Читать книгу The Lute Player - Harold Bindloss - Страница 6

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For a week, Kit was happy at Netherhall. Although he liked to joke, and sometimes music carried him away, he had sober ambitions. Kit was modest, but his modesty was not exaggerated and he thought his efforts to some extent accounted for the Mariposa’s doing all her builders claimed. Then, although frankness was not Jasper Carson’s habit, he owned himself satisfied. Mrs. Carson was gracious, and Kit thought it important that Mrs. Haigh left him and Evelyn alone.

Ledward’s arrival, however, annoyed Kit. Ledward was Mrs. Carson’s relation and rather a handsome fellow, but he began to get fat and Kit thought him sleek. Although he had not much money, he was not forced to follow an occupation, and when town bored him he visited at Netherhall. At Oxford he was famous for his scholarship and debating skill; his talk was interesting and he was an accomplished philanderer. In fact, there was the trouble, since Kit imagined Harry tried to interest Evelyn. For all that, so long as the trout fishing was good, Kit did not bother. Evelyn was a sport, but to wade about angry pools and crawl under branches had not much charm for Harry.

Kit and Evelyn returned one afternoon from an excursion to a tarn some distance off, and although Kit’s basket was not full his mood was buoyant. They had caught some trout and picnicked on the moor. After the noisy shipyard, the spaciousness and calm were bracing, and Evelyn was kinder than Kit had known. When they reached the gate at Netherhall they saw a group about the tea-table under a copper beech on the lawn, and Kit pulled out his watch.

“Four o’clock. Did you know?”

Evelyn did know, but she saw Kit did not.

“When one is happily engaged, one does not bother about the time,” she said and smiled.

They crossed the grass and Kit threw down his creel by Mrs. Carson’s chair and pushed back his cap. His unconscious pose was firm and somehow alert; his eyes sparkled joyously.

“Evelyn waits for some tea, and you might give me your cup,” said Mrs. Carson. “A telegram for you arrived two or three hours since. Perhaps you ought to see what it is about.”

Kit sat down and when he tore the envelope he frowned.

“They want me at the office. I must report to Colvin, the manager, at ten o’clock in the morning, and he does not apologize for bothering me. If I durst refuse, I wouldn’t go.”

“Perhaps they want you to design a liner,” Ledward remarked.

“The telegram does not indicate anything like that, but the fellow states he expects me to be there. Politeness would cost an extra twopence; they’re a parsimonious lot,” said Kit, and turned to Mrs. Carson. “Well, I suppose I must get the evening train. May I use the car?”

Mrs. Carson agreed, and soon afterwards drove Kit to the station. When he reached the town at the river mouth, he pulled out his watch, and after pondering for a few moments, started for Blake’s flat.

When he got to the flat, Blake was not at home. Mrs. Blake said he had gone to a seaport where a dredger the company had built was at work. She forced Kit to stop for supper and he remarked that her appetite was not good. She pushed the plates about nervously, and he thought her highly strung. When the meal was over she rested her arms on the table and with something of an effort fronted Kit.

“Now we must talk about the telegram. You don’t know what Colvin wants?”

“I’m altogether in the dark,” Kit replied.

Mrs. Blake’s glance was searching, but he knew she did not doubt him.

“Then, I can give you some light. The opposition boat has run her trial and has beaten yours. She is half a knot faster, but that is not all. She gets up steam in a shorter time.”

“It’s awkward,” said Kit, and frowned, for the news disturbed him. “Fast steaming’s important, but I’m puzzled. Our boiler’s famous, and we reckoned we had adapted it to the job. Robbins declared it would beat the other.”

“Perhaps he didn’t boast. Mr. Colvin believes the other people’s draughtsman knew the improvements you had made, and used your plans.”

“By George!” said Kit, and clenched his fist. “But it’s impossible! We locked up the plans, and nobody but men we trust saw the boiler in the erecting shop.”

“You don’t yet see!” said Mrs. Blake in a trembling voice. “Colvin claims somebody at the drawing-office copied the plans.”

“His notion’s ridiculous!” Kit declared, with a laugh, although the laugh was forced. “Colvin ought to know a respectable shipbuilding company doesn’t bribe another’s servants. Besides, he ought to know nobody at the office would take a bribe.”

“All the same, he’s convinced your competitors got the plans. Tom was in his private room for half an hour. Colvin was furious——”

Kit set his mouth. The thing was awkward, but he saw Mabel waited and he felt she expected him to be frank.

“One sympathizes with Colvin, but he’s a fool. Old Robbins is altogether trustworthy and was at the yard when the company was floated. If we leave him out, only Tom and I could get at the drawings.”

“Colvin argued like that, Kit. There’s the trouble!”

“Now I do see,” said Kit, in a hoarse voice, and looked at Mabel hard.

Her face got red, and then her colour went. Kit thought she blushed for her husband, and he knew her afraid. She pulled straight the table-cloth and pushed back a plate. Her pose was stiff but her hands shook.

“Only you and Tom,” she said. “It’s rather horrible, Kit!”

For a minute or two Kit was quiet and he looked about the room. Although the furniture and ornaments were cheap, they had cost stern self-denial. Mabel loved her home and to let it go would hurt, but if Blake were forced to leave the office, they could not stop at the flat. Tom would not get another post and to reckon on his invention’s supporting him was rash. Kit saw Mabel doubted Tom, but although he thought her ashamed, she was somehow resolute. Kit was sorry for her and humiliated for his friend.

Brooding unhappily, he saw a fresh light, and thought he could account for Mabel’s resolution. In fact, he wondered whether he had not been very dull. Perhaps she was entitled to think for her husband; but suppose she soon must think for another? A woman’s instinct was to fight for her child. Unconsciously he looked up. Mrs. Blake blushed and turned her head, and he knew his supposition accurate. Kit’s mouth got very tight. If the company had been cheated, Mabel must not pay.

“When will Tom be back?” he inquired.

Mrs. Blake said she did not expect him for two or three days; the dredger’s machinery did not work properly, and Tom and a foreman must find out the defect. Kit got up, and although the effort was hard, he smiled.

“Since Colvin gave Tom an important job, he obviously does not think he copied the plans. When he knew our boat was beaten he got savage and felt he must hit out, but he’s not a bad sort, and when I see him in the morning I expect to put all straight. Anyhow, you mustn’t bother. Colvin will soon admit Tom is not the man.”

Mrs. Blake gave him her hand, hesitated for a moment, and then let him go. The door shut, but the panels were thin, and Kit, in the passage, heard uneven steps and a chair crack. Then a plate jarred and he knew Mrs. Blake had thrown herself down in the chair and stretched her arms across the table. Kit pictured her bent head and her slack body. Sometimes perhaps he indulged his imagination, but he knew the picture accurate, and his look got stern.

When he reached his lodgings he lighted his pipe and reflected with grim humour that one ought not to talk about a glorious day until the day was gone. All the same, it was not important, and he pondered moodily. To begin with, Blake had paid his debt and stated he was sorry he had not taken his model to Allinson before. Moreover, the money he gave Kit had melted, and Kit imagined his relations at Netherhall had remarked his extravagance.

Tom stopped late at the office, and sometimes Kit went across to the boiler shop. Then somebody left an eraser on Kit’s drawing-board, and the eraser was Tom’s. Kit recaptured other incidents he now thought significant, and weighing the evidence carefully, knew his friend condemned. The trouble was, Tom’s wife must bear his punishment. Their relations were poor and shipbuilding was very slack. Tom would not get another post and his invention might carry him nowhere. If the engine worked, somebody would use his model, and Tom and Allinson must enforce their claims. A dispute about a patent was a slow and expensive business. Then before shipbuilders tried the machine some time must go.

Kit refused to picture Mabel and her baby in the streets. Yet the company had been cheated, and somebody must pay. He was not going to think about his relations; they must take the knock, but it looked as if he had not thought much for Evelyn. Well, it was done with. He had engaged to put all straight, and his word went. Evelyn knew him, and he had not thought they could marry for some time. He was young, and if he could not get a post in England, he must emigrate. In the Dominions an engineer was a useful man.

Kit knocked out his pipe, stretched his arms as if he were tired, and resolved to go to bed. Now he thought about it, he was tired, and his brain was dull, but he began to see his line, and that was something. He went to bed and was soon asleep.