Natalie A Gem Among the Sea-Weeds Part 11

All things must have an end; and the cheerful lights, which houseless ones had watched as the bright beams fell across the pave, one by one had faded. Formal adieus had been said, kind wishes interchanged, and the last sound of rumbling wheels had died away. Excess of excitement bade the blooming Winnie seek repose, and quiet reigned triumphant at Santon Mansion; yet there was one who seemed to have forgotten that the morning follows so close upon the evening. The Sea-flower had lingered among the last to say adieu, and now, in her own apartment, she had sunk into a chair, the delicate pearls still encircling her sunny tresses, vieing in purity with her fair complexion; her eyes were fixed on vacancy, and she was not aware that the morning was peeping in upon her, till started from her reveries by her own gentle sighs.

And what spell is this that so usurps the calm, usually characteristic of her nature? We have a vague suspicion as to what it may be, yet she is all innocent of the source from which these new feelings have sprung; even the last low words of Delwood, which are still sounding in her ear, do not lead her to mistrust, and we leave her, as the fringed eyelids at last droop in repose, to take a peep at our hero, who is only distant a few squares from the gentle one, who, he feels, as he sits by the gas-light, made pallid by the dawn of day, is all the world to him.

If Delwood possessed the cold heart, of which the world gave him the credit, its fetters had at last yielded to the genial suns.h.i.+ne. Sleep was most remote from him, and pacing his room with a quick tread, he uttered, in a sarcastic tone--"Love! Clarence Delwood in love! Love at first sight! I never would have credited it!" his voice softening, he added--"I feel confident that she of all others, is the only one who could have wrought this change! No, I cannot look upon this as weakness!

I must see more of her; she is an angel of purity, too good for such as I. Can she think favorably of me? and what will my father say, if he learns that his only son will sue for favor in the eyes of--it may be a maiden of low birth! It matters not! Should he disinherit me, I will seek her society! I must love her even though she look upon me coldly. I will see her again this very day!" with these resolves he threw himself upon his couch, if he might get a little rest, before he again went forth into the busy day, with feelings how changed!

Natalie was awakened from her late slumbers, by a kiss from Winnie, whose merry voice made the apartment ring. "So, ho! Miss Natalie," she exclaimed, "you have been holding late revels with the water nymphs by moonlight! and now, when the stronger light of the sun bids us mortals awake, you have made good your retreat, and are enjoying Morpheus's protecting care! but I can guess from whence the smiles came, as you slept! never fear, darling, I'll tell n.o.body of whom you dreamed!"

"Why, Winnie dear," exclaimed Natalie, endeavoring to free herself from the kisses which that crazy little body was lavis.h.i.+ng upon her, "have I slept so late? and what has turned your head so early this morning? I do not know what will become of us all before the day is ended, if you go on thus." Opening her eyes, she looked about her, endeavoring to collect her senses. Her eye fell upon a bouquet, of the finest, most delicate flowers, in a vase, upon her toilet table; it had evidently been placed there since she had retired, as she did not remember of seeing it before. "You are very kind, Winnie, in being so thoughtful of me," she said, "but where did you get those beautiful varieties? they are not from our conservatory."

"O, you innocent rogue! you think to make me believe you know nothing of them, do you? they certainly came from some one who was thoughtful of your well-being! but come, make yourself look as charming as possible, for there is a friend awaiting us in the drawing room, who it is, I'll not say, for 'haste makes waste,' you know!"

Natalie blushed, for there came at once a rush of thoughts to her mind.

She but then remembered the pleasures of last evening. Winnie giving her a knowing look, left her to her own reflections. Banis.h.i.+ng all other thoughts from her mind, Natalie kneeled at her morning devotions, her low voice went up in thanks for the many blessings which were hers, not forgetting to ask for greater favors for her dear mother and brother, whom she expected so soon to meet, in two short weeks, at the time which had been fixed, when she would return to her home.

A simple morning dress of pink delise, edged with white, set off her light figure to a charm; her snowy collar fastened with a cross, and taking a lily of the valley from the mysterious bouquet, she placed it in her hair, and half-hesitating, lest Winnie had been playing off one of her mischievous tricks, she descended to the drawing-room. Seated upon an ottoman, was no other than Clarence Delwood, who arose as she entered, taking her proffered hand with some little embarra.s.sment, which was soon dispelled by the adroit Winnie, who took a seat at the piano, and with a rich full voice sang the last opera. "Your friend, Miss Santon, has an enviable voice," remarked Delwood to Natalie, regarding the lily buds which he recognized as of the bouquet which he had ordered his servant to place in the hands of her attendant, giving no name of the donor. "Yes, I love to listen to her voice, it is so full of feeling; she has a peculiar style! The Signor tells me her voice is of great talent."

"I need not ask of your own voice," remarked Delwood, "for your tone betrays you."

"Yes," cried Winnie, who in spite of the music had an ear alive to the conversation, "it is moved and seconded that Miss Grosvenor shall give us a benefit, and if she fails to entertain us with her first attempt, she will lay herself open to be called upon again."

"She may rest a.s.sured that your sentiments, however expressed, will be truth in regard to the matter! for you are far from being a flatterer,"

said Mr. Santon, as entering the apartment he welcomed Mr. Delwood to his house. Natalie chose a simple piece--"The Wanderer's Home," and as the sound of her voice died away, there was not a dry eye in the room.

Winnie was the first to break the spell, and smiling away a tear, she exclaimed, "I had forgotten to caution you against too great success in charming your listeners, therefore the _encores_ of your audience will not permit you to retire without feeding the flame which you have excited."

"Remember you were not to flatter me," said Natalie, glancing at Delwood, who was silently contemplating her.

"Flattery or no flattery, you must repeat that to please me," said Mr.

Santon, making manifest exertions to clear his throat, and looking for his handkerchief, as if suddenly seized with a cold. The piece was repeated with greater effect, and it was not till Winnie began to rally him that Delwood was aware of his negligence in escorting the fair songstress to a seat. "Pardon me, Miss Grosvenor," he said, "but the first tone of your voice carried me far back, to when I was a child of five or six years. It was in Italy, where my father spent some time, after my mother's death, and it so happened that I was permitted to accompany him to an entertainment given by an Italian lady of note, who, in the course of the evening, favored the company with a song. I was engaged with some sweetmeats as she commenced, but as she proceeded, gradually they fell from my hands, and when she had finished, I had found my way to her side, and clinging to her dress I burst into tears, begging her to take me to that beautiful place again! It is years since I have thought of the circ.u.mstance, and I trust you will pardon my enthusiasm, when I say that your "Wanderer's Home," has produced a similar effect!"

Natalie expressed her thanks for the compliment, with blus.h.i.+ng modesty, and as Delwood bade them good morning, after having made arrangements for testing their courage with his iron grays, on the following morning; so long did his eye linger upon her, who had full command of his every thought, that he did not observe miss Winnie, who was trembling lest her fresh supply of mischief should come to an unendurable crisis, before he should depart.

It was soon rumored that the lion had been tamed, that the beautiful Miss Grosvenor had found her way to the heart of Clarence Delwood.

Boston beauties sighed, and those who had been unsuccessful in what is sometimes termed "setting their caps," looked on with interest, but none who had seen the favored one, could find it in their hearts to wish her other than a life of joy. And thus time pa.s.sed on, scarcely a day sped, but Clarence Delwood was seen ascending the steps of Mr. Santon's hospitable mansion. As Winnie expressed herself--"the affair was coming on bravely;" she had now found for whom Natalie was reserving that heart, which in spite of her caution, would impart to others its only element. The time was also drawing near, when Natalie was to have made glad her mother's heart by her presence. Old Vingo had desired his Ma.s.sa Harry to write to young Missy, "dat eben de breakers gettin' impatient to see her once more, and dat he walk alone now, on de beach in de moonlight, but he neber 'speck to find anoder Sea-flower."

In a few days the Santon family were to part with Natalie. It was in vain they had urged upon her to remain with them another season, for as much as she had become attached to them all, she longed to see her home once more. Even Winnie failed to keep time with her usually joyous spirits, and there was one to whom this parting was not to be thought of. Mr. Delwood had as yet received no positive a.s.surance, that his unmistakable sentiments towards Natalie were reciprocated, and yet he was confident that she regarded him with no common interest. He had read it in her soul, but he would hear from her own lips if happiness or misery was to be his through life, and it was with a nervous step that he wended his way on this last evening of her stay in Boston, that he might hear his fate. As he drew near the house, he observed, though early in the evening, but one dim light gleaming from an upper apartment, and as he reached the gate it was fast, and a porter stood within, who, to Delwood's hurried question if all was well, as he threw him a gold-piece, replied in a sad tone--"kind sir, my orders are to receive no one, as my mistress is dying, or you should have admittance at once; but I know that you, of all others, could serve to lighten the blow to my master, and if you take the responsibility, you shall be admitted."

"Leave that with me," he replied, "you shall not be censured," and with a.s.sumed calmness of manner, he entered. Noiselessly he opened the outer door, proceeding to the upper drawing-room, which opened to the room of the dying one. Mr. Santon sat with his face buried in his hands, sobbing aloud. Mr. Delwood took him tenderly by the hand, and whispered a few words in his ear, which seemed to rouse him from the dreadful state of mind to which he had yielded. "You find here a house of mourning," he said, "but your presence is most welcome."

"What can I do for you in this trying hour?" asked Delwood; "can I be of any a.s.sistance?"

"There is nothing to be done but to submit to the will of G.o.d," he answered, "and I pray that I may have strength so to do." The door of the chamber of death was opened, and the physician summoned Mr. Santon to his dying wife's bedside. Delwood stood in the door; pale, but not emaciated were the features upon which death had set his seal, her last moment was near, but she had strength and consciousness supported by the Sea-flower, to say a few parting words; with one hand in that of her husband, the other upon the head of her grief-stricken daughter, she said: "farewell, my dearest husband; it is but a little parting; you will meet me there at last." Turning to the Sea-flower, with her hand still upon the head of her daughter, she added, "my child will soon be motherless; through you, she is what I could wish to see her; and when I am gone, will you never lose sight of her? make her to be like yourself!" In a feeble voice she continued, "thank G.o.d that we may see heaven upon earth; the gentle spirit is pointing me to my rest;" a slight trembling of her weary frame, and she had gone to be with the "just made perfect;" a smile was upon her features, and they smoothed her limbs as for a night's repose. The father mingled his tears with those of his child, who was all that was left to him. The Sea-flower, leaning upon the arm of him who thought it not unmanly to weep over the scene he had witnessed, retired, leaving the afflicted ones to weep away the anguish in their hearts, ere they might look upon the loving kindness of Him, whose ways are all perfect.

CHAPTER IX.

BEHIND THE CLOUDS THE SUN IS s.h.i.+NING.

"I am armed with innocence, Less penetrable than the steel-ribbed coats That harness round thy warriors."

MADDEN'S THEMISTOCLES.

"That one so formed in mind and charms to grace, The brightest scenes of life, should have her seat In the shadow of a cloud; and yet 'tis weakness.

The angels watch the good and innocent, And where they gaze it must be glorious."

MRS. BALE'S "ORMOND GROSVENOR."

My gentle reader will pardon the long stride of time which here intervenes, disclosing nothing of those in whom we feel an interest.

Nearly a year of moments had sped since that in which Mrs. Santon had pa.s.sed away. Winnie had seen her loved mother laid in that narrow, silent house, which is prepared for the dead, and her tears had watered the green gra.s.s which groweth so silently,--upspringing everywhere, even in the lonely places of burial, a fit covering for those who slumber,--emblematical of the life beyond the tomb. The joyous mirth which abode in Winnie's nature had superseded, in a measure, days of deep mourning; yet this first taste of earth's sorrow had left an impress upon her mind never to be erased; and though thoughtless ones perhaps observed no change in her young, elastic spirits, there was one, gentle and youthful, who had been to her as a mother in her bereavement,--the Sea-flower. She could see that the death of a loved one had wrought a good work upon the heart of her friend, as it may with us all, if we will lie pa.s.sive in the hands of the workman.

It was a disappointment to Natalie that her intention of returning home had been frustrated; yet it was with cheerfulness that she resigned her hopes, when she saw that duty pointed out another way. Mr. Santon, on the sudden death of his wife, which occurred on the very evening before Natalie was to bid them farewell, had himself written a very touching letter to Mrs. Grosvenor, begging, if it were not asking of her too much, that she would spare her daughter to them a little while longer, as it had been the last wish of Mrs. Santon that their daughter might be with her who had proved such a blessing to them all; and so, in pity for the dear ones of her friend, of whose death she was pained to learn, Mrs. Grosvenor had consented to another year's separation from her child, though it was indeed asking of her a great sacrifice. Old Vingo, who had wondered if his young missy would take him by the hand, as she used, when he heard that another long year must pa.s.s before he would see her again, cried like a child; but no one was more disappointed than Harry, who had counted the days for months, when she would come home; but his patience was not to be tested thus. He had visited his sister in Boston, and had received so favorable an impression of city life, or it may be that he had received a more favorable impression of a certain pair of black eyes, which were constantly fixed upon him, when he had accidentally glanced towards a certain young lady, whom, report said, (Mr. Montague being among the foremost to give credit thereto,) was the "greatest catch" in town. Whether it was actually the lady's beauty in question which had dazzled scores of disengaged young men, or whether they had seen visions of a well-built money-chest, we do not pretend to say; but this much we can perceive, that a beautiful young heiress, left to her own discretion in the choosing of a partner for life, stands in a critical situation, and if these innuendoes refer to Miss Winnie Santon, we are foremost in wis.h.i.+ng our young nautical friend success in the great game of hearts, for we can see too much of worth in her character, for her to be thrown away on a worthless dandy, whose money, for the little time that it keeps him company, is his G.o.d. Be all this as it may, Harry Grosvenor had found several opportunities for visiting his sister, and upon each visit he was received, not only by the Sea-flower, but by Winnie herself, with a warm welcome.

But Winnie, as we have discovered, has been a sad coquette. Another year, however, has been added to her age since we saw her in society last, and this last year, so different from any other of her sunny life, has brought with it the knowledge and experience of many. Perhaps the Sea-flower's influence, which fortunately she has been under, may have had its effect upon her character, which is now forming itself; and yet her bewitching smile, which Harry loved to dwell upon, when he had returned to his island home, as second only to his matchless sister's, was very like those which she had bestowed upon many an elated gallant.

Natalie had not failed to notice the seeming pleasure with which her brother had listened to Winnie's brilliant conversation, and she had asked herself if it were possible that Winnie could be so heartless as to impress her brother with erroneous views in regard to her sentiments.

She would not believe that she had the heart to do it; and yet, through habit, and a perfect thoughtlessness of the consequences, she might be led to do so.

It was evening, and the two sat folded in each other's arms, gazing at an autumn sunset. Winnie was still in her black habiliments, for it was not quite a year since Mrs. Santon had died. Harry had left them the day before, and had bade them both a warm farewell. Winnie had been silent for some moments, when Natalie remarked,--"What new scheme are you planning now, Winnie? you are very thoughtful to-night."

Winnie roused herself, and blus.h.i.+ngly replied, "I do not wonder that you note my thoughtful moments, I am such a gay creature; but, dear Natalie, there are times when even _I_ can be serious, though there are few who could credit my words."

"I can believe you, Winnie, for I know you have a good heart; but what can have occurred of sufficient importance to banish those dimples from your cheek? Come, rogue, make me your confidant, or I shall begin to think you are at your old tricks, after all."

"If I did not know your forgiving spirit, I should hesitate to place myself in your power, for fear you might repay me with interest, in making you, and your particular friend Mr. Delwood, the subjects of my merriment."

Natalie looked calmly into her eyes; the truth flashed across her mind at once, and she was about to clasp her in her arms, calling her by the name of sister, when a well-known voice from behind them repeated the name, "Sea-flower," and Mr. Delwood was by her side.

"Where did you learn the name by which I am called in my island home?"

asked Natalie.

"Why did you never tell us that you have a name in keeping with your character?" he asked, taking the seat by her side which Winnie, who had retired to hide her blushes, had vacated.

"'Tis the name by which my father loved to call me, and I a.s.sociate it with his sacred memory," she replied; and a tear, which Delwood looked upon as also sacred, fell upon the hand which clasped her's as with reverential fervency.

"Your brother told me of the name," he replied, "and will you permit me to a.s.sociate with that name all that is of purity? May I not call you by that name? Can you give one thought to him whose very happiness for life is dependent on you?"

There was a pause, Delwood had never until this night, declared to her his love, in so many measured words, which were but coldness in comparison with the love for her which filled his soul. A year ago would have sealed his doom, but that night witnessed another scene. Death had claimed it for his own. The hand which he held was not withdrawn, neither did a simper mark her reply. With eyes meekly turned upward, she answered in a calm, low voice,--"My dear father is in heaven; if he is looking down, I feel that he will smile upon me, when, with my mother's consent, she shall give me away to you. I have long ago given myself to Christ, and if you recognize him as your Saviour, we will together serve him as dutiful children, praying one for the other that we may not fall."

"I am not like you," he replied; "I can never be as pure as you are; neither am I what the world calls a Christian; but by G.o.d's help, I pledge myself to be one of Christ's followers; and of one thing I am confident, I shall never be if I grope my way alone through the world, as I must if I lose you, what I shall be if I have you for a guide!"

"It is enough; you depreciate your own merits," she said, glancing proudly upon him; "go, when I return, and with your own lips ask my mother, if she can find a place in her n.o.blest of women's hearts, for him who is all too worthy of her daughter's love."