"What did you come here for?"
"I came to get work in a printing-office. I am a printer by trade."
"How old are you?"
"I am seventeen years old, sir," replied Benjamin, just beginning to perceive that the man suspected him of being a runaway.
"And came all the way from Boston alone?"
"Yes, sir!"
Benjamin closed the conversation as soon as he could conveniently, after perceiving that his appearance had excited suspicions, and went to his room, where he lay down and slept till six o'clock in the evening, when he was called to supper. He went to bed again very early, and was soon locked in the embrace of "nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep."