Hatchie, the Guardian Slave; or, The Heiress of Bellevue: A Tale of the Mississippi and the South-westOptic, Oliver
General
Hatchie, the Guardian Slave; or, The Heiress of Bellevue: A Tale of the Mississippi and the South-west
Optic, Oliver
African Americans -- Fiction; Enslaved persons -- United States -- Fiction
Hatchie at once knew the voice of Henry, but, knowing nothing of the
relation between him and his mistress, he feared to trust him with his
secret.
CHAPTER IX.
"But as thou art a man
Whom I have picked and chosen from the world,
Swept that thou wilt be true to what I utter;
And when I've told thee that which only gods,
And men like gods, are privy to, then swear
No chance, or change, shall wrest it from thy bosom."
OTWAY.
Emily Dumont, while yet insensible, was conveyed to her state-room,
where, by the assiduous attention of the stewardess and the lady
passengers, she was soon restored to consciousness. An army surgeon, who
was fortunately on board, prescribed a course of treatment which
prevented all evil consequences, so that on the following morning she
appeared at breakfast as well as usual bodily, though the terrible fact
that her uncle had attempted her life so agitated her that sleep had
been a stranger to her eyelids. By whom she had been rescued was yet
unknown to her.
Henry Carroll again took his place opposite her at the morning meal,--a
place he had secured by the exercise of a full hour's patience in
occupying it. At the first convenient opportunity, he congratulated her
upon her safe recovery, and for the first time she heard the particulars
of her rescue. Jaspar, with an ill grace, expressed his obligations to
him, though at the same time he wished him at the bottom of the river.
Henry failed not to notice the blush which came to her cheek, as she
modestly but fervently expressed her gratitude for the noble service he
had rendered her. Although her accepted lover, there had been but little
intercourse of a tender nature between them,--not enough to prevent her
heart from fluttering when he spoke, and sending its warm blood to her
cheek.
With what indescribable pleasure does the lover recognize the blush
which a word or an act of his own calls to the face of his new-found
love! Like the breaking clouds which disclose to the worn mariner the
faint outline of the distant land, he hails it as the omen of future
bliss! It is part of the mystical language of the heart. It is part of
the mechanism of the affections, which the will cannot conceal. The
gentle look, the warm pressure of the hand, the eloquent language of
love, which modesty at first forbids, are supplied by the timid,
uncalled, beautiful blush! Prudence and delicacy cannot chain it in the
veins.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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