"A dollar and a half and two dollars a day--that is, for the common rooms." "That's too much for me." "Then you've got your meals to pay for besides." "I shall try to find a boarding-house," said Sam. "Do you know of any?" "There's an acquaintance of mine, a clerk, who boards on Harrison Avenue." "Where is that?". "Not far from Washington Street--up near the Boston and Albany depot." "Is it near the depot where I came in from New York?" "How did you come?" "By the Fall River line." "Then it isn't far away. I'll give you the number if you want it." "I wish you would." "Here's Tremont Street," said the guide, "and that is the Parker House." "Thank you," said Sam. He went into the hotel, and, ascending a short staircase, found himself in the office. On one side was a writing-room, on the other a reading-room. "It looks like a good hotel," thought Sam. "I should like it if I could afford to stay here." Sam went into the reading-room, and saw lying on a chair a file of a New York paper. It seemed in this strange place like a familiar friend. He was reading the local news, when some one addressed him in a nasal voice: "I say, yeou, do yeou live round here?" CHAPTER XXIII. SAM FINDS A ROOMMATE. Looking up, Sam's glance rested on a young man, of rustic dress and manners, which made him seem quite out of place in a fashionable hotel. "No," answered Sam. "I am a stranger in Boston. I came from New York." "You don't say! It's an all-fired big city, isn't it?" said the countryman. "It is very large," said Sam, patronizingly. "I live in the country," said the other--quite needlessly, so Sam thought--"up in New Hampshire. I've come down here to get a job." "So have I," responded Sam, with new interest in his companion. "Are you boardin' here?" asked the countryman. "No; I am going to try to find a boarding-place. The prices are too steep here." "Let me go with you," said the young man, eagerly. Sam thought, on the whole, it would be pleasanter to have company, and accepted this proposal. They bought a copy of the Boston _Herald_ and picked out a list of boarding-houses which appeared to come within their means. Among these were two on Harrison Avenue. One of these was the very house which had already been mentioned to Sam by his boy acquaintance of the morning. "Do you know your way round the city?" asked Sam of his companion. "A little," said the other. "Do you know how to go to Harrison Avenue?" "Yes, I know that." "Is it far?" "Not very far. We can walk easy enough." "That's all right, then. Let us go." The two set out on their expedition, walking up Washington Street as far as Essex, and, turning there, soon entered Harrison Avenue. They beguiled the time on the way by conversation. "What, was you calc'latin' to find to do?" asked the countryman. "I was clerk in a store in New York," said Sam; "I'd like to get into a store here." "So should I."