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."
"I know--I know," she returned, as though to dismiss the subject. "But
it simply couldn't be."
Patches was looking at her intently, with an expression in his dark eyes
that Kitty had never before seen. The man's mind was in a whirl of quick
excitement. As they had talked and laughed together, the thought that
had so startled him, when her manner of familiar comradeship had brought
such a feeling of comfort to his troubled spirit, had not left him.
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