“What sort of a place was it?” asked the captain.
“It was a situation in Mr. Longbrook’s store. I have been looking for a place for a year; but I am afraid I shall never find one,” replied Bolingbroke, hoping the rich man would interest himself in his favor.
“There are ten clerks for every vacancy. Can’t you find any thing else to do?”
“I don’t know: I never looked for any other kind of a place.”
“I should think you might find a place to work on a farm,” added the captain in perfect good faith.
“On a farm!” exclaimed Bolingbroke, actually stopping in his walk in his astonishment.
“I hear that there is a scarcity of help on the farms in the State,” continued Captain Gildrock. “I should say you might earn four or five dollars a week, or at least fifteen dollars a month, on a farm, besides your board; and that is better pay than you can get in a store.”
“I never worked on a farm,” added Bolingbroke, who possibly knew that the rich man of Beech Hill had some peculiar notions.
“Where do you live?”
“I live in Genverres, on the north side, where my father has a farm.”