and formal, she was polished and courteous; and if Grace, according to Eve's notions, was a little too easy and unreserved, she was feminine and delicate.

We pass over the three or four days that succeeded, during which Eve had begun to understand her new position, and we will come at once to a conversation between the cousins, that will serve to let the reader more intimately into the opinions, habits, and feelings of both, as well as to open the real subject of our narrative. This conversation took place in that very library which had witnessed their first interview, soon after breakfast, and while the young ladies were still alone.

"I suppose, Eve, you will have to visit the Greens. They are Hajjis, and were much in society last winter."

"Hajjis! You surely do not mean, Grace, that they have been to Mecca ?"

"Not at all: only to Paris, my dear. That makes a Hajji in New York."

"And does it entitle the pilgrim to wear the green turban ?" asked Eve, laughing.

"To wear anything, Miss Effingham; green, blue, or yellow, and to cause it to pass for elegance."

"And which happens to be the favourite colour with the family you have mentioned ?"

"It ought to be the first, in compliment to the name; but, if truth must be said, I think they betray an affection for all, with not a few of the half tints in addition."

"I am afraid they are too prononcées for us by this description. I am no great admirer, Grace, of walking rainbows."

"Too Green you would have said, had you dared; but you are a Hajji too, and even the Greens know that a Hajji never puns, unless, indeed, it be one from Philadelphia. you will visit these people?"

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But

Certainly, if they are in society, and render it necessary by their own civilities."

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They are in society in virtue of their rights as Hajjis; but, as they passed three months in Paris, you probably know something of them."

66

They may not have been there at the

same time with ourselves," returned Eve quietly; “and Paris is a very large city. Hundreds of people come and go of whom one never hears. I do not remember the family you have mentioned."

"I wish you may escape them; for, in my untravelled judgment, they are anything but agreeable, notwithstanding all they have seen, or pretend to have seen."

"It is very possible to have been all over Christendom, and to remain exceedingly disagreeable; besides, one may see a great deal, and yet see a very little of a good quality."

A pause of two or three minutes followed, during which Eve read a note, and her cousin played with the leaves of a book.

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"I wish I knew your real opinion of us, Eve," suddenly exclaimed the last. " Why not be frank with so near a relative; tell me honestly, are you reconciled to your country ?"

"You are the eleventh person who has asked me this question, which I think very extraordinary, as I have never quarrelled with my country."

"Nay, I do not mean exactly that. I wish to know how our society strikes one who has been educated abroad."

"You wish, then, for opinions that can have no great value, since my experience at home extends only to a fortnight. But you have many books on the country, and some written by very clever persons: why not consult them?"

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'Oh, you mean the travellers! None of them are worth a second thought; and we hold them, one and all, in great contempt."

"Of that I can have no manner of doubt, as, one and all, you are constantly protesting it, in the high-ways and by-ways. There is no more certain sign of contempt than to be incessantly dwelling on its intensity."

Grace had great quickness as well as her cousin. Though provoked at Eve's quiet hit, she had the good sense and good nature to laugh.

"Perhaps we do protest our disdain a little too strenuously for good taste, if not to gain believers; but surely, Eve, you do not sup

port these travellers in all that they have written of us ?"

"Not in half, I can assure you. My father and cousin Jack have discussed them too often in my presence, to leave me in ignorance of the very many political blunders they have made, in particular."

"Political blunders! I know nothing of them, and had rather thought the travellers right in most of what they said about our politics. But, surely, neither your father nor Mr. John Effingham corroborates what they say of our society !"

"I cannot answer for either, on that point." "Speak then for yourself. Do you think them right ?”

"You should remember, Grace, that I have not yet seen any society in New York."

"No society, dear! Why, you were at the Hendersons', and the Morgans', and the Drewetts'; three of the greatest réunions that we have had in two winters!"

"I did not know that by society you meant those unpleasant crowds."