Mrs. Beaumont, indeed, had not Amelia’s quick sensibility with regard to the real affections of her friends, though she was awake to every external mark of attention. She was content, as Mr. Palmer before others always treated her with marked deference, and gave her no reason to apprehend any alteration in his testamentary dispositions. When settlements were talked of for the intended marriages, Mr. Palmer seemed to consider Mrs. Beaumont first in all their consultations, appealed for her opinion, and had ever a most cautious eye upon her interests. This she observed with satisfaction, and she was gratified by the demonstrations of increased regard from her son and daughter, because she thought it would facilitate her projects. She wished that her marriage with Sir John Hunter should appear well to the world; and for this reason she desired that it should _seem_ to be liked by all her family--seem, for as to their real opinions she was indifferent. Things were in this situation, when Mrs. Beaumont _caused herself to be surprised_[6] one morning by Mr. Palmer, with a letter in her hand, deep in reverie. “Oh! my dear Mr. Palmer, is it you?” cried she, starting very naturally; “I was really so lost in thought--” Mr. Palmer hoped that he did not disturb her.--“Disturb me! no, my good friend, you are the very person I wished to consult.” Her eye glanced again and again upon the letter she held in her hand, but Mr. Palmer seemed provokingly destitute of curiosity; he however took a chair, and his snuff-box, and with a polite but cold manner said he was much honoured by her consulting him, but that of course his judgment could be of little service to a lady of Mrs. Beaumont’s understanding. “Understanding! Ah!” said she, “there are cases where understanding is of no use to women, but quite the contrary.” Mr. Palmer did not contradict the assertion, nor did he assent to it, but waited, with a pinch of snuff arrested in its way, to have the cases specified. “In love affairs, for instance, we poor women,” said Mrs. Beaumont, looking down prettily; but Mr. Palmer afforded no assistance to her bashful hesitation; she was under the necessity of finishing her sentence, or of beginning another, upon a different construction. The latter was most convenient, and she took a new and franker tone:--“Here’s a letter from poor Sir John Hunter.”