"Good gracious, my dear!" said the lady, "I should have ran off at once, if pa had said any thing against my having Tom. I shouldn't have asked him twice. He did talk about our waiting a year; but, as Tom said, 'what was the use of waiting, when he had just had new carpets and curtains?' Mrs. Gooch, too, was surprised that Louisa made a point of being as quiet as possible; she declining going to three such pleasant dances, would not go to the play, and even objected to dinner-parties." "Good gracious, my dear!" again exclaimed Mrs. Gooch; "Tom and I were so gay before our marriage. We went here, there, and every where; I think young people ought to see a little pleasure before being married, for they don't see much afterwards. Not that I need say so, for we have a great many dinner and evening friends, and we go to Richmond twice every summer."
Mrs. Gooch was that uncommon individual, a contented person—she liked her house, her husband, and her two children. Their footman was not very tall, but he had a very showy livery of green and red; carriage they had not as yet, but they went to their best dinners in a glass-coach; and, as Mr. Gooch observed, "there was no saying what he might do in a year or two."
Their parlour was an exceedingly comfortable room; there was a sofa often wheeled round to the fire when Mrs. Gooch desired to flatter her husband, that is, if imitation be the most delicate flattery, by fol-
