"Hallo, Harry! What are you doing here? Taking a nap?"
It was Ben Smart, a boy of fourteen, who lived near the poorhouse. Ben's reputation in Redfield was not A, No. 1; in fact, he had been solemnly and publicly expelled from the district school only three days before by Squire Walker, because the mistress could not manage him. His father was the village blacksmith, and as he had nothing for him to do—not particularly for the boy's benefit—he kept him at school all the year round.
"O, is that you, Ben?" replied Harry, more for the sake of being civil than because he wished to speak to the other.
"What are you doing here?" asked Ben, who evidently did not understand how a boy could be there alone, unless he was occupied about something.
"Nothing."
"Been in the water?"
"No."
"Fishing?"
"No."
Ben was nonplussed. He suspected that Harry had been engaged in some mysterious occupation, which he desired to conceal from him.