"I have no desire to leave, except to save a little in my expenses, that I may return to America sooner: that is all."
"Rather than have you go, I will deduct two shillings a week from what you are paying me now."
"That is, you propose to board me for one shilling and sixpence a week?"
"Yes, that is it, and it is a bargain if you say so."
"It is a bargain, then." And Benjamin continued to board there as long as he remained in London.
Before this woman received him for a boarder in the first place, she sent to the printing house to inquire about his character. The report was so favorable that she took him to board. And now she had tried him, and was a greater admirer of his character than ever.
It is one of the things to be said in Benjamin's favor, that, with all his faults, he always pleased and satisfied his employers and boarding-house keepers.
Benjamin records the following interesting incident respecting his friend Denham, of whom we have spoken, and to whom we shall refer again:
"I must record one trait of this good man's character. He had formerly been in business at Bristol, but failed, in debt to a number of people, compounded, and went to America. There, by a close application to business as a merchant, he acquired a plentiful fortune in a few years. Returning to England in the ship with me, he invited his old creditors to an entertainment, at which he thanked them for the easy composition they had favored him with, and, when they expected nothing but the treat, every man at the first remove found under his plate an order on a banker for the full amount of the unpaid remainder, with interest."
It was this excellent man and friend, who finally approached Benjamin with a proposition.