Natalie; Or, A Gem Among the Sea-Weeds

by Emma V. Hallett

Natalie looked at him for a moment, as if in doubt whether ignorance or some meaner motive had prompted the question, when she remarked, "you evidently have never learned of the great dangers attendant upon a stranger's visit to Nantucket."

"Ah, indeed, I shall be under great obligations for the information," said he, his eyes wide open with curiosity! "pray, what are those dangers?"

"The islanders, as you have imagined, being so unlike the inhabitants of civilized lands, have such a natural propensity for wielding the harpoon, that should a person differing from their kind appear amongst them, they might be liable to capture him, mistaking the object for a new species of land-shark!"

At this piece of information, delivered in such a calm, pleasant manner, the smiles which had been visible on the faces of those who listened, grew into a hearty laugh, in which the chagrined Montague joined, as being the safest way of retreat, and although piqued by the ludicrous position in which he had been placed, he could not but look with admiration upon the gentle creature, whose pleasant repartee had been in self-defence.

Natalie followed with her eye the graceful form of Winnie, as she threaded her way through the dance, occasionally interchanging a witty remark with her handsome partner, and as he lead her to a seat, Natalie observed to Mrs. Santon, "how beautiful dear Winnie is to-night! I do not know who can help loving her!" So enthusiastic was she in her praises, that she had not observed the two contemplating her, and ere she was aware of their approach, the bewitching Winnie had taken her hand, and presenting Mr. Delwood, she mischievously remarked, "Now, Miss critic, it is for you to perform a la perfectione, and depend upon it, you shall be dealt with according to your own measure! for you have not once taken those eyes off from me through the whole course!"

Before Natalie could say a word in her defence, the music had commenced, and ere she had hardly realized it she had taken Winnie's place by the side of Mr. Delwood. Other eyes than Natalie's had looked upon Winnie with admiration, as she had leaned upon the arm of Delwood, but now, as he led forth "the gentle star," the suppressed murmur of applause must have been apparent to the fair one herself had she not been engaged with other thoughts. For several successive figures it so happened that Natalie was the partner of the reserved Mr. Delwood, who never was known to appear a second time upon the floor, and it also happened, how, or at what moment was a mystery, that the two had sought to dispel fatigue, by the conservatory's soothing influences, whither the eye of Winnie wandered ever and anon, as with Mr. Montague she vied with her competitors in the giddy waltz. Miss Winnie's brain was capable of containing two thoughts at the same time, and no one would have suspected, absorbed as she appeared to be with the attentions of Montague, who was playing the agreeable to the best of his knowledge, that her curiosity was at work, wondering what the subject of the truants, tête-à-tête might be. "They are discussing the rare exotics, sent to us from the South," she thought within herself, and indeed, what other could interest the cold-hearted Delwood? who, it was thought had never dreamed of love this side of the Atlantic; and as for Natalie, many a private lecture had she received from Winnie, in regard to her indifference toward the gentleman! though those discourses had been invariably of the same termination, "for all that, Natalie, your heart is made for love."

From the first moment that Clarence Delwood had set his eye upon the Sea-flower, an interest which he had never known before had been awakened within him. It may be said that it was a weakness, that he had always looked upon women as mere butterflies, but owing to early circumstances, he having been bereft of his mother in infancy, never having known the blessings of a sister's society, he was not to be condemned for the impressions which a gaudily attired attendant had left upon his mind as he grew up into boyhood. But as he listened to the Sea-flower, as she told him of her home in the sea, of the music of the glorious billows, companions of her childhood, filling the very soul with nature's beauty and sublimity, he looked upon her, as if fearful she might prove an "Undine," and he would not have been taken by surprise had her spiritual face faded calmly from beneath his gaze, to join her sister nymphs of ocean.

"And you will soon return to your island home?" he asked, as a thought of the warmth with which she had expressed herself to a stranger, bade her pause in her enthusiasm with downcast eye.

"Yes, I shall soon return," she answered joyously, "and yet I shall remember Boston with feelings of pleasure, for I have spent happy hours here."

As she said this, their eyes involuntarily met; a silent spectator would have noted the contrast of the moistened blue, to the deep black of sterner make, but as it was, that contrast was not discovered, each felt that the other was reading the thought, which had but then sprung up within the soul. Natalie withdrew her gaze, while Delwood, stooping to pluck a moss rose-bud from an urn at her feet, placed it within his diamond fastener, and the two retraced their steps to join their friends again. Montague was still at Winnie's side, and though the unusual flush upon Natalie's cheek was a sad tell-tale of the state of affairs, yet she observed Winnie as she listened with a ready ear to Montague's remarks, and an unpleasant feeling rose in her heart; she could not bear to have her dear friend on such intimate terms with him, whom, as by a natural instinct she shunned.