"Perhaps if you gentlemen are through with reminiscences," broke in the girl quietly, "Captain Le Gaire might present me to his new friend."
"But I thought you knew him already!"
She laughed lightly, her eyes aglow with merriment.
"Oh, no, indeed! It is all a most wonderful mix-up."
"Then it will be a pleasure for me to bring order out of confusion--Miss Hardy, Major Atherton of General Pemberton's staff."
"Atherton!" she gasped. "I--I thought your name was Galesworth."
"Hardy!" I retorted, simulating equal surprise, "and I supposed your name to be Gray."
Le Gaire looked at us, vastly amused, all his former jealousy and suspicion instantly dissipated by this evidence of misunderstanding.
"You certainly must have had a merry night of it, you two--trying to outlie each other, and with honors about even. However, the tangle is straightened out now, and we must be on our way. What are you trying to do, Atherton,--get to the rear of the Yanks?"
"Yes," I answered, with some hesitation, and glancing aside at the girl. I could not determine how much of all this she actually believed, or how far I might venture to carry forward the deceit. Her eyes were upon me, but their shaded depths revealed nothing. I determined to take the chance. "Johnston requires more exact information as to the Yankee artillery, and thought I might get in around the right flank. I saw a dust cloud across the river as we came into town."