On arriving at New York he found, at the post office there, a great pile of letters awaiting him.  They had been written after the receipt of his letter at the end of July, telling those at home of his share in Braddock’s disaster.

“I little thought, my boy,” his mother wrote, “when we received your letter, saying that you had got your discharge from the ship, and were going with an expedition against the French, that you were going to run into such terrible danger.  Fortunately, the same vessel which brought the news of General Braddock’s defeat also brought your letter, and we learned the news only a few hours before your letter reached us.  It was, as you may imagine, a time of terrible anxiety to us, and the squire and Aggie were almost as anxious as I was.  Mr. Wilks did his best to cheer us all, but I could see that he, too, felt it very greatly.  However, when your letter came we were all made happy again, though, of course, we cannot be but anxious, as you say you are just going to join another expedition; still, we must hope that that will do better, as it won’t be managed by regular soldiers.  Mr. Wilks was quite angry at what you said about the folly of making men stand in a line to be shot at, he thinks so much of drill and discipline.  The squire and he have been arguing quite fiercely about it; but the squire gets the best of the argument, for the dreadful way in which the soldiers were slaughtered shows that, though that sort of fighting may be good in other places, it is not suited for fighting these wicked Indians in the woods.

“The squire has himself been up to London about your commission, and has arranged it all.  He has, as he will tell you in his letter, got you a commission in the regiment commanded by Colonel Otway, which is to go out next spring.  He was introduced to the commander in chief by his friend, and told him that you had been acting as Colonel Washington’s aide-de-camp with General Braddock, and that you have now gone to join General Johnson’s army; so the duke said that, though you would be gazetted at once, and would belong to the regiment, you might as well stay out there and see service until it arrived; and that it would be a great advantage to the regiment to have an officer, with experience in Indian fighting, with it.  I cried when he brought me back the news, for I had hoped to have you back again with us for a bit, before you went soldiering for good.  However, the squire seems to think it is a capital thing for you.  Mr. Wilks thinks so, too, so I suppose I must put up with it; but Aggie agrees with me, and says it is too bad that she should never have seen you, once, from the time when she saw you in that storm.

“She is a dear little girl, and is growing fast.  I think she must have grown quite an inch in the five months you have been away.  She sends her love to you, and says you must take care of yourself, for her sake.”

The squire, in his letter, repeated the news Mrs. Walsham had given.