as some story worth the hearing, I
begged my new acquaintance to call on me in the evening and relate
it, instead of hindering her business and mine by listening to it at
that moment; although I suspect she would have been nothing loath to
have given me the full and particular account there and then, for she
told me she knew every circumstance 'consarning him and his.'

I proceeded without further delay to the 'big grand shop,' where I
saw in the master the veritable Billy Egg. He was a fine portly
personage, with a good open countenance, and it was evident he could
not have acquired his nickname from bearing even the most remote
resemblance to an egg. He served me himself with zeal and civility,
and my purchases were soon completed.

In the evening, my old apple-woman was true to her appointment, and
from her I gathered the following particulars: William Carter was a
poor boy, the eldest of a large family, who, with their mother, were
left destitute by the death of their father. Their poor neighbours
were charitable, as the poor, to their credit be it spoken, so often
are; and one took one child, and one another, until something could
be thought of and done for their subsistence. William had made the
most of the scanty schooling his father had afforded him, and could
read a little. He was, moreover, a steady, hard-working boy; yet the
only occupation he was able to obtain was that of tending a cow on
the border of a large bog. In return for this service, he was
comfortably lodged and fed, and for a time the clothes he had were
sufficient. He was in the habit of saving any scraps of printed paper
which fell in his way, and by means of these he somewhat improved in
his reading; for while the cow was munching away, little Billy had
ample time for his studies, without neglecting her either, for he
made a point of looking out for the sweetest grass, and leading her
to it.

By his care and attention, he gave such satisfaction to his employer,
that by the time his clothes were worn out, he was allowed wages
sufficient to replenish them; and his good-behaviour gave such
confidence and respectability to his family, that a neighbouring
farmer engaged one of his younger brothers in a capacity similar to
his own. One day this farmer gave Billy a newly-laid goose's egg,
thinking it might make him a good meal, and be something of a dainty,
and as a sort of return for an act of good-nature and watchfulness on
Billy's part, he hav