"Yes, indeed; I am serious, so far as believing that you are at this moment exposed to the manoeuvres of a gentleman whom you do not seem in the least to suspect, and who is decidedly agreeable." "Whom can you mean?" said Elinor, running over in her head the names of several persons whom she had seen lately. "You surely do not suspect--No; I am sure you have too good an opinion of him." "I am very far from having a particularly good opinion of the person I refer to," said Miss Agnes; "I think him at least, nothing better than a fortune-hunter; and although it is very possible to do many worse things than marrying for money, yet I hope you will never become the wife of a man whose principles are not above suspicion in every way." "I am disposed just at present, I can assure you, dear Aunt, to have a particularly poor opinion of a mere fortune-hunter." "Yes; you do not seem to feel very amiably towards the class, just now," said Miss Agnes, smiling. "But who is the individual who stands so low in your opinion?" "It is your opinion, and not mine, which is the important one," replied Miss Agnes. "Ah, I see you are joking, Aunt; you half frightened me at first. As far as having no fears for myself, I am really in an alarming state." "So it would seem. But have you really no suspicions of one of our visiters of last evening?" Elinor looked uneasy. "Is it possible," she said, lowering her voice a little, "that you believe Mr. Ellsworth to be a common fortune-hunter? I thought you had a very different opinion of him." "You are right, my child," said Miss Agnes, apparently pleased by this allusion to their friend; "I have, indeed, a high opinion of Mr. Ellsworth; but he was not our only visiter last evening," "Is it Mr. Stryker? I have half-suspected some such thing myself, lately; I cannot take credit for so much innocence as you gave me. But it is not worth while to trouble oneself about Mr. Stryker; he is certainly old enough, and worldly-wise enough to take care of himself. If he actually has any such views, his time will be sadly thrown away. But it is much more probable that he is really in love with Mrs. Creighton; and it would be very ridiculous in me, to imagine that he is even pretending to care for me, when he is attached to some one else." "He may flirt with Mrs. Creighton, but, if I am not mistaken, he intends to offer himself before long to Miss Wyllys; and I thought you had not remarked his advances." "I fancy, dear Aunt, that men like Mr. Stryker seldom commit themselves unless they feel pretty sure of success."