"Emmeline," he said gently, "do you suppose you could help me?"

"I am in great trouble, Emmeline"

Emmeline watched him go

"Yes," answered Mrs. Willing. "Bertha is asleep upstairs"

Reproduced by courtesy of "The Youth's Companion" from drawings by B. J. Rosenmeyer

[Pg 1]

[Pg 1]

EMMELINE

CHAPTER I THE SOUND OF BUGLES

For an hour at least Emmeline lay quietly curled up on the rear seat of the Willing surrey. This vehicle was very old and low and broad; it had been built in the days when people made long journeys in carriages and liked to have them comfortable. At present the surrey was not in motion, but in repose in the Willing wagon shed.

Tranquillity was not characteristic of Emmeline. She was by nature a jumping jack. Although she was fifteen years old and very desirous of[Pg 2] appearing much older, she had put few of the ways of childhood behind her.

[Pg 2]

This June day was hot, and Emmeline had been active since early morning. She had risen at six o'clock, eaten her breakfast, fed the chickens, washed the dishes, and picked the last of the red raspberries; then, while she sat by Sister Bertha's bed, she had raveled enough lint to fill a pint measure. After taking Sister Bertha her tray, she had gone downstairs to eat her own dinner hungrily. While she waited on Sister Bertha, or when she heard the neighbors talk about Sister Bertha, Emmeline's face was a blank mask. Of her sister—or, rather, her sister-in-law—Emmeline was deeply ashamed.

Sister Bertha was, alas! a rebel. She[Pg 3] had come from the South before the war had broken out to teach school in a village near Gettysburg; there young Henry Willing had seen her and had loved her, and nearly a year ago had married her. It was an act not hard to understand after you had seen Bertha. But it was war time, and between the two, in the opinion of Emmeline, there should have been undying hatred instead of love. Henry 

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