The young ladies all performed on the piano-forte and harp, and my cousin, who is very musical, was in raptures. Had not his admiration been too equally drawn to each, he assures me that before the end of that evening he must inevitably have been the conquest of one. The next morning, the whole family met again at breakfast: the young ladies were as charming as ever, but still he felt in doubt as to which he admired most. Whilst he was exerting himself to be as agreeable as he could, and talking to them all with the timid respect with which demoiselles are always addressed by Frenchmen, the father of the family startled and certainly almost alarmed my cousin by suddenly saying,--"We cannot hunt to-day, mon ami, for I have business which will keep me at home; but you shall ride into the woods with Elizabeth: she will show you my pheasants. Get ready, Elizabeth, to attend Monsieur...!" Madame B*** stopped short, and looked at me as if expecting that I should make some observation. "Well?" said I. "Well!" she repeated, laughing; "then you really find nothing extraordinary in this proceeding--nothing out of the common way?" "In what respect?" said I: "what is it that you suppose was out of the common way?" "That question," said she, clasping her hands in an ecstasy at having made the discovery--"That question puts me more au fait than anything else you could say to me. It is the strongest possible proof that what happened to my cousin was in truth nothing more than what is of every-day occurrence in England." "What did happen to him?" "Have I not told you?... The father of the young ladies whom he so greatly admired, selected one of them and desired my cousin to attend her on an excursion into the woods. My dear madame ... national manners vary so strangely.... I beseech you not to suppose that I imagine that everything may not be exceedingly well arranged notwithstanding. My cousin is a very distinguished young man--excellent character--good name--and will have his father's estate ... only the manner is so different...." "Did your cousin accompany the young lady?" said I. "No, he did not--he returned to London immediately." This was said so gravely--so more than gravely--with an air of so much more meaning than she thought it civil to express, that my gravity and politeness gave way together, and I laughed most heartily. My amiable companion, however, did not take it amiss--she only laughed with me; and when we had recovered our gravity, she said, "So you find my cousin very ridiculous for throwing up the party?--_un peu timide, peut-être?_" "Oh no!" I replied--"only a little hasty." "Hasty!... Mais que voulez-vous? You do not seem to comprehend his embarrassment."