Robert Clark glanced around his own quarters. Even outdoors there was a pleasanter sense of order and comfort. An outdoor camp can be made the most disorderly place in the world.
This morning the fire was burning in the right place so that the smoke blew away from the two tents—not toward them. There was no litter of paper and of cans; no broken sticks cluttering the ground. The wood was neatly piled; the very earth itself appeared to have been swept.
“I wish you would eat your breakfast,” Ellen replied curtly.
Then she watched her companion so carefully there was no mistaking her interest, even if her manners were somewhat abrupt.
However, her companion was not in the slightest degree offended. In some way he seemed to understand Ellen’s curtness and her domineering attitude. Perhaps, if she had cared more for herself she would have tried to make herself more agreeable.
“Of course I’ll go back as soon as Marta is strong enough to take proper care of you,” she announced a few moments later as she arose to take away the empty breakfast dishes. “I know my being here makes the place more crowded, but I really would like to stay a few days longer and let Marta have a good time. She is better now and can get about after a fashion, and the Camp Fire girls want her to go on a few of their excursions. Mrs. Burton has taken a fancy to her, I think.”
“Then Marta will be in a seventh heaven. Only, I hope Mrs. Burton will get the nonsense out of her head that she wishes to be an actress. I am afraid, however, just the sight of her may have the opposite effect. You see, Marta and I used to plan to set the world on fire. Most youthful persons do, I was to be a great author and she a great actress. You see what our plans have come to.”
The young man’s tone was utterly despondent.
“I see nothing at all except that you are ill and have come out to Arizona to get well. You have been here a year and I presume you are already better.” There was not the least trace of sympathy in Ellen’s tone.
“As for being a great author, you seem to write all day as it is; so I don’t see how your illness interferes. I don’t suppose you were becoming famous as a newspaper reporter.”