Shoreham again. I should not
have done it now had I not thought his attentions were acceptable to
you, as I am sure they are to your parents. Certainly, they are VERY
marked--at least, so others think as well as myself."

"I know it SEEMS so to the WORLD," answered Julia in a subdued,
thoughtful tone, "but it scarcely seems so to ME. Betts Shoreham is
very agreeable, every way a suitable connection for any of us, and that
is the reason people are so ready to fancy him in earnest."

"In earnest! If Mr. Shoreham pays attentions that are pointed, and is
not in earnest, he is a very different person from what I took him to
be."

Julia's voice grew still more gentle, and it was easy enough to see
that her feelings were enlisted in the subject.

"It is no more than justice to Betts Shoreham," she continued, "to say
that he has NOT been pointed in his attentions to ME. We females are
said to be quick in discovering such matters, and I am not more blind
than the rest of our sex. He is a young man of good family, and has
some fortune, and that makes him welcome in most houses in town, while
he is agreeable, well-looking, and thoroughly amiable. He met us
abroad, and it is natural for him to keep up an intimacy that recalls
pleasant recollections. You will remember, Mary, that before he can be
accused of trifling, he must trifle. I think him far more attentive to
my mother, my father--nay, to my two little sisters--than he is to ME.
Even Mademoiselle Hennequin is quite as much if not more of a favorite
than I am!"

As Mary Warren saw that her friend was serious she changed the subject;
soon after, we were set down at Mr. Monson's door. Here the friends
parted, Mary Warren preferring to walk home, while Julia and I entered
the house together.

"Well, mother," cried Julia, as she entered Mrs. Monson's room, "I have
found the most beautiful thing you ever beheld, and have bought it.
Here it is; what do you think of my choice?"

Mrs. Monson was a kind-hearted, easy, indulgent parent, who had brought
her husband a good fortune, and who had married rich in the bargain.
Accustomed all her life to a free use of money, and of her own money,
too, (for this is a country in which very many persons cast the
substance of OTHERS right and left,) and when her eldest daughter
expressed a wish to possess an elaborate specimen of our race, she had
consented from a pure disinclination to deny her child any
gratification that might be deeme