“I am a bad reasoner, Mr. Woodward,” she replied.
“But, perhaps, Miss Goodwin, Mr. O'Connor would say that you make up in feeling what you want in logic.”
“I hope, sir,” replied Alice, with some spirit—for she felt hurt at his last observation—“that I will never feel on any subject until I have reason as well as inclination to support me.”
“Ah,” said he, “I fear that if you once possess the inclination you will soon supply the reason. But, by the way, talking of your friend and favorite, Mr. O'Connor, I must say I like him very much, and I am, not surprised that you do.”
“I do, indeed,” she replied; “I know of nobody I like better than honest, frank, and generous Ferdora.”
“Well, Miss Goodwin, I assure you he shall be a favorite of mine for your sake.”
“Indeed, Mr. Woodward, if you knew him, he would become one for his own.”
“Have you known him long, may I ask, Miss Goodwin?”
“O dear, yes,” said Mrs. Goodwin, who now, finding this a fair opening in the conversation, resolved to have her share of it—“O dear! yes; Alley and he know each other ever since her childhood; he's some three or four years older than she is, to be sure, but that makes little difference.”
“And, I suppose, Mrs. Goodwin, their intimacy—perhaps I may say attachment—has the sanction of their respective families?”