'
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.
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