Natalia

“ Indeed, Natalia, Sargent is making these last days of my life very happy, for in his success I seem to get a pleasure so deep that at times I imagine his triumphs are my own."
Natalia moved restlessly, as if to rise, then sank back on the stool again.
"Why is it that every one I meet seems to worship him?" she murmured, half complaining. "You have always loved him more than me—yes, you have, dear Uncle Felix, and now, when I come back home, I find Dicey is his slave—and willingly, too. He has stolen the love of you both from me. I am growing very, very jealous of him. ”

“ When Mammy Dicey had blown out the candle and left the room, closing the door tight after her, Natalia jumped out of bed and ran to the window. Raising it, and pushing the shutters far apart, she leaned out so as to get a view of the big gate.
The moon was just rising, and by its cold, white light she could see far down the empty road. She stood looking out, until the night wind chilled her, and she shivered under her thin nightgown. Finally she closed the shutters and crept back to bed, huddling herself beneath the heavy quilt until she stopped trembling. ”

“ Natalia murmured, sinking on the bench near the gate, and motioning Talbot to the seat beside her. "Let's sit down here for a while. You don't mind my dreaming aloud to you, do you?"
His arm slipped about her until her head rested against his shoulder, and her eyes closed for a moment as if she had suddenly grown weary.
"No, indeed, dear, dream all you want, and tell me about your old school days with Sargent. Aren't you proud that your tutor has become so celebrated?" ”

“ Sargent glanced to where Natalia was leaning from her saddle and talking intently with Judge Houston. For the first time that day the tenseness of his face relaxed, and the memory of the courtroom and all it meant slipped from him.
"I believe I gained her love," he answered slowly, "by first loving her. Don't you think that is the only real way to gain another's love?"
"Yes—there are very few who fail to respond to being loved. It is so flattering," she smiled lightly. "But Natalia needed you just when you came. You know how out of sympathy she and Mrs. Brandon are?" ”

“ From that time forth she called herself, not Natashka, but Natalia Savishna, and took to wearing a cap. All the love in her heart was now bestowed upon her young charge. When Mamma had a governess appointed for her education, Natalia was awarded the keys as housekeeper, and henceforth had the linen and provisions under her care. These new duties she fulfilled with equal fidelity and zeal. She lived only for her master’s advantage. ”

“ You would see him in the light of justice and right. That would be the lasting thought. Take my advice, Natalia," he urged. "Perhaps your sensitiveness recoils from being seen there; but there are some situations in life in which we must forget our preferences for others."
"Your confidence helps me—but if the outcome should be otherwise?"
"It cannot be otherwise. If you knew Sargent as I do, you would know that there could be no doubt."
Natalia sank back against the cushions. ”

“ Why, you are shivering, Natalia! Haven't you the confidence in my release that I have? But you have not heard Sargent yet. Wait until you hear him to-morrow, for you are going, aren't you? I want you to. There's an odd power about him; I noticed it to-day when he questioned the witnesses. He seems to get everything out of every one by his quiet, easy manner." He stopped a moment and went back to the table. "Natalia, after the trial, will you do something I wish very much? There is a boat Wednesday; if everything is settled to-morrow, are you willing to leave the next day? ”

“ Suddenly a sob broke from her, and in that moment Morgan pressed her to him in a close embrace and covered her face with kisses. All the passion of the man had been called into life by the sob. He knew now that she did love him. The tragedy and its days of misery were forgotten in the future that stretched before them, as brilliant and as beautiful as it had ever been.
Pure and true and noble! The words still rang in Natalia's consciousness, blotting out even the thought that her lover had regained his strength. ”

“ At last Natalia stirred. One hand was pressed against her bosom, as she stared straight out before her.
"You make me feel unworthy all the love that has been given me," she said. "It seems I have done nothing for any one—always nothing."
"Ah, but you have done a great deal, Natalia," Sargent answered quickly. "Think what you were to Morgan in his hour of adversity. He told me before the trial that without you his life would be wrecked. He says you are the only reason for taking up his life again. ”

“ Up leaped the dancing flames, and with a tremendous noise the rock flew into a thousand pieces and the power of the witch was gone for ever. As for Natalia, she was at once freed, and with her gentle, cool hand stroked the breast of the flamingo so that the burns were healed, but as a sign of its bravery the bird has carried a crimson breast from that day to this. As for Natalia and Luis, they lived for many, many years in the valley, and about them birds of many kinds played and lived and reared their young, and the magic ball of the witch lived only in the memory of men. ”

“ She pressed his hand gently. "She's at the impressionable age, and she loves you with all her little, pent-up nature. She will not forget."
Sargent met her glance warmly. "You see, it is so different with me, from most men. My sensitiveness, my wretched infirmity, seems to make everything so much more serious to me. And when any one gets hold of my affections, I feel a tremendous need for them always. That is the way with Natalia—it was her sweet dependence, her yearning for sympathy, her quaint charm that have bound me tocher for ever. ”

“ I came as soon as Uncle Felix told me."
He stared at her a long time, the wild, hunted look gradually dying out, leaving only an expression of dumb misery.
"Natalia! Natalia!" he murmured at last, as if realizing for the first time that it was she. "Natalia—that is your wedding dress! Oh, my God!" he cried out, turning away from her and leaning against the wall. "It can never be now—never—never!" Then came the dry, hard sobs of a man who sees nothing but despair before him. ”

“ The gleaming mahogany floor gathered into its embrace the reflection, and in the subdued light and the strange fragrance of passed years breathing life into the speechless objects, Natalia felt that she was growing nearer to what it all represented to her than she had ever been before.
"Seventy-six years," she said again thoughtfully. "How beautiful to grow old as you have done, Uncle Felix. Nay, is it growing old? It seems to me that with you and Aunt Maria it has been a gradual growing nearer to a beautiful future life—a gentle approach towards God. ”

“ Houston rose, and casting a swift glance at Mrs. Jervais, led Natalia a little way from the others. When they had reached the front door, quite beyond hearing of the others, Natalia stopped and faced Mrs. Houston.
"Is she dead?" she exclaimed in a low voice. "I shall never forgive myself for not writing to her more. Poor old Mammy!"
"No, she is not dead," Mrs. Houston answered, hesitating a moment over the information, "but she is not here any more."
Natalia's brows wrinkled in bewilderment. "Not here! But she belonged to me! Surely she is not hired to any one?" ”

“ Always a man who lost himself in the grip of one idea, he could see nothing else but that Natalia was not yet married. The fact that the marriage was postponed because her lover, his old schoolmate, had killed Lemuel Jervais, was all a vague background to the other great certainty. The outcome did not intrude itself upon the theme that sounded so steadily in his ears. Nothing else counted until he could reach her side and pour out all the pent-up yearnings of the years and years that he had planned and builded and waited for her. ”

“ Sargent turned away from the brilliance of her glance. It was almost too much for him to bear that she should have thought that was what he meant. Suddenly his lips tightened firmly. She should not know!
"You don't know what happiness it is to me to know it," Natalia continued, her face glowing with a new happiness. "I thought I had caused you to give up your election, to come to me. Now, it is all different. Everything with you is successful—absolutely everything you undertake." ”

“ If anybody wishes to remark that this was a roundabout way of thinking of Natalia Haldin, I can only retort that she was well worth some concern. She had all her life before her. Let it be admitted, then, that I was thinking of Natalia Haldin's life in terms of her mother's character, a manner of thinking about a girl permissible for an old man, not too old yet to have become a stranger to pity. There was almost all her youth before her; a youth robbed arbitrarily of its natural lightness and joy, overshadowed by an un-European despotism ”

“ Natalia asked, still before the mirror.
"No, ma'am, dey's all done quit comin'," came Dicey's low murmur.
Natalia turned swiftly towards Mrs. Houston, searching her face for some sign of anxiety. She found none.
"You all go downstairs and entertain the people," she said at last. "Mammy will stay here with me until Morgan comes."
"I do hope they will come soon," Millicent said, kissing Natalia for the tenth time. "I'm terribly impatient and flustered, and I always get so red in the face when I am excited." ”

“ Many of them had whispered to Natalia that her old Mammy was a Voodoo, and once, when two slaves had died of smallpox, a "conjure" bag and a tiny black coffin had been found on the doorstep which the others said Dicey had employed to gain a revenge.
But Natalia loved the old woman too deeply to be weaned from her. She and Zebediah and Dicey grew closer as the years sped along, the old hostler remaining faithful to his one partner who had worked side by side with him in the grand old days of Gayosa and the Spanish occupation. To them, Natalia was all that was left out of that glorious past. ”

“ Natalia was the fair young wife of Adrian, an officer at Nicomedia, in the guards of the Emperor Galerius Maximianus, and only about twenty- eight years old. Natalia was a Christian, but her husband remained a pagan, until, when he was charged with the execution of some martyrs, their constancy, coupled with the testimony of his own wife's virtues, triumphed over his unbelief, and he confessed himself likewise a Christian. He was thrown into prison, and sentenced to death, but he prevailed on his gaoler to permit him to leave the dungeon for a time, that he might see his wife. ”

“ Natalia's anger went as it had come. The next moment she was seated before the mirror, with Dicey brushing and platting her hair.
"We always did quarrel, Mammy," she laughed happily again. "I suppose it proves our love, don't you? But it does make me so jealous to find you loving somebody more than you do me," she added, reflectively. "It really is odd how he makes people love him," glancing at Dicey's enigmatic face reflected in the mirror. "I'm talking about your master, Mammy. I see now that I have lost your love entirely. ”

“ Sending them pretty nosegays and going to church with them Sundays and taking them to balls. That's the way I want you to do!"
Sargent's face contracted with sudden pain. He knew so well that he could never fill the role that Natalia had already planned for her lover.
"Nosegays, church going, dances," he repeated after her. "Well," with a sigh, "I might do the first two, anyhow." Then seriously, "Natalia, I want you to remember this." For a moment he stopped and looked directly into her eyes. "You are a child now but you will soon be a woman—a beautiful young lady, as you say. ”

“ But you will dance the quadrille with me at my own wedding, won't you, Uncle Felix? Now!" she ended, landing him safely on the deep sofa.
"The time is coming, Natalia, when I must lean on some one all the time," the old gentleman sighed. "It isn't very far off, either. Do you know, I find myself deferring to Maria for the smallest things, and when not Maria—it is Sargent."
"Sargent Everett," Natalia repeated after him, piling some cushions on the horse-hair upholstery so that the old gentleman would lean back comfortably. ”

“ In the morning brilliance he shone resplendent, catching, as if by natural attraction, all the beauty and freshness of the day in his brilliant colouring and deep blue eyes.
"Is it such an important day?" Natalia answered softly. "I sometimes wonder if marriage is not an anticlimax. The greatest moment to me was when I realized that I loved you. Nothing will ever equal the joy of that—not even our wedding."
"That is a girl's way of looking at it," Morgan laughed easily. "With a man it is quite different. ”

“ Natalia fled with Peter and a few attendants to this refuge, hotly pursued, however, all the way by a body of the Guards. If the fugitives had been overtaken on the way, both mother and son would doubtless have been cut to pieces without mercy. As it was, they very narrowly escaped, for when Natalia arrived at the convent the soldiers were close upon her. Two of them followed her in before the doors could be closed. Natalia rushed into the church, which formed the centre of the convent inclosure, and took refuge with her child at the foot of the altar. ”

“ Natalia sighed. "It ought to be, though, for Mammy brushes it so—so long every morning and every night. Sometimes I wish I didn't have any, until she tells me I'd be ugly without it. And she says people won't love me when I'm grown up if I'm not pretty. Do you believe that?" with sudden intensity.
"No." Sargent laughed easily. "That's a bad theory of Mammy Dicey's. I'll have to tell her she's mistaken."
"And she says that a pretty child makes an ugly grown up person. Do you believe that?" ”