-place in the grave. Thus was Miss Simmonds bound to the
hearts of the people of Littleton, as by a strong cord. In person she
was tall; she had fine dark eyes, and her hair was lightly sprinkled
with grey. From the expression which her countenance wore at times, I
gathered the idea that she had, at some period of her life, experienced
some deep sorrow. I one day enquired of my aunt if such were not the
case. She gave me an evasive reply, and, perceiving that she wished to
avoid the subject, I made no further enquiries.

I trust the reader will pardon this digression from my story.

In the course of the winter my uncle gave a party, to afford me an
opportunity of becoming acquainted with the young people of the place.
If the party lacked some of the forms and ceremonies practised in the
city drawing-rooms upon like occasions, it certainly was not wanting in
real enjoyment.

CHAPTER XIV.

SCHOOL AT MILL TOWN.

I believe there is no season more favorable to sober reflection than
when we find ourselves alone, after mingling for a time in a scene of
mirth and gaiety. After the departure of our guests, and my uncle and
aunt had retired to rest, I indulged in a long fit of musing, as I sat
alone by the kitchen-fire. In the silence and loneliness of the hour, my
thoughts turned to my former home, and to the circumstances which had
caused me to leave it; and although I had resolved to think no more of
Willie Leighton, somehow or other, on this occasion, I found my thoughts
wandering to him and to the seeming fatality which had separated us. The
only living relatives of whom I had any knowledge were my uncle and
aunt, and the before-mentioned aunt of my mother.

But a circumstance which I had heard my father mention in my childhood
had of late often recurred to my mind. I recollected often hearing my
father speak of a twin-brother, and that they had been left orphans at
the age of eight years; also, that he, my father, had been adopted by a
gentleman residing about fifty miles from the city of Philadelphia, who
had given him a very good business education, and had procured for him a
situation in the city when he became of suitable age. But the case had
been different with his brother Charles. He too had been adopted, but by
a very different kind of man from the one who had received my father. He
did not give him sufficient education to qualify him for mercantile
business, and at the time that Mr. Williams procured