Do you, then, really believe that if I offered myself to Mary
Lester, she would accept me?"

"If you went the right way about it, I am sure she would."

"What do you mean by the right way?"

"The right way for you, of course, is to endeavour to win her
affections. She is already, I can see, strongly prepossessed in your
favour, but is not herself aware to what extent her feelings are
interested. Throw yourself into her company as much as you can, and
when in her company pay her the kindest attentions. But do not visit
her at her own house at present, or her father may crush the whole
affair. When I see her again, I will drop a word in your favour."

"I am certainly very much indebted to you, Mrs. Martindale, for your
kind hints and promised interference. I have often felt drawn toward
Mary, but always checked the feeling, because I had no idea that I,
could make an impression on her mind."

"Faint heart never won fair lady," was Mrs. Martindale's encouraging
response.

"Well, Mary," said the lady to Miss Lester, a few days afterward,
"have you seen Mr. Fenwick since?"

"Mr. Fenwick!" said she, in tones of affected surprise.

"Yes, Mr. Fenwick."

"No--of course not. Why do you ask so strange a question? He does
not visit me."

"Don't he? Well, I have seen him."

"Have you? Then I hope you were very much delighted with his
company, for he seems to be a favourite of yours."

"He certainly is a favourite of mine, Mary. I have known him for a
good many years, and have always esteemed him highly. There are few
young men who can claim to be his equal."

"I doubt not but there are hundreds to be met with every day as good
as he."

"Perhaps so, Mary. I have not, however, been so fortunate as to come
across them."

"No doubt he is a paragon!"

"Whether he be one or not, he at least thinks there is no one like
you."

"Like me!" ejaculated Mary, taken thus suddenly by surprise, while
the colour mounted to her face, and deepened about her eyes and
forehead.

"Yes, like you. The fact is, Mary, he thinks and speaks of you in
the kindest terms. You have evidently interested him very much."

"I certainly never intended to do so, Mrs. Martindale."

"Of course not, Mary. I never supposed for a moment that you had.
Still he is interested, and deeply so."

Having ventured thus far, Mrs. Martindale deemed it prudent to say
no more for the present, but to leave her insinuations to work upon
Mary's heart what they