"Why so, Louisa?"
"Because I can imagine no cause for her present strange conduct, and therefore see no way of approaching"—
The individual about whom they had been conversing passed near them at this moment, and caused Mrs. Appleton and Louisa to remember that they were prolonging their conversation to too great an extent for a social party.
"We will talk about this again," Mrs. Appleton said, rising and passing to the side of Maria.
"You do not seem cheerful to-night, Maria; or am I mistaken in my observation of your face?" Mrs. Appleton said in a pleasant tone.
"I was not aware that there was any thing in my manner that indicated the condition of mind to which you allude," the young lady replied, with a smile.
"There seemed to me such an indication, but perhaps it was only an appearance."
"Perhaps so," said Maria, with something of abstraction in her manner. A silence, embarrassing in some degree to both parties, followed, which was broken by an allusion of Mrs. Appleton's to Louisa Graham.
To this, Maria made no answer.
"Louisa is a girl of kind feelings," remarked Mrs. Appleton.