PAGE 10
Heart
by
“Such melody, Miss Henly, captivates the senses.”
“Does it not touch the heart?” asked the young lady, with a little of unusual animation.
“The heart too. But Mr. Morton looks exhausted after his labours.”
All the pleasure which had shone in the countenance of Charlotte, vanished instantly, and gave place to deep concern.
“Oh! it is unjustifiable, thus to purchase pleasure at the expense of another,” said she, in a tone that Seymour scarcely heard.
How tenderly would the man be loved, thought the youth, who succeeded in engaging the affections of this young creature! how disinterested is her regard–and how considerate are her feelings! Here will I trust my hopes for happiness in this life, and here will I conquer, or here will I die!
No two persons could possibly be actuated by sensations more different than Charlotte and Seymour Delafield. He had been so long palled with the attentions of managing mothers and designing daughters; had seen so much of female manoeuvring, and had so easily seen through it, that the natural and inartificial loveliness of Charlotte touched his senses with a freshness of delicacy that to him was as captivating as it was novel. Upon unpractised men, the arts of the sex are often successful, but generally they are allies that increase the number of the assailants, without promoting the victory. It is certain that many a fair one played that evening in order that Mr. Delafield might applaud; that some sighed that he might hear, and others ogled that he might sigh: but not one made the impression that the quiet, speaking eye, and artless but peaceful nature of Charlotte produced on the youth. While this novel feeling was gaining ground in the bosom of Mr. Delafield, Charlotte saw nothing in her new acquaintance but a gentleman of extraordinary personal beauty, agreeable manners, and graceful address–qualities that are always sure to please, and, not unusually, to captivate. But to her he was a stranger; and Charlotte, who never thought or reasoned on the subject, would have been astonished had one seriously spoken of her loving him. The road to conquest with her lay through her heart, and was but little connected with her imagination.
“Heigho! George,” cried Maria, as he approached, “you have given me the dolefuls.”
“And me both pleasure and pain,” said Charlotte.
“Why the latter?” asked the youth, quickly.
“Surely it was imprudent in you to play, with such a cold.”
The lip of the youth quivered, and a smile of mournful and indefinable meaning passed over his features, but he continued silent.
“It is to be hoped it had one good effect at least,” continued Maria.
“Such as what?”
“Such as putting the little dears to sleep in the nursery, which is directly over our heads.”
“It is well if I have done that little good,” said George.
“You have brought tears into eyes that never should weep,” cried Delafield, “and melancholy to a countenance that seems formed by nature to convey an idea of peaceful content.”
Morton looked earnestly at the speaker for a moment, when a painful feeling seemed suddenly to seize on his heart–for his cheek grew paler, and his lip quivered with an agitation that apparently he could not control. Charlotte alone noticed the alteration, and, speaking in a low tone, she said–
“Do go home, George; you are far from being well– to oblige me, go home.”
“To oblige you, I would do much more unwelcome biddings,” he replied, with a slight colour; “but I believe you are right; and, having discharged my duty here, I will retire.”
He rose, and, paying the customary compliments to the mistress of the mansion, withdrew. With him disappeared all the awakened interest of Charlotte in the scene.
In vain was Seymour Delafield attentive, polite, and even particularly so. That devotedness of admiration for which so many sighed, and which so many envied, was entirely thrown away upon Charlotte. She listened, she bowed, and she smiled–and, sometimes, she answered; but it was evidently without meaning or interest, until, wearied with his fruitless efforts to make an impression, and perhaps with a hope of exciting a little jealousy, he turned his attention to her more lively companion.