James Fenimore Cooper (As Jane Morgan) Tales For Fifteen (PG) (v1.0) [txt]

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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--
"Oh! Mrs. Henly, I have to congratulate you on the
prospects of your soon having a son, and one so
amiable and attractive as your daughter."
"Indeed!" returned the matron, comprehending the
other's meaning intuitively, "and what may be the
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young gentleman's name?"
"You will be the envy of all the mothers in town,"
continued Maria, "and deservedly so. Two such
children to fall to the lot of one mother!--Nay, do
not shake your head, Charlotte; it must and shall
be a match, I am determined."
"My friendship for you would deter me from the
measure, should nothing else interfere," said
Charlotte, good humouredly.
"Ah! I have already abandoned my pretensions--
twelve brothers and sisters, my dear, are a dreadful
addition to bring into a family at once!"
"I am sure I do not think so," returned Charlotte,
timidly glancing her eye at her mother; "besides, I
feel bound in honour to remember your original
intention."
"I tell you I have abandoned it, with all thoughts of
the youth."
"And who is the youth?" asked Mrs. Henly, affecting
an indifference that she did not feel.
"You will have the handsomest son in the city,
certainly," said Maria; "and, possibly, the richest--
and the most learned--and, undeniably, the most
admired!"
"You quite excite my curiosity to know who this
paragon can be," said the mother, looking at her
husband, who returned the glance with one of equal
solicitude.
"I do not think he is more than four and twenty,"
added Maria; "and his black eyes would form a
charming contrast to your blue ones."
"To whom does Miss Osgood allude?" asked Mrs.
Henly, yielding to a solicitude that she could no
longer controul.
"To Mr. Seymour Delafield," said Charlotte, raising
her mild eyes to the face of her mother, and
smiling, as she delicately pared her apple, with a
simple ingenuousness that banished uneasiness
from the breast of her parent in an instant.
"I know him," said Mr. Henly; "but I did not think
you had ever seen him, Charlotte."
"We met him in our morning walk, sir, and Maria
introduced him."
"He is thought to be very handsome," continued her
father, helping himself to a glass of wine while
speaking.
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"And very justly," returned the daughter; "I think
him the handsomest man that I have ever seen."
"Have I your permission for telling him so?" cried
Maria, with a laugh.
"I have not the least objection to his knowing it, on
my own account, except from the indelicacy of
complimenting a gentleman," said Charlotte, with
perfect simplicity; "but whether it would be
beneficial to himself or not, you can best judge."
"You think him vain, then?" observed her mother.
"Not in the least; or, rather, he did not exhibit it to
me"--was the answer, with the same open air as
before.
"He has also a great reputation for good sense,"
continued her father, avoiding the face of his child.
"I thought he had wit, sir."
"And not good sense?"
"Am I a judge?" asked Charlotte, rising, and holding
a lighted paper to her father, while he took a new
segar.
Her clear blue eyes resting on him in the fulness of
filial affection, as she performed this office, and the
open air with which she bent forward to receive the
kiss he offered in thanks, removed any
apprehensions which the name of their morning's
companion might have excited.
Mr. Henly knew nothing concerning this young man
that would induce him at all to avoid the connexion,
but still he had not yet examined his character with
that searching vigilance that he thought due to the
innocence and merit of his child. Determining within
himself, however, that this was a task that should
no longer be neglected, he rose, and telling the
ladies that he left the bottle with them, withdrew
to his study.
The door had hardly closed behind Mr. Henly, when
George Morton entered the dining parlour, with the
freedom of an old and favourite friend, and telling
Mrs. Henly that, in consequence of his family's
dining out, and his own engagements, he was
fasting, and begged her charity for a meal. From
the instant that he appeared, Charlotte had risen
with alacrity, and was no sooner acquainted with
his wants, than she rung to order what he required.
She brought him a glass of sparkling wine with her
own hands, and pushing a chair nearer to the fire
than the one he occupied, she said--
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"Sit here, George, you appear chilled--I thought you
would miss your coat."
"I thank you," returned the youth, turning on her an
eye of the most open affection; "I do feel unusually
cold, and begin to think, that with my weak lungs it [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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