The steamer swung round to the landing-place under the hill of Mount Vernon. Again, in disembarkation, there was a crowd and rush which set the General's temper on edge. He emerged from it, hot and breathless, after haranguing the functionary at the gates on the inadequacy of the arrangements and the likelihood of an accident. Then he and Roger strode up the steep path, beside beds of blue periwinkles, and under old trees just bursting into leaf. A spring sunshine was in the air and on the grass, which had already donned its "livelier emerald." The air quivered with heat, and the blue dome of sky diffused it. Here and there a magnolia in full flower on the green slopes spread its splendour of white or pinkish blossom to the sun; the great river, shimmering and streaked with light, swept round the hill, and out into a 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."