"No, I don't know anybody this way."
"Whew!" whistled the other. "How you goin' to live?"
"I expect to earn my living," said Ben, in a tone of importance.
"Father and mother dead?"
"No, they're alive."
"I s'pose they're poor?"
"No, they're not; they're well off."
The boot-black looked puzzled.
"Why didn't you stay at home then? Wouldn't they let you?"
"Of course they would. The fact is, I've run away."