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Heart
by
{Salmagundi = a series of comic essays (1819- 1820) by New York City writer James Kirke Paulding (1778-1860), emulating an earlier series by Washington Irving and others; Cooke = probably Thomas Potter Cooke (1786-1864), a noted English actor; Bonaparte = Napoleon Bonaparte died on St. Helena in 1821}
“I really wonder that you never took the office upon yourself,” said Charlotte, busied in throwing aside her coat and gloves; “you appear to have so much interest in the gentleman.”
“Oh! I did, a month since–the moment that he landed.”
“Indeed! and who was it?”
“Myself.”
“And have you told him of your choice?” asked the other, laughing.
“Not with my tongue: but with my eyes, a thousand times–and with all that unspeakable language that female invention can supply:–I go where he goes– if I see him in the street behind me, I move slowly and with dignity; still he passes me–if before me, I am in a hurry–but{“}–
“You pass him?” interrupted Charlotte, amused with her companion’s humour.
“Exactly–we never keep an equal pace; this is the first time that he has walked with me since he returned from abroad–and for this honour I am clearly indebted to yourself.”
“To me, Maria?” said Charlotte, in surprise.
“To none other–he talked to me, but he looked at you. Ah! he knows by instinct that you are an only child–and I do believe that the wretch knows that I have twelve brothers and sisters–but you had better take him, Charlotte; he is worth twenty George Mortons–at least, in money.”
“What have the merits of George Morton and Mr. Delafield to do with each other?” said Charlotte, removing her hat, and exhibiting a head of hair that opportunely fell in rich profusion over her shoulders, so as to conceal the unusual flush on her, ordinarily, pale cheek.
This concluded the conversation; for Charlotte instantly left the room, and was occupied for some time in giving such orders as her office of assistant in housekeeping to her mother rendered necessary.
Charlotte Henly was the only child that had been left from six who were born to her parents, the others having died in their infancy. The deaths of the rest of their children had occasioned the affection of her parents to center in the last of their offspring with more than common warmth; and the tenderness of their love was heightened by the extraordinary qualities of their child. Possessed of an abundance of the goods of this world, these doating parents were looking around with intense anxiety, among their acquaintance, and watching for the choice that was to determine the worldly happiness of their daughter.
Charlotte was but seventeen, yet the customs of the country, and the temptations of her expected wealth, together with her own attractions, had already placed her within the notice of the world. But no symptom of that incipient affection which was to govern her life, could either of her parents ever discover; and in the exhibitions of her attachments, there was nothing to be seen but that quiet and regulated esteem, which grows out of association and good sense, and which is so obviously different from the restless and varying emotions that are said to belong to the passion of love.
Maria Osgood was a distant relative, and an early associate, who, although as different from her cousin in appearance and character as black is from white, was still dear to the latter, both from habit and her unconquerable good nature.
George Morton, the youth of whom such honourable mention has been made, was the son of a gentleman who had long resided in the next dwelling to Mr. Henly in the city, and who also possessed a country house near his own villa. These circumstances had induced an intimacy between the families that was cemented by the good opinion each entertained of the qualities of the other, and which had been so long and so often tried in scenes of happiness and misery, that were known to both. Young Morton was a few years the senior of Charlotte; and, at the time of commencing our tale, was but lately released from his collegiate labours. His goodness of heart and simplicity of manners made him an universal favourite; while the peculiarity of their situation brought him oftener before the notice of Charlotte than any other young man of her acquaintance.–But, notwithstanding the intimation of Maria Osgood, none of their friends in the least suspected any other feeling to exist between the youthful pair than the natural and very obvious one of disinterested esteem. As the family seated themselves at the dinner table, their guest exclaimed, in the heedless way that characterised her manner–