"One probably not unknown to you, Colonel, as the niece
of your brother officer--Miss Montgomerie."

"Miss Montgomerie here!" faltered the American, rising
and paling as he spoke, while he mechanically placed on
the table a glass of wine he had the instant before raised
to his lips--"surely it cannot be."

There was much to excite interest, not only in the changed
tone but in the altered features of the American, as he
thus involuntarily gave expression to his surprise. The
younger officers winked at each other, and smiled their
conviction of une affaire de coeur--while the seniors
were no less ready to infer that they now had arrived at
the true secret of the impatience of Miss Montgomerie to
reach the place of her destination. To the penetrating
eye of the General, however, there was an expression of
pain on the countenance of the officer, which accorded
ill with the feeling one might be supposed to entertain,
who had been unexpectedly brought nearer to an object of
attachment, and he kindly sought to relieve his evident
embarrassment by remarking:

"I can readily comprehend your surprise, Colonel. One
would scarcely have supposed that a female could have
had courage to brave the dangers attendant on an expedition
of this kind, in an open boat--but Miss Montgomerie, I
confess, appears to me to be one whom no danger could
daunt, and whose resoluteness of purpose, once directed,
no secondary agency could divert from its original aim."