ediately, and proceeded to take such
advantage of his introduction that by the time they were seated at the
dinner-table he found himself conversing with his fair partner with all
the ease and vivacity imaginable. Nor in this exchange of polite
raillery did he discover her wit to be in any degree less than her
personal charms.

"Indeed, madam," he exclaimed, "I am now more than ready to thank that
happy accident that has transported me, however much against my will,
from England to America. The scenery, how beautiful! Nature, how
fertile! Woman, how exquisite! Your country," he exclaimed, with
enthusiasm, "is like heaven!"

"Indeed, sir," cried the young lady, vivaciously, "I do not take your
praise for a compliment. I protest I am acquainted with no young
gentleman who would not defer his enjoyment of heaven to the very last
extremity."

"To be sure," quoth our hero, "an ambition for the abode of saints is
of too extreme a nature to recommend itself to a modest young fellow of
parts. But when one finds himself thrown into the society of an houri--"

"And do you indeed have houris in England?" exclaimed the young lady.
"In America you must be content with society of a much more earthly
constitution!"

"Upon my word, miss," cried our young gentleman, "you compel me to
confess that I find myself in the society of one vastly more to my
inclination than that of any houri of my acquaintance."

With such lively badinage, occasionally lapsing into more serious
discourse, the dinner passed off with a great deal of pleasantness to
our young gentleman, who had prepared himself for something
prodigiously dull and heavy. After the repast, a pipe of tobacco in the
summer-house and a walk in the garden so far completed his cheerful
impressions that when he rode away towards Pig and Sow Point he found
himself accompanied by the most lively, agreeable thoughts imaginable.
Her wit, how subtle! Her person, how beautiful! He surprised himself
smiling with a fatuous indulgence of his enjoyable fancies.

Nor did the young lady's thoughts, though doubtless of a more moderate
sort, assume a less pleasing perspective. Our young gentleman was
favored with a tall, erect figure, a high nose, and a fine, thin face
expressive of excellent breeding. It seemed to her that his manners
possessed an elegance and a grace that she had never before discovered
beyond the leaves of Mr. Richardson's ingenious novels. Nor was she
unaware of the admira