ce, had a mind
stored with Washingtoniana. Every now and then he and the curator fell
back on each other's company. They knew well that the others were not
worthy of their opportunity; although General Hobson, seeing that most
of the memories touched belonged to a period before the Revolution,
obeyed the dictates of politeness, and made amends for his taciturnity
indoors by a talkative vein outside.

Captain Boyson was not, however, wholly occupied with history or
reminiscence. He perceived very plainly before the walk was over that
the General's good-looking nephew and Miss Daphne Floyd were interested
in each other's conversation. When they joined the party in the garden
it seemed to him that they had been disputing. Miss Daphne was flushed
and a little snappish when spoken to; and the young man looked
embarrassed. But presently he saw that they gravitated to each other,
and that, whatever chance combination might be formed during the walk,
it always ended for a time in the flight ahead of the two figures, the
girl in the rose-coloured sash and the tall handsome youth. Towards the
end of the walk they became separated from the rest of the party, and
only arrived at the little station just in time before the cars started.
On this occasion again, they had been clearly arguing and disagreeing;
and Daphne had the air of a ruffled bird, her dark eyes glittering, her
mouth set in the obstinate lines that Boyson knew by heart. But again
they sat together in the car, and talked and sparred all the way home;
while Mrs. Verrier, in a corner of the carriage, shut her hollow eyes,
and laid her thin hands one over the other, and in her purple draperies
made a picture _a la Melisande_ which was not lost upon her companions.
Boyson's mind registered a good many grim or terse comments, as
occasionally he found himself watching this lady. Scarcely a year since
that hideous business at Niagara, and here she was in that extravagant
dress! He wished his sister would not make a friend of her, and that
Daphne Floyd saw less of her. Miss Daphne had quite enough bees in her
own bonnet without adopting Mrs. Verrier's.

Meanwhile, it was the General who, on the return journey, was made to
serve Miss Boyson's gift for monopoly. She took possession of him in a
business-like way, inquiring into his engagements in Washington, his
particular friends, his opinion of the place and the people, with a
light-handed acuteness which was more than a match