“No matther,” replied the woman; “go an; but mark my words, you'll have your journey for nuttin', whatever it is. Indeed, if I turned back three steps wid you it might be otherwise, but you refused to cross my hand, so you must take your luck,” and with a frightful glance from the eye aforesaid, she passed on. As she drove up to Mr. Goodwin's residence she was met on the steps of the hall-door by that kind-hearted gentleman and his wife, and received with a feeling of gratification which the good people could not disguise. “I suppose,” said Mrs. Lindsay, after they had got seated in the drawing-room, “that you are surprised to see me here?” “We are delighted, say, Mrs. Lindsay,” replied Mr. Goodwin--“delighted. Why should ill-will come between neighbors and friends without any just cause on either side? That property--” “O, don't talk about that,” replied Mrs. Lindsay; “I didn't come to speak about it; let everything connected with it be forgotten; and as proof that I wish it should be so, I came here to-day to renew the intimacy that should subsist between us.” “And, indeed,” replied Mrs. Goodwin, “the interruption of that intimacy distressed us very much--more, perhaps, Mrs. Lindsay, than you might feel disposed to give us credit for.” “Well, my dear madam,” replied the other, “I am sure you will be glad to hear that I have not only my own inclination, but the sanction and wish of my whole family, in making this friendly visit, with the hope of placing us all upon our former footing. But, to tell you the truth, this might not have been so, were it not for the anxiety of my son Henry, who has returned to us, and whom, I believe, you know.” “We have that pleasure,” replied Goodwin; “and from what we have seen of him, we think you have a right to feel proud of such a son.” “So I do, indeed,” replied his mother; “he is a good and most amiable young man, without either art or cunning, but truthful and honorable in the highest degree. It is to him we shall all be indebted for this reconciliation; or, perhaps, I might say,” she added, with a smile, “to your own daughter Alice.” “Ah! poor Alice,” exclaimed her father; “none of us felt the estrangement of the families with so much regret as she did.” “Indeed, Mrs. Lindsay,” added his wife, “I can bear witness to that; many a bitter tear it occasioned the poor girl.” “I believe she is a most amiable creature,” replied Mrs. Lindsay; “and I believe,” she added with a smile, “that there is one particular young gentleman of that opinion as well as myself.”