Arrived
at her point of _destination_, Natalie was so lost in admiration of the
noble illustrations of the infinite mind of man, that she had lost sight
of her object, in visiting the unknown artist, until she was awakened
from her revery, by a voice near her, and looking 'round, she discovered
a poor, dejected looking old negro woman, kneeling with her hands
clasped together, and her eyes fixed upon--Natalie followed in the
direction--it must be the beautiful Madonna! of which she had heard.
Involuntarily she assumed the position of the negress! What visions
filled her soul! flitting to and fro. The past, the present, and the
future rushed in mingled indistinctness through her mind! and over the
chaos there floated a calm, which gradually took the form of
recollections which now caused her heart to beat loudly with the
uncertainty, fraught with reality. _That night!_ came fresh again to her
memory, when she had overheard her brother's words,--"she is not my
sister by birth!" The same holy passions filled her soul, and she gazed
upon that face, the semblance of which, she had many a time, ere now,
looked upon in dreams! might they not have been waking dreams?
"God grant dat such as she, neber know what it am to be torn from her
childer!" groaned the black woman, with a deep-drawn sigh.
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