“Then he worked a while with Lieutenant Cary?”
“Of course. Cary has been here six months. But why do you ask?”
Then Kitty attempted to give him an account of the meeting on the launch, and the animosity she felt existed between the two strangers.
Her father tried to brush her suspicions aside. “You mustn’t get the habit of attributing motives to every little thing people do, Kitty. Often people are merely tired or preoccupied, and their coolness has no significance at all.”
But Kitty was not satisfied with this explanation. She felt that her father knew much more about the mysterious Willard Dawson than he had revealed.
CHAPTER THREE
THE USO PARTY
All the next day, though Kitty had many obligations and numerous things on her mind, her thoughts continually returned to the peculiar circumstances of her boat ride from town. There was something very mysterious about the whole business. She felt certain her father had evaded telling her all he might have. Was the new nurse involved in some mystery?
Suddenly Kitty recalled Brad’s worried expression at the meeting of the two. He looked like one who suspected the cause of the disharmony. Though she could not question Nurse Dawson there was no reason why she shouldn’t talk to Brad about what had happened. Maybe she would see him at the USO party Saturday night.
As she dressed for the party the following night, Kitty’s thoughts were busy with what she would say to Brad. All the girls were wearing gay evening clothes, even though they were pre-war gowns, for this made the occasion seem festive for the boys.