WHEN  Miss  Asphyxia  Smith  found  that  both  childreo
really  had  disappeared  from  Needmore  so  completely  that
no  trace  of  them  remained,  to  do  her  justice,  she  felt  some  solici-
tude to  know  what  had  become  of  them.  There  had  not  been
wanting  instances  in  those  early  days,  when  so  large  a  part  of
Massachusetts  was  unbroken  forest,  of  children  who  had  wandered
ftway  into  the  woods  and  starved  to  death ;  and  Miss  Asphyxia
was  by  no  means  an  ill-wisher  to  any  child,  nor  so  utterly  with-
out bowels  as  to  contemplate  such  a  possibility  without  some
anxiety.
Not  that  she  in  the  least  doubted  the  wisd<>m  and  perfect  pro-
priety of  her  own  mode  of  administration,  which  she  had  full
faith  would  in  the  end  have  made  a  '*  smart  girl "  of  her  little
charge.  "  That  'ere  little  limb  did  n*t  know  what  was  good  for
herself,"  she  said  to  Sol,  over  their  evening  meal  of  cold  potatoea
and  boiled  beef.
Sol  looked  round-eyed  and  stupid,  and  squared  his  shoulders,
tts  he  always  did  when  this  topic  was  introduced.  He  suggested,
**  You  don't  s'pose  they  could  V  wandered  off  to  the  maoun tains
xrhere  Bijah  Peters'  boy  got  lost  ?  "

There  was  a  sly  satisfaction  in  observing  the  anxious,  brooding
expression  which  settled  down  over  Miss  Asphyxia's  dusky  fea-
tures at  the  suggestion.
