far as the eye could see, was stacked with thick, ready-made goods of serviceable materials.
"There," said the little man, giving quick, birdlike glances on either side, and, at last pausing, he slapped his hand smartly down on a small pile of suits, "is just the ticket for you."
"Yes," said Ben, and he ran his hand approvingly over the thick surface, "I guess it is; it looks good."
"And it is good," said the salesman, emphatically; "it'll outwear three of those other ones downstairs. We haven't but a few of these left. Now, how big is the boy you want it for?"
"I don't know," said Ben, helplessly.
"Well, we've got to have something to go by," said the salesman; "of course you can't buy at random and haphazard."
"She didn't say," said Ben, with a nod over in the direction supposed to be where Madam Van Ruypen was waiting several floors below for the transaction to be completed. "But she's going to give them to a boy," he added desperately, "and so I guess I'll pick out the very best you have for the money, and it'll be right. They'll fit some boy."
"Right you are," declared the salesman, delighted to have the matter satisfactorily arranged, and, pulling out a coat and jacket, he held them up before Ben's eyes. "Now that is the best money value we've got in the store. Fact. We're closing them out. Couldn't afford to give 'em at this low figure, but there's only these few left, and we don't allow remnants to bother us long, no, sir." He rattled on so fast that Ben, who was slowly going over the coat, which he had by this time gotten into his own hands, in a close examination as to buttons and buttonholes, only half heard him. Indeed, it wasn't in the least necessary, for he hadn't held the garment for a moment before he knew quite well that here was a good bargain, and one well fitted to warm some poor boy, and to wear well.
"You can't find fault," said the little man, in great satisfaction, when the whole suit had been gone over in this slow way, "'cause there ain't any. Fact! Well, do you want it?"
"How much is it?" asked Ben.