w, in her distress,
unkindly treated her urgent requests with cold neglect,--Ella hastened
to make her situation known to her uncle; the result of which had been
her adoption into a family, who, if not graced with that refinement and
education to which she had been accustomed, at least possessed virtues
that many of the refined and learned were strangers to--namely--truth,
honesty, benevolence, and fidelity.

Ella, in her new situation, with her altered views of society in
general, soon grew to love her benefactor and his family, and take that
sincere pleasure in their rude ways, which, at one time, she would have
considered as next to impossible. With a happy faculty, belonging only
to the few, she managed to work herself into their affections, by little
and little, almost imperceptibly, until, ere they were aware of the fact
themselves, she was looked upon rather as a daughter and sister, than a
more distant relation. In sooth, the former appellation the reader has
already seen applied to her during the recorded conversation of the
voluble Mrs. Younker--an appellation which Ella ever took good care to
acknowledge by the corresponding title of mother.

About a year from the period of Ella's becoming a member of the family,
the Younkers had removed, as already stated, to what was then considered
the "Far West," and had finally purchased and settled where we find them
in the opening of our story. In this expedition, Ella, though somewhat
reluctantly, had accompanied them--had remained with them ever
since--and was now, notwithstanding her former lady-like mode of life,
through the tuition of Mrs. Younker, regularly installed into all the
mysteries of milking, churning, sewing, baking, spinning and weaving.
With this brief outline of her past history, we shall proceed to
describe her personal appearance, at the time of her introduction to the
reader, and then leave her to speak and act for herself during the
progress of this drama of life.

Eighteen years of sunshine and cloud, had served to mould the form of
Ella Barnwell into one of peculiar beauty and grace. In height she was a
little above five feet, had a full round bust, and limbs of that
beautiful and airy symmetry, which ever give to their possessor an
appearance of etherial lightness. Her complexion was sufficiently dark
to entitle her to the appellation of brunette; though by many it would
have been thought too light, perhaps, owing to the soft, rich
transpar