"Let's go and butt in, then," Downing suggested. "I love breaking up these little gatherings. You'll see them all stiffen when we come near. I hope they haven't got hold of Hastings, though." The two men rose to their feet and crossed the lawn. Fischer, who had suddenly appeared in the background, whispered something in Mrs. Hastings' ear. She swung around to Pamela, a second too late. Pamela, with a word of excuse to the young man with whom she was talking, stepped away from the circle and held out her hand to Lutchester. "So you have really come to Washington!" she exclaimed. "As a rescuer," Lutchester replied. "I feel that I have a mission. We cannot afford to lose your sympathies. May I introduce Philip Downing?" Pamela shook hands with the young man and took her place between them. "I've been envying you your seat under the tree," she said. "Couldn't we go there for a few moments?" Mrs. Hastings detached herself and approached them. She received Philip Downing's bow cordially, and she was almost civil to Lutchester. "I can't have my niece taken away," she protested. "We are just going in to tea, Pamela." Pamela shook her head. "I am going to sit under that tree with Mr. Lutchester and Mr. Downing," she declared. "Tea doesn't attract me in the least, and that tree does." Mrs. Hastings accepted defeat with a somewhat cynical gracefulness. She closed her lorgnette with a little snap. "You leave us all desolated, my dear Pamela," she said. "You remind me of what your poor dear father used to say--'Almost any one could live with Pamela if she always had her own way.'" Pamela laughed as she strolled across the lawn. "Aren't one's relatives trying!" she murmured. CHAPTER XXXIII Philip Downing very soon justified the profession to which he belonged by strolling off with some excuse about paying his respects to some acquaintances. Pamela and Lutchester immediately dropped the somewhat frivolous tone of their conversation. "You know that things are moving with our friend Fischer?" she began. "I gathered so," Lutchester assented. "His scheme is growing into shape," she went on. "You know what wonderful people his friends are for organising. Well, they are going to start a society all through the States and nominate for its president--Uncle Theodore." "Will they have any show at all?" Lutchester asked curiously. She shrugged her shoulders.