For owing to this conduct of Daphne's, the charming Boston girl, the other _ingenue_ of the party, fell constantly to the care of young Barnes; and to see them stepping along the green ways together, matched almost in height, and clearly of the same English ancestry and race, pleased while it puzzled the spectators.
The party lunched in a little inn beside the river, and then scattered again along woodland paths.

Daphne and the Under-Secretary wandered on ahead and were some distance from the rest of the party when that gentleman suddenly looked at his watch in dismay.

An appointment had to be kept with the President at a certain hour, and the Under-Secretary's wits had been wandering.

There was nothing for it but to take a short cut through the woods to a local station and make at once for Washington.
Daphne quickened his uneasiness and hastened his departure.

She assured him that the others were close behind, and that nothing could suit her better than to rest on a mossy stone that happily presented itself till they arrived.
The Under-Secretary, transformed into the anxious and ambitious politician, abruptly left her.
Daphne, as soon as he was gone, allowed herself the natural attitude that fitted her thoughts.