"For a serious reason, sister. Can you guess what it is?"
"Perhaps so, and therefore I will not tax your modesty so far as to make you confess it."
"Very well, Mary. And now answer my question. What do you think of Margaretta?"
"I know nothing against her, brother."
"Nothing against her! Don't you know any thing in her favour?"
"Well, perhaps I do. She is said to be worth some fifty thousand dollars."
"Nonsense, Mary! What do I care about her fifty thousand dollars? Don't you know any thing else in her favour?"
"Why, yes, brother. As long as you seem so serious about the matter, I think Margaretta a fine girl. She is amiable in disposition—is well educated—tolerably good-looking, and, I think, ordinarily intelligent."
"Ordinarily intelligent!"
"Yes. Certainly there is nothing extraordinary about her."