It was quite possible, also, that he had a sweet-heart at home, some quiet, Quakerish girl who would never wave in his face the red flags that Daphne was fond of brandishing.

It was equally possible that he was merely fooling with Daphne--that he had seen girls he liked better in New York, and was simply killing time till a sportsman friend of whom he talked should appear on the scene and take him off to shoot moose and catch trout in the province of Quebec.

Mrs.
Verrier realized that, for all his lack of subtlety and the higher conversation, young Barnes had managed astonishingly to keep his counsel.

His "simplicity," like Daphne's, seemed to be of a special type.
And yet--there was no doubt that he had devoted himself a great deal.
Washington society had quickly found him out; he had been invited to all the most fastidious houses, and was immensely in request for picnics and expeditions.

But he had contrived, on the whole, to make all these opportunities promote the flirtation with Daphne.