give him more pleasure than to receive an answer from me?" Fanny
spoke with animation.

"True, my child, and that part of his letter I like least of all."

"Why so?" inquired the daughter.

"Have you not gathered the answer to your own question from what I
have already said? A true man, who had a genuine respect for a young
lady, would not desire, on so slight an acquaintance, to draw her
into a correspondence; therefore the fact that Mr. Lyon half invites
you to a correspondence, causes doubts to arise in my mind. His
sending you a letter at all, when he is yet to us almost an entire
stranger, I cannot but regard as a breach of the hospitalities
extended to him."

"Is not that a harsh judgment?" said Fanny, a warmer hue mantling
her face.

"Reflect calmly, my child, and you will not think so."

"Then I ought not to answer this letter?" said Fanny, after musing
for some time.

"Let your father, in one of his letters, acknowledge the receipt for
you. If Mr. Lyon be a true man, he will respect you the more."

Not entirely satisfied, though she gave no intimation of this, Fanny
returned to the seclusion of her own room, to muse on so unexpected
a circumstance; and as she mused, the beating of her heart grew