pearly
distance; and on the height the old pillared house with its flanking
colonnades stood under the thinly green trees in a sharp light and shade
which emphasized all its delightful qualities--made, as it were, the
most of it, in response to the eagerness of the crowd now flowing round
it.

Half-way up the hill Roger suddenly raised his hat.

"Who is it?" said the General, putting up his eyeglass.

"The girl we met last night and her brother."

"Captain Boyson? So it is. They seem to have a party with them."

The lady whom young Barnes had greeted moved toward the Englishmen,
followed by her brother.

"I didn't know we were to meet to-day," she said gaily, with a mocking
look at Roger. "I thought you said you were bored--and going back to New
York."

Roger was relieved to see that his uncle, engaged in shaking hands with
the American officer, had not heard this remark. Tact was certainly not
Miss Boyson's strong point.

"I am sure I never said anything of the kind," he said, looking brazenly
down upon her; "nothing in the least like it."

"Oh! oh!" the lady protested, with an extravagant archness. "Mrs.
Phillips, this is Mr. Barnes. We were just talking of him, weren't we?"

An elderly lady, quietly dressed in gray silk, turned, bowed, and looked
curiously at the Englishman.

"I hear you and Miss Boyson discovered some common friends last night."

"We did, indeed. Miss Boyson posted me up in a lot of the people I have
been seeing in New York. I am most awfully obliged to her," said Barnes.
His manner was easy and forthcoming, the manner of one accustomed to
feel himself welcome and considered.

"I behaved like a walking 'Who's Who,' only I was much more interesting,
and didn't tell half as many lies," said the girl, in a high penetrating
voice. "Daphne, let me introduce you to Mr. Barnes. Mr. Barnes--Miss
Floyd; Mr. Barnes--Mrs. Verrier."

Two ladies beyond Mrs. Phillips made vague inclinations, and young
Barnes raised his hat. The whole party walked on up the hill. The
General and Captain Boyson fell into a discussion of some military news
of the morning. Roger Barnes was mostly occupied with Miss Boyson, who
had a turn for monopoly; and he could only glance occasionally at the
two ladies with Mrs. Phillips. But he was conscious that the whole group
made a distinguished appearance. Among the hundreds of young women
streaming over the lawn they were clearly marked out by their carriage
and their clo