"My command will be within call when needed, Miss Bernard, but you were saying——"
"I am glad you have a force near, for now I breathe more freely, Lieutenant Kit Carey."
"Ah! And how did you know me as Kit Carey?" he asked, with considerable surprise, recalling that he had not spoken of himself except as Lieutenant Carey.
"Are there two of your name in the army, sir?"
"Not two bearing the name of Kit Carey."
"You were lately on the staff of Colonel Crandall at Fort F——?"
"Yes."
"You are the one of whom I have heard a great deal, for your deeds have often been discussed around our hearth, Lieutenant Carey. I was sure when you said that your name was Carey that you must be Lieutenant Kit Carey, as you look like just such a man as he is described as being."
Was the girl trying to gain time for some reason, Kit wondered, that she talked thus.
The officer was compelled to confess to himself that thus far she was a riddle he could not solve.