"Amy!" I exclaimed in a breathless voice.
"Sir—I beg pardon—did you speak?"
"Yes——"
"My name is Amy," she said, with a well-bred smile of perplexity, looking me full in the face through her clear eyes.
She evidently did not recognize me in my uniform; for all I had seen and undergone of late had changed me very much in figure, bearing, and expression.
"Do you not know me?" I asked almost imploringly, and she replied:
"Not personally, sir; but I have the pleasure of knowing that you are an officer in my husband's regiment, and one whom he esteems most highly."
"Your husband's regiment!" I reiterated in bewilderment, and quite oblivious of the presence of our host and his family, to whom all this was an enigma.
"Yes—but you were absent when I joined him from England. He is now in command of the batteries at Bay Mahault, and always calls you his favourite comrade."
"I am much obliged to him," said I coldly, and then added impetuously, "But who the deuce is your husband?"