"Sunderland! the Lady Sunderland! I have seen your mother, Natalie!" exclaimed he. "It was none other than she, the kind, beautiful lady who sang to me when I was but a child, in Italy; she whom I begged to take me to that beautiful place again! Ah, it comes to me now, in no dream, but a reality; I have always thought, since I first beheld you, that I had somewhere, at some unknown time, seen a picture which was like you; but, strange, it was none other than the mother of my own dear Sea-flower!"
"And your eyes have looked upon my mother, Clarence," said she, gazing into his very soul,--"and she has smiled upon you? Oh, I shall love you with a holier love for this!" and the young girl paused, and trembled, as he held her to his heart, for the thought came rushing into her soul,--"Oh, what a fearful thing is this,--this depth of fervent love!"
The morrow came; came to all of our friends who were gathered around the hearthstone of the widow Grosvenor, with joy, for genial rays, other than of a May morning's sun, were in their hearts; yet those indescribable tones, which under any circumstances hang around the word--farewell, were gradually, unawares, jarring, jarring those gentler notes of peace, even before spoken.
"Farewell!"--the mother strained her child to her heart again, and again put her from her, to embrace her more closely. Farewell, came welling up from that proud brother's heart, with the same breath, thanking God for giving him a sister. Broken sobs measured the bitterness of the parting of those down-trodden ones, who, "by an angel of mercy," had been lifted up, to taste one drop of that bliss upon earth, which the white man holds within his power to give or withhold. Farewell!--was it not that one word, which marked the parting of those two, whose hearts had been united above? "Adieu to my island home," said the Sea-flower, and the wild waves whispered,--"we are lonely."
CHAPTER XI WE ARE GOING HOME
"The sounds that fall on mortal ear
As dew-drops pure at even,
That soothe the breast, or start the tear,
Are Mother, Home, and Heaven.
"A home, that paradise below,
Of sunshine and of flowers,
Where hallowed joys perennial flow,
By calm celestial bowers."
ANONYMOUS
Time wore heavily on with Winnie Santon, after Natalie had left them. Left as she was, much in her unnatural mother's society, who seemed to be never more pleased than when she might thwart her designs, or, in some manner act so as to make those about her uncomfortable, it was not to be wondered at, if she did sigh for other days, and a confidant, to whom she might unburden her heart. Her father spent but a small portion of his time at home; on the contrary, he rather sought to avoid the fireside, which had once been so dear to him. His feelings, whatever they might have been, were kept locked up within his own breast, yet Winnie could read the look of sympathy which he bent upon her, as he grasped her by the hand, ere he hurried away to banish painful recollections by duties "on change." When difficulties, which Natalie had foreseen, caused Winnie's heart to ache, she would school herself to meet the injustice as she knew she would have done; and the timely advice of the Sea-flower proved to the lone girl a valuable legacy. She had heard from Natalie, through the correspondence which for some time she had kept up with our friend Harry Grosvenor, the which letters were anticipated and perused with no common interest; indeed, her happiness, scarcely realized by herself, was closely allied therewith. Mrs. Santon looked upon these ever punctual letters, which appeared so frequently among the post-boy's morning deposits, with an evil eye, yet they did not serve to banish the schemes of her invention in regard to Mr. Montague, as a favored competitor for the hand of the heiress; and it was his unwelcome visits, which were not unfrequent, that counted among the numerous trials which weighed more and more heavily upon her spirits. Poor Winnie! each life is made of joys and sorrows.
The death of Mr. Delwood was a deep affliction to his son, for although he was an austere man, forbidding in his manners, he had always manifested a spirit of tenderness for his only remaining relative, and Clarence now sought to dispel the loneliness which was creeping over him, by directing his attention to his father's unsettled estates, which was no light task, as Mr. Delwood had been a gentleman of great property. The life-like specimens of artistical skill, executed by Mr. Alboni, known only to Boston lovers of the fine arts as "the unknown artist," were disposed of by Clarence Delwood, in accordance with the wishes of Mr. Alboni, who, in entrusting the Madonna to his keeping until his return, placed not only the likeness of the mother before him, but it possessed him of a correct likeness of his betrothed.
The noble steamer Atlantic, after a most favorable passage of twelve days, carried our friends safely to the desired port of Liverpool. As Natalie stood once again upon terra firma, she could hardly credit that over three thousand miles of ocean separated her from her home,--that the same waves which washed the shores of her cherished island, broke upon the shores of this Eastern world.