Kitty held up both hands in a gesture of dismay. "Don't, Patches, please don't. Ugh! if you only knew how good it is to be with a man again!"
He laughed aloud in a spirit of reckless defiance. "And Phil is over in Granite Basin. I neglected to tell you that he knows the location of the Mannings' camp, as well as I."
Kitty was a little puzzled by the tone of his laughter, and by his words. She spoke gravely. "Perhaps I should tell you, Patches—we have been such good friends, you and I—Phil—"
"Yes!" he said.
"Phil is nothing to me, Patches. I mean—"
"You mean in the way he wanted to be?" He helped her with a touch of eager readiness.
"Yes."
"And have you told him, Kitty?" Patches asked gently.
"Yes—I have told him," she replied.
Patches was silent for a moment. Then, "Poor Phil!" he said softly. "I understand now; I thought that was it. He is a man among thousands, Kitty."