face hid, not answering
when they spoke.

There was a letter brought to her that night from Joe, a few lines only,
written to his mother, saying he had enlisted and would not come back to
say good-bye; he was going to do better for her and Ellen than he ever
had done before. "I do not remember about that time," Ellen said
afterward, when questioned. "My trouble came back when Joe left me." It
brought the wild, wandering look into her eyes, even to refer to it in
this way, I do not know if I spoke of the curious affection between this
brother and sister. Father and brothers and sister had watched and cared
for the girl, because of the great trouble which God had sent to her;
and now all the love and gratitude she had given to them all, when
living, was centred on this boy Joe. Joe absorbed all the world which
her weak mind knew,--just at the age, too, when women's hearts open and
are filling with thoughts of love and marriage. No matter how long Ellen
had lived, "my brother," as she gravely, respectfully called him, would
have been all, I think, she would ever have loved, and he would have
satisfied all her cravings.

Her mother was buried before she became conscious again; then her reason
came back to her; and when the woman who had stayed in the house
returned, after a few hours' gossiping, she found Ellen, her old quiet
self, going gently about the house, packing her clothes in a carpet-bag,
and putting with great care in a little hand-basket, such as ladies
carry knitting in, her Testament, their two or three silver spoons,
Joe's box of Sunday collars, and what little money was left.

"Where are you going?" asked the woman, in some trepidation.

"To Joe," Ellen said, quietly, unconscious that there was anything
unusual in the plan.

The woman speedily gathered a caucus of her cronies, with the doctor;
but to all queries or remonstrances she returned the same quiet, unmoved
answer. She was going to Joe. What else should she do? There were only
herself and her brother now: he would expect her. Who would cook for
Joe, or keep his clothes straight, if she did not go? "My plan was," she
said, gravely, long after, "that Joe would hire a little house for me
near where the regiment stayed. He could have lived with me, and gone
with them to fight when their turn came." Finally they allowed her her
own way, partly because they were puzzled to know what else to do with
her. Joe was in Sandusky with his regiment, the Twent