"Indeed!" returned the matron, comprehending the other's meaning intuitively, "and what may be the young gentleman's name?" "You will be the envy of all the mothers in town," continued Maria, "and deservedly so. Two such children to fall to the lot of one mother!--Nay, do not shake your head, Charlotte; it must and shall be a match, I am determined." "My friendship for you would deter me from the measure, should nothing else interfere," said Charlotte, good humouredly. "Ah! I have already abandoned my pretensions--twelve brothers and sisters, my dear, are a dreadful addition to bring into a family at once!" "I am sure I do not think so," returned Charlotte, timidly glancing her eye at her mother; "besides, I feel bound in honour to remember your original intention." "I tell you I have abandoned it, with all thoughts of the youth." "And who is the youth?" asked Mrs. Henly, affecting an indifference that she did not feel. "You will have the handsomest son in the city, certainly," said Maria; "and, possibly, the richest--and the most learned--and, undeniably, the most admired!" "You quite excite my curiosity to know who this paragon can be," said the mother, looking at her husband, who returned the glance with one of equal solicitude. "I do not think he is more than four and twenty," added Maria; "and his black eyes would form a charming contrast to your blue ones." "To whom does Miss Osgood allude?" asked Mrs. Henly, yielding to a solicitude that she could no longer controul. "To Mr. Seymour Delafield," said Charlotte, raising her mild eyes to the face of her mother, and smiling, as she delicately pared her apple, with a simple ingenuousness that banished uneasiness from the breast of her parent in an instant. "I know him," said Mr. Henly; "but I did not think you had ever seen him, Charlotte." "We met him in our morning walk, sir, and Maria introduced him." "He is thought to be very handsome," continued her father, helping himself to a glass of wine while speaking. "And very justly," returned the daughter; "I think him the handsomest man that I have ever seen." "Have I your permission for telling him so?" cried Maria, with a laugh. "I have not the least objection to his knowing it, on my own account, except from the indelicacy of complimenting a gentleman," said Charlotte, with perfect simplicity; "but whether it would be beneficial to himself or not, you can best judge." "You think him vain, then?" observed her mother. "Not in the least; or, rather, he did not exhibit it to me"--was the answer, with the same open air as before. "He has also a great reputation for good sense," continued her father, avoiding the face of his child. "I thought he had wit, sir." "And not good sense?"