Such was the situation when Lincoln appeared in New Salem. He
naturally soon became acquainted with the girl. She was a pupil in
Mentor Graham's school, where he frequently visited, and rumor says
that he first met her there. However that may be, it is certain that
in the latter part of 1832 he went to board at the Rutledge tavern and
there was thrown daily into her company.

During the next year, 1833, John McNeill, in spite of his fair
prospects, became restless and discontented. He wanted to see his
people, he said, and before the end of the year he had decided to go
East for a visit. To secure perfect freedom from his business while
gone, he sold out his interest in his store. To Ann he said that he
hoped to bring back his father and mother, and to place them on his
farm. "This duty done," was his farewell word, "you and I will be
married." In the spring of 1834 McNeill started East. The journey
overland by foot and horse was in those days a trying one, and on the
way McNeill fell ill with chills and fever. It was late in the summer
before he reached his home, and wrote back to Ann, explaining his
silence. The long wait had been a severe strain on the girl, and
Lincoln had watched her anxiety with softened heart. It was to him,
the New Salem postmaster, that she came to inquire for letters. It was
to him she entrusted those she sent. In a way the postmaster must have
become the girl's confidant; and his tender heart, which never could
resist suffering, must have been deeply touched. After the long
silence was broken, and McNeill's first letter of explanation came,
the cause of anxiety seemed removed; but, strangely enough, other
letters followed only at long intervals, and finally they ceased
altogether. Then it was that the young girl told her friends a secret
which McNeill had confided to her before leaving New Salem.