However, as we are quite by ourselves, you may as well tell me what conquests you have made."
"Oh, we are not out yet," replied Georgiana, "but Louisa had a new bonnet, in which she made such a conquest! Mamma would go mad if she knew all about it."
"Who was the gentleman?" asked Mrs. Palmer, a little anxiously.
"Oh, Louisa refused him at once," returned Isabella, who caught the look.
"Such a handsome young man!" cried Georgiana, who replied only to the words, "Sir Henry Calthorpe, with plenty of money."
"And why," asked the old lady, "would not Louisa have him?"
"She did not like him," replied Helen.
"Young ladies," returned Mrs. Palmer, with a touch of her former dignified authority, "should not permit themselves to take fancied likings and dislikings."
"Louisa," said Helen, timidly, yet eagerly, "never could have liked any one so vain, so uninteresting as Sir Henry, who made his offer, expecting her to be divided between surprise and gratitude."
"He was one of those men," said Isabella, "who have no separate existence from their tailor, unless, indeed, a portion be claimed by the glover and bootmaker. I should as soon think of marrying a suit of clothes."
