He was
inwardly and deeply admiring the most youthful of
the females, for the natural and simple display of
those very qualities that he forgot himself to
exercise, when he was roused with a feeling of
something like mortification, by hearing Charlotte
exclaim, with a slight glow on her cheek--
"Ah! there is George Morton coming--he surely will
not pass the poor man without offering to assist
him."
The gentleman turned his head quickly, and noticed
a youth making his way through the crowd,
successfully, to the side of the sufferer. The
distance was too great to hear what passed--but an
empty coach, whose driver had stopped to gaze
with the rest, was instantly drawn up, and the man
lifted in, and followed by the youth, whose
appearance had effected these movements with the
silence and almost with the quietness of magic.
George Morton was far from possessing the elegant
exterior of the uneasy observer of this scene, yet
were the eyes of the lovely young woman who had
caught his attention, fixed in evident delight on his
person, until it was hid from view in the carriage;
when, drawing a long breath, as if relieved from
great uneasiness, she said, in a low voice--
"I knew that George Morton would not pass him so
unfeelingly--but where are they going?--not far, I
hope, on this cold day--and George without his
great coat."
There was a plaintive and natural melody in the
tones of the speaker's voice, as she thus
unconsciously uttered her concern, that impelled
the listener to advance to the side of the carriage,
where a short conversation passed between the
gentlemen, and the stranger returned to the ladies,
who were yet lingering near the spot, apparently
unwilling to depart from a scene that had so deeply
interested one of them.
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