nton had not felt the utter desolation, after the first
overpowering sense of grief had passed, after his wife's death, that he
would have felt had he had no one upon whom to have leaned. As it was,
his home was not desolate, for he cherished his daughter as the "apple
of his eye," and he had come to be like himself again. Happy faces met
him as he came in wearied from his duties "on 'change," and he had again
assumed his easy, jocose manners. Natalie was still continuing her
studies, making unprecedented progress, to the rapturous delight of the
Signor; while Winnie enlivened the whole household.

As mistress of the mansion she had new duties to discharge, though they
were not so arduous as to deprive her of entertaining the young
aspirants to her hand, who if they did not throw themselves at her feet,
it was only for the want of an opportunity. And thus was everything
going on harmoniously at Santon Mansion, when, to the no little surprise
of every one, it was rumored that the wealthy Mr. Santon was about to
introduce to his domains a new mistress. No one was more taken by
surprise than were Winnie and Natalie. They could hardly credit their
senses, when Mr. Santon congratulated his daughter on the prospect of
having a new mother.

Poor Winnie! she tried to smile, and she tried to make one of her most
brilliant remarks, as she congratulated her father on his happiness; yet
it was not like herself, and Natalie could see, what Mr. Santon in his
blindness of joy did not discern,--there was no heart in his daughter's
mechanical tones. Winnie had not as yet seen her intended mother-in-law;
she might be all that could be desired of one standing in that peculiar
relation, and she might be otherwise; it was not that which had quelled
the buoyant spirits of the heiress, it was that she shrank from the
thought of any one so soon filling her own dear mother's station, and
she hid her face in Natalie's golden tresses, as her father left the
room, and burst into tears.

"Dear, dear Natalie," she exclaimed, "you will think me so wicked! But I
wanted no other mother than you! Though you are younger than myself, I
have learned to look up to you, as a valuable bequest left me by my
mother, who smiled even in death, when you promised never to forget me.
We are happy now; why need a stranger come among us? Oh, Natalie, I
never can part from you!"

"Hush! hush! dear Winnie, you must not think thus! you may come to love
your new mothe