She bent her head with a stately air as Joseph rose, walked past Julia, and extended her hand, with the words,— "Mr. Asten, I am glad to see you. Pray be seated." When all had taken seats, she resumed: "Excuse me if I begin by asking a question. You must consider that I have only known you through Julia, and her description could not, under the circumstances, be very clear. What is your age?" "I shall be twenty-three next birthday," Joseph replied. "Indeed! I am happy to hear it. You do not look more than nineteen. I have reason to dread _very_ youthful attachments, and am therefore reassured to know that you are fully a man and competent to test your feelings. I trust that you _have_ so tested them. Again I say, excuse me if the question seems to imply a want of confidence. A mother's anxiety, you know—" Julia clasped her hands and bent down her head. "I am quite sure of myself," Joseph said, "and would try to make you as sure, if I knew how to do it." "If you were one of us,—of the city, I mean,—I should be able to judge more promptly. It is many years since I have been outside of our own select circle, and I am therefore not so competent as once to judge of men in general. While I will never, without the most sufficient reason, influence my daughters in their choice, it is my duty to tell you that Julia is exceedingly susceptible on the side of her affections. A wound _there_ would be incurable to her. We are alike in that; I know her nature through my own." Julia hid her face upon her mother's shoulder: Joseph was moved, and vainly racked his brain for some form of assurance which might remove the maternal anxiety. "There," said Mrs. Blessing; "we will say no more about it now. Go and bring your sister!" "There are some other points, Mr. Asten," she continued, "which have no doubt already occurred to your mind. Mr. Blessing will consult with you in relation to them. I make it a rule never to trespass upon his field of duty. As you were not positively expected to-day, he went to the Custom-House as usual; but it will soon be time for him to return. Official labors, you understand, cannot be postponed. If you have ever served in a government capacity, you will appreciate his position. I have sometimes wished that we had not become identified with political life; but, on the other hand, there are compensations." Joseph, impressed more by Mrs. Blessing's important manner than the words she uttered, could only say, "I beg that my visit may not interfere in any way with Mr. Blessing's duties."