eir 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.

All things must have an end; and the cheerful lights, which houseless
ones had watched as the bright beams fell across the pave, one by one
had faded. Formal adieus had been said, kind wishes interchanged, and
the last sound of rumbling wheels had died away. Excess of excitement
bade the blooming Winnie seek repose, and quiet reigned triumphant at
Santon Mansion; yet there was one who seemed to have forgotten that the
morning follows so close upon the evening. The Sea-flower had lingered
among the last to say adieu, and now, in her own apartment, she had sunk
into a chair, the delicate pearls still encircling her sunny tresses,
vieing in purity with her fair complexion; her eyes were fixed on
vacancy, and she was not aware that the morning was peeping in upon her,
till started from her reveries by her own gentle sighs.

And what spell is this that so usurps the calm, usually characteristic
of her nature? We have a vague suspicion as to what it may be, yet she
is all innocent of the source from which these new feelings have sprung;
even the last low words of Delwood, which are still sounding in her ear,
do not lead her to mistrust, and we leave her, as the fringed eyelids at
last droop in repose, to take a peep at our hero, who is only distant a
few squares from the gentle one, who, he feels, as he sits by the
gas-light, made pallid by the dawn of day, is all the world to him.

If Delwood possessed the cold heart, of which the world gave him the
credit, its fetters had at last yielded to the genial sunshine. Sleep
was most remote from him, and pacing his room with a quick tread, he
uttered, in a sarcastic tone--"Love! Clarence Delwood in love! Love at
first sight! I never would have credited it!" his voice softening, he
added--"I feel confident that she of all others, is the only one who
could have wrought this change! No, I cannot look upon this as weakness!
I must see more of her; she is an angel of purity, too good for such as
I. Can she think favorably of me? and what will my father say, if he
learns that