"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."

We believe in our souls that the simplest woman in existence, or that
ever lived, becomes a deep and thorough diplomatist when engaged in
a conversation that involves in the remotest degree any matrimonial
speculation for a daughter. Now, Mrs. Goodwin knew as well as the reader
does, that Mrs. Lindsay made allusion to her son Harry, the new-comer;
but she felt that it was contrary to the spirit of such negotiations
to make a di