“Will you see if the cook’s awake?”
She had no opportunity for saying anything further, for Carew came up with Bella, who was voluble, and some time later Lisle and Crestwick sat down to a bountiful meal, while Millicent and Bella waited on them. Lisle was slightly embarrassed by their ministrations, but Crestwick openly enjoyed them.
“Put the plate where I can reach it easily,” he bade his sister. “Look how you have placed that cup; if I move, it will spill!”
“You have more courage than I have, Jim,” Carew remarked with a smile.
“I’ve needed it,” the lad declared. “I’ve borne enough from Bella in my time. She’ll no doubt say that I deserved it, and there may be some ground for the notion.”
When the meal was finished they all gathered round the replenished fire, Lisle lying back in the shadow because of the state of his clothes. With the exception of Jim, the others were dressed much as they had been at home; their conversation was light and easy, and their manner tranquil. If he could have blotted out the background of tall straight trunks and shadowy rocks, he could have imagined that they were lounging on a sheltered English lawn. Double-skinned tents, camp-chairs, and other signs of a regard for physical comfort bore out the idea in his mind. These English people with their quiet confidence that what they needed—and that was a good deal—would, as had always happened, somehow be supplied, were at once exasperating and admirable. They were the same everywhere, unmoved by change, claiming all that was choicest as by right, and very much at ease on the fringe of the wilderness. They did not belong to it; one could have imagined that it belonged to them. Their journey, however, had only begun, and there were alterations that must obviously be made on the morrow.
Then Lisle yielded to a strong sense of satisfaction. For the next month or two he would be almost constantly in Millicent’s company; her companions were his friends, and he thought that he would not be troubled by Gladwyne’s presence. Desiring to assure himself on the latter point, he turned to Bella.
“Nobody has mentioned Clarence. I was wondering if he would join us?”
“No,” she answered, smiling at him meaningly; “he wasn’t invited.” Then she moved away, leaving Lisle more deeply content.
Presently the party broke up, and when they reached the tent they jointly occupied, Miss Hume remarked to Millicent: