hem my desire to
visit my uncle in New Hampshire, and they gladly consented that I should
accompany them on their journey. As they intended remaining but a few
days in Philadelphia, I was obliged to hasten the preparations for my
departure.

I could not but observe the hand of a kind Providence in directing Mr.
and Mrs. Egmont to visit Philadelphia at this particular time.

On the evening preceding my departure I paid a farewell visit to the
graves of my parents, and I shed some very bitter tears when I reflected
that I might never again stand by this loved spot. I exacted a promise
from Mrs. Burnside that, should any of the Leightons make enquiries
concerning me, she would not inform them of my destination.

We left Philadelphia at a very early hour the next morning, and, after
a very long and somewhat tedious journey, arrived in safety at the busy
village of Littleton. Mr. Egmont conducted me to an hotel till he could
make the necessary enquiries for finding my uncle. I knew he resided
about three miles from the village, but was unable to say in what
direction. Mrs. Egmont invited me to accompany them to their friends,
who lived in the village, and rest before seeking my uncle; but, as I
had arrived so near the termination of my journey, I wished to reach the
home of my uncle without further delay. After accompanying Mrs. Egmont
to their friends, Mr. Egmont returned to the hotel, where I awaited him.
I was seated near a window, in the sitting-room, and heard him making
enquiries of one and another for Mr. Wayland my uncle. No one seemed to
know anything of the person he sought. As the landlord passed that way,
he turned to him and enquired if he knew a farmer in that vicinity by
the name of Wayland? He replied that, having resided only for a short
time in Littleton, his acquaintance did not, as yet, extend beyond the
limits of the village, and that he knew of no such person. I was
beginning to fear that my uncle had removed to some other place, as I
had not heard anything from him for a considerable time, when a
ragged-looking boy, apparently about twelve years of age, made his way
up to Mr. Egmont, and said--

"I can tell you where Mr. Wayland lives. He lives about three miles from
here, on the Waterford Road. I knows you see, for I worked for him this
fall, pickin' pertaters."

Giving the boy a piece of silver as he thanked him for his information,
Mr. Egmont came to inform me that, when I had partaken of the d