"So Ellen has written me."
"Well, take good care of your heart. This mixing up of fractions makes very serious troubles sometimes."
"But in the final union of whole numbers there is bliss! Why not work out the sum and hand over the product in your advice?" A merry laugh followed this query, while the long train whirled on.
There was a happy reunion in the widow's cottage when Mr. St. Clair returned with his son to occupy the easy chair that had been especially procured for him. The mother had not seen him since the time when in his rebel uniform he had bid her good-bye in the far-away home, and her eyes were swimming with tears as she looked upon his changed face.
"They did not tell me you were so thin and pale," she said as she kissed him tenderly.
"But I am very weary now; you have no idea what a night's rest will do for my good looks." Still the mother's heart beat with a low, sad throbbing.
Anna was placid and reserved. Her greetings were cordial, while none save the maternal eye peered beneath the external calm.
"Well this is cozy," he remarked, as the two young ladies drew his chair close to the table. "Still it is a little mortifying to my masculine dignity—this being waited upon by ladies instead of slaves!"
"It is the way with us up here," replied the sister; "and all you can possibly do is to submit with as much grace as you can muster for the purpose. Where is Toby?" she continued, as though missing him for the first time.
"Taking good care of his liberty. I have not seen him since he concluded to use his privileges as a free man."