"Who could have been more strict, as it is called, with any daughter than Madame Gerot with Louise? Yet see how admirably she turned out! _Mon Dieu!_ it was frightful! Then there's a dozen other cases I could cite almost like her. I tell you, Minny, young people can't learn each other's characters at all, unless they're alone by themselves a little time. But here, a man must pay his devoirs, and make his proposals, with a third person's eyes upon him all the time; and has almost to court the mother as much as the daughter, if not more. Oh! these things make courting very unpleasant, and marriage sometimes very unhappy, when both should be the happiest seasons of one's life. Ah, me! it's very hard to have mothers always act as if their daughters hadn't judgment enough to be trusted alone a minute." "Do daughters prove themselves trustworthy always, Miss, when they are left alone?" "If mothers would make daughters trustworthy, Minny, I tell you they must trust them. Society is not conducted in this manner in the North, yet I believe the young people there are better by far than they are here. But I don't care much about it now. I used to--but I shall be married some day to the man I want, and be happy in my own way. "There, Minny, does that fold, just arranged, look well? Do I appear quite elegant and pretty now?" "Quite, Miss." "What a long lecture I've read you, Minny. I feel quite exhausted, I declare, and quite like going to bed again. Here's Bernard's letter--put it with the rest, and take precious, precious care of it." Fanning herself languidly, Della moved slowly away towards the breakfast-room. A servant stood waiting to open the door for her, with an obsequious bow, and she stood in the presence of her parents. "Dear dort!" cried her mother, (making as she thought an affectionate abbreviation of daughter,) "what is the matter that you look so flushed and excited this morning? Your cheeks are really vulgarly red; dear me, I hope they'll pale off a little before evening." "Good morning, Della," said Mr. Delancey, formally, who even at home sat in his usual position, bolt upright in his chair; "good morning; I'm glad to see that you have acquired a graceful manner of entering a breakfast-room." "If I keep on improving, papa, you will give me the promised winter in Havana I suppose?" "I suppose so, my child. I wish to make you very happy." There was a softness in Mr. Delancey's cold eyes, as he spoke, which one would no sooner have expected to see there, than they would thought to have seen a rock melt. Only his daughter could bring it there. "Miss Della," said the governess, "your attitude is a trifle too stiff--a little more of the bend, if you please." Miss Della tipped a little. "Dort, darling," said Mrs. Delancey, "pray don't display such an appetite--it is really frightful to see you eat so much. A young lady like you should be very delicate at table." "And pay long visits to the cupboard between meals, eh, mamma?"