h a repose in her _demi-toilette_. The simple
white dress was so pure and chaste in its effect, displaying only her
lovely throat, and her beautiful chestnut-brown hair was gathered up
carelessly but neatly, while over one tiny ear fell a rich cluster of
ringlets; then, with all her beauty and exquisite taste, she is so
unconscious, so unstudied. That the world should call Mary Lee a
beauty, I do not wonder; but that society should pronounce her a
belle, is, indeed, a surprise to me--she is so unassuming, so free
from art and _affectation_."

"So unlike her mother," exclaimed a lady, eagerly. "I think Mary's
success in society is as gratifying as unexpected to Mrs. Lee. She
delayed her _entree_ into society as long as she could, and used to
lament most piteously to me the trouble she expected to have with her,
from her total want of animation and spirit. But now she seems to have
entirely forgotten her former misgivings, for she takes many airs on
herself about Mary's popularity, talking all the while as though
scarcely any one was good enough for the husband of the daughter she
pronounced one year ago a stupid, inanimate creature."

"Ah!" said a gentleman, laughing, "the tie now is between young Morton
and Langley, I believe. As Langley is the more _distingue_ of the two,
I suppose the mother will favor him; but if one can judge from
appearances, the daughter prefers Harry Morton."

"I can assure you," interrupted Mr. Foster, an intimate friend of our
family, "the daughter has quite as much admiration for the rich Mr.
Langley as the mother. There is a little incident connected with that
same concert Mrs. Duval speaks of, that convinces me of the daughter's
powers of management."

"Shame on you, Philip Foster!" said my mother, "you should not talk
thus of any lady, much less of Mary Lee."

"What was the incident, Mr. Foster?" eagerly inquired the other
ladies.

"Yes, do tell us, Phil," urged his gentleman friend.

My mother looked reproachfully at Mr. Foster, but he shook his head
laughingly at her, as he said,

"Hear me first, dear Mrs. Duval, before you judge. I was at Mrs. Lee's
two or three mornings since. Several visitors were in the
drawing-rooms, among them Harry Morton, as usual. I was looking at a
new and costly collection of engravings on the _commode_ table, when I
overheard Harry Morton ask Miss Lee if he should join their party at
the concert the next evening. She replied that she regretted they