"I have not seen this painting," replied Natalie, her countenance
lighting up with a new thought, "but I have several times visited the
artist's rooms, though I have never been so fortunate as to get sight of
the mysterious connoisseur. Those who have met him, describe him as
being a middle-aged gentleman, of foreign birth, very marked in his
polite, graceful manners; yet there appears to be a great mystery
hanging about him, and some have ventured to remark that his is no
common history, that he is not merely what he pretends,--an obscure
artist! there is that about his bearing which denotes high birth. I have
admired his talent displayed, and must see this remarkable production;
for you know I am a great admirer of female beauty."
That night, Natalie mused over the events of the day,--the contents of
the letter which she had received, were first in her mind. Her mother
had expressed an earnest desire to see her child once more; among other
things, she had briefly made mention of a matter in regard to their
pecuniary affairs,--quite a little sum of the comfortable fortune which
Capt. Grosvenor had, by dint of the many perils at sea, accumulated, had
been lost in a recent bank failure;--a failure, as Mrs.
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