"Yes. We had enough food and fuel. It was hard, but we got through."
"Was Stark with you?" the corporal inquired casually.
She faced him squarely, and shook her head. "There was nobody with us. We saw no one else during the entire winter."
"You met Stark some time yesterday though," he observed.
"Why, no." She spoke in seeming frankness. "I told you—I've seen nobody but my brother, since I left you last fall."
"How did you know where to find me yesterday—under that tree trunk?" Dexter asked, fixing her with searching scrutiny.
"I was—I was just walking along the brook," she said after a moment's hesitation. "And there you were—"
"You were calling my name," the corporal interrupted. "That was before you could have seen me, or known that I was anywhere in the neighborhood." He shook his head with skepticism. "I supposed that you came deliberately out of the kindness of your heart—knowing that I was in trouble." He watched her tensely. "Somebody must have told you."
Alison averted her face for a moment, and apparently found nothing to say. When at length she turned back to meet Dexter's questioning gaze, the curve of her mouth had straightened into a stubborn line, the violet softness of her eyes seemingly changed to a chilly blue.
"I have told you that I saw nobody," she said in a voice that seemed to take her a thousand miles away from him. "It'll have to be enough for you to know merely that I found you. And I couldn't let you—or any living thing, for that matter—die in a trap. We'll have to let it go at that. Meanwhile you ought to be satisfied to remember that I'm your prisoner. I've given you my parole, and I won't try to escape again."