CHAPTER XXIII
ROY BLAKELEY KEEPS STILL—FOR A WONDER
"Yes, that was the one trouble with Tom Slade—he couldn't obey orders."
"I think you're rather severe," said Mrs. Ellsworth.
"He had his work all cut out for him here," persisted her husband relentlessly. "He knew the part the scouts were supposed to play in the war, but he thought he knew more than I did about it. He gave me his promise, and then he broke his word. He flunked on his first duty."
Mr. Ellsworth pushed his coffee cup from him and pushed his chair back from the dining table in a very conclusive manner.
For a moment no one spoke. The young man in the soldier's uniform gazed into his empty cup and said nothing. Then he looked up at Mrs. Ellsworth as if he hoped she would answer her husband. Of the four who sat there in the Ellsworths' pleasant little dining room, Roy Blakeley was the first to speak.
"He'll make a good soldier, anyway," he said.