“Indeed, papa,” cried the young lady, with great vivacity, “I shall attempt no extraordinary graces upon my young gentleman’s account, and that I promise you.  I protest,” she exclaimed, with spirit, “I have no great opinion of him who would come thus to New Hope without a single word to you, who are his father’s confidential correspondent.  Nor do I admire the taste of one who would choose to cast himself upon the hospitality of my uncle Obadiah rather than upon yours.”

“My dear,” said Colonel Belford, very soberly, “you express your opinion with a most unwarranted levity, considering the exalted position your subject occupies.  I may, however, explain to you that he came to America quite unexpectedly and by an accident.  Nor would he have declared his incognito, had not my brother Obadiah discovered it almost immediately upon his arrival.  He would not, he declared, have visited New Hope at all, had not Captain Obadiah Belford urged his hospitality in such a manner as to preclude all denial.”

But to this reproof Miss Belinda who, was, indeed, greatly indulged by her parents, made no other reply than to toss her head with a pretty sauciness, and to pout her cherry lips in an infinitely becoming manner.

But though our young lady protested so emphatically against assuming any unusual charms for the entertainment of their expected visitor, she none the less devoted no small consideration to that very thing that she had so exclaimed against.  Accordingly, when she was presented to her father’s noble guest, what with her heightened color and her eyes sparkling with the emotions evoked by the occasion, she so impressed our young gentleman that he could do little but stand regarding her with an astonishment that for the moment caused him to forget those graces of deportment that the demands of elegance called upon him to assume.

However, he recovered himself immediately, 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—­”