same half-dozen raw-boned gallants, and had come to the grand final
decision, that her charms should not be wasted thus; and now that she
was surrounded by those urbane solicitors, which do mingle with those of
more enlargement of brain in fashionable life, they, in turn, began to
fear lest those charms might not prove for such as them.

"Mother," asked Winnie, a few days before the arrival of the
Sea-flower, "who is this friend whom you have invited to visit us?--that
is, I mean to ask, what is she like? I have often heard you speak of
your early friend, Mrs. Grosvenor, but you have never seen her daughter,
and who knows but she may be,--well, I wont say; but you know Nantucket
is but an isolated, out-of-the-way place, where fishermen live, and the
society in which she has moved, will probably unfit her for enjoying
ours. But she will be with us in a day or two, so we shall have to make
the best of it."

"It is many years since I have seen Mrs. Grosvenor; we met when we were
both young married ladies, at the house of a friend of mine, in New
York, where she was visiting, and I formed an attachment for her then,
which has never abated. We have kept ourselves informed of each other's
welfare from time to time, and thinking that the daughter might possess
the same amiable disposition as her mother, I thought that her presence
in our family might be pleasant to us all, besides gaining for her,
under your teachers of music and the languages, a finished education.
As for society in Nantucket, I have never learned of what grade it is;
but judging from the appearance of the only person I have ever met from
there, I do not consider them far behind the age."

"Well, I hope I shall like her, I am sure; she has a sweet
name,--Natalie; perhaps we shall like her, after all. But Nantucket