BLAKE’S CONFESSION
Evelyn went to the musical comedy and the excursion carried a thrill.
She was young, and to steal off with Ledward was something of an
adventure. Ledward knew Evelyn better than she imagined and he humored
her cleverly. Although he declared her going was justified, he
contrived to give the excursion a touch of intimate secrecy. Evelyn
had inherited some skill for intrigue, and she rather liked to feel
she and Harry were conspirators. In fact, she admitted that for all to
know she went with him would rob the evening of its charm.
Three or four days afterwards Evelyn and a young relation started for
the post-office at a Surrey village. A long row of red-roofed houses
began by the railway and stopped at the wide heath; the tarred road
and high telegraph posts went on to London. Mrs. Haigh had not gone
back to town, and Evelyn began to feel that she was bored. Her hosts
were not fashionable, and the people she met did not interest her.
Then Hannah Grant was recently from school, and a raw girl’s society
had not much charm.
By and by a car crossed the heath and stopped by the post-office. The
driver called a telegraph boy and then went slowly up the street as if
he looked for a house. After a few moments Evelyn’s dulness vanished;
the man was Harry Ledward and she knew he looked for Mrs. Grant’s. She
waved and he stopped by the path.
“The weather’s good and when I got to the office Jasper stated I might
take a holiday,” he said. “I thought I’d look you up and risk your
being occupied. What does one do here on a fine afternoon?”
“We play golf,” Evelyn replied. “Sometimes we go for a walk.”
Ledward smiled and Hannah Grant gave him an approving look.
“Sometimes one gets deadly bored,” she remarked. “Well, we can give
you tea and polite conversation, but perhaps you’d like a round of
golf? My handicap’s thirty and Evelyn foozles.”
“I’ve another plan,” said Ledward. “I wonder whether you and Evelyn
would like to run to town? But perhaps you go often and it does not
attract you much?”
“I go when return tickets are cheap,” Hannah replied. “If you want to
take Evelyn, you must take me. Mother and Mrs. Haigh are very proper,
but I don’t mind admitting I am not. Besides I’d love to go!”
“Then, jump up. Where’s your house?”
“At the end of the row; the pond is in front. Father declares it gives
the spot a rural touch and he likes the white ducks. The drawback is
the ducks are not its only occupants.... But get in, Evelyn. Your
part’s to persuade mother.”
“To begin with, we must persuade Evelyn,” said Ledward and started the
car.
Hannah smiled, but she said nothing, and when they stopped at a new
rough-cast house Ledward was not forced to use much persuasion.
“I wonder whether you would like to see a play,” he said to Mrs.
Haigh. “There’s a rather good matinee, and I would drive you down in
the evening. The car carries four passengers.”
Mrs. Haigh and Mrs. Grant refused politely, but they agreed for Evelyn
and Hannah to go. The girls went off to get other clothes, and Hannah
stopped for a moment at Evelyn’s room.
“I like the lean, dark type, and Mr. Ledward’s rather fat; otherwise I
think him top-hole,” she said. “You feel he knows something; and for
the most part very young men are fools. Your mother’s a sport, but
since you have a lover in Canada, perhaps her letting you go was
strange.”
“Harry’s an old friend and almost like a relation,” Evelyn replied and
sent Hannah off, but when she shut the door she pondered.
Kit was in Canada. There was the trouble, because Evelyn felt he need
not have gone. She knew he had not cheated the shipyard company. Kit
did not cheat, but he was ridiculously proud and he ought not to be
generous where his generosity cost her much. Harry, of course, was
another sort, and Evelyn knew him selfish, but she approved his
cleverness, and to some extent he attracted her. Anyhow, she liked
excitement, and in a few days she would be back at Netherdale. She got
up and thoughtfully studied her clothes and hats.
A week or two afterward, Jasper, going to a Cumberland ironworks,
stopped for the week-end at Netherhall. The evening he arrived was
cold and a savage wind beat the thick walls. After dinner the party
went to the drawing-room fire, and by and by a servant carried in a
card.
“The gentleman is in the hall.”
Alan Carson took the card and turned to Jasper. “Thomas Blake; a
Glasgow address! Looks like a business card. I don’t know the fellow.
Perhaps a shipbuilding customer has got on your track.”
“I’ll see what he wants,” said Jasper and went off with the servant.
A fire burned in the big hall, but only one lamp was lighted and the
illumination did not carry far. A young man and woman waited by the
fireplace and got up when Jasper advanced. The girl’s look was
embarrassing and her face was pinched by cold. Her clothes were
ordinary outdoor clothes, and Jasper thought them cheap. The young
man’s look was resolute.
“Mr. Carson? Christopher Carson’s uncle?” he inquired.
Jasper was interested. He thought Blake wanted Alan, but he did not
yet know if the young fellow ought to see him.
“Christopher is my nephew. Perhaps you were his friend at the
shipyard?”
“He thought me his friend,” the other replied and indicated Mrs.
Blake. “I could not leave my wife in the car; when we were on the
moors the wind broke the hood. Besides, I rather wanted her support.”
Jasper turned and pointed to a seat in the corner by the big grate.
“When the _Hellan_ wind blows down the fells the cold is keen,” he
said, and rang for a servant. “Bring some wine and sandwiches, and let
Mrs. Carson know I’ll be engaged for a time.”
Mrs. Blake drained her glass and went to the fire, for she was very
cold and bore some strain. Jasper knitted his brows and waited. Mabel
thought he harmonized with the big austere hall and dark panelling,
but somehow he was like Kit, and she was vaguely comforted. Blake
pushed back his glass.
“I thank you for your kindness to my wife, but I mustn’t take your
hospitality. Well, I was at Newcastle and I resolved to see you. To
begin with, do you know where Kit Carson is?”
“Kit is in Canada. Perhaps I could find him, but I don’t know.”
“You imply that you were willing to leave him alone?” said Mrs. Blake.
“Well, Kit need not have gone! You must tell him he need not and you
must try to bring him back——”
Jasper had begun to see a light, and he gave Mrs. Blake a smile. “It
looks as if my nephew had a strong champion; but I doubt if he would
come back. He is independent, and I understand he’s satisfied in
Canada. You might, however, state your grounds for thinking he need
not have gone, unless, perhaps, your husband feels he ought to do so.”
Mrs. Blake was puzzled. When Kit talked about his uncle he said Alan
was a kind old fellow and a good sort, but somehow Mabel had pictured
a rather futile country sportsman. Carson, however, was not at all
like the portrait Kit had unconsciously drawn. Jasper saw she was
puzzled and thought he could account for it. Then Blake faced him as
if he tried to brace up.
“If you will give me a few minutes, I’ll try to enlighten you. When
Kit was at the shipyard he was our friend and was often at our flat.
Perhaps you know about the small, fast steamer we built for a foreign
government?”
Jasper nodded. “Your boat was beaten. The opposition yard used a
better boiler.”
“They used _our_ boiler. You see, the head draftsman and Kit had
worked out improvements we could not patent. The opposition people
bought the plans.”
“The company is large and important. I doubt if the directors would
agree to bribe a competitor’s servant.”
“It’s possible the directors did not know. Managers and secretaries
transact the business, and perhaps you can picture an ambitious head
draftsman’s saying nothing. Then, the bribe was not very large, and
might be charged to an account. As a rule directors don’t
investigate——”
“All are not confiding,” Jasper remarked dryly. “However, your
employers believed somebody did sell the plans, and Kit was
implicated.”
“That is so, sir,” said Blake, and his face got red. “Kit had nothing
to do with it. I stole the plans!”
“Ah!” said Jasper. “Now I begin to see why you wanted Mrs. Blake’s
support! I suppose she urged you to make your rather late confession?”
“Tom was slow, Mr. Carson, but it was for my sake he took the bribe,”
said Mrs. Blake. “His pay was small and he had debts he did not want
me to bother about. All the same, I cannot justify him; there is no
proper apology.”
“How long have you known your husband’s part?” Jasper inquired.
Mrs. Blake blushed, but she faced the stern old man. Although his look
was daunting, somehow she was not afraid.
“I think I knew for some time. At all events, I knew Kit did not steal
the plans, but I hated to think Tom did so. Then to inquire got
harder; I dared not run the risk. All the same, I was bothered about
Kit. He did not write and we could get no news, but we knew he had not
much money.”
Jasper nodded. A woman’s habit was to fight for her child, and perhaps
she was justified.
“Kit, no doubt, intimated that his relations were not poor.”
“Ah,” said Mrs. Blake, “so long as you thought him dishonest, we knew
he would not take your help!”
“I rather think you know my nephew,” Jasper remarked, and turned to
Blake. “Well, at length you allowed your wife to persuade you to be
honest! Since the company could not send you to jail, frankness would
not have cost you very much at the beginning.”
“I was afraid for my post, sir. Had the company sent me off, I was
done for. Then my luck began to turn. I patented an invention, a
manufacturer was interested. The thing began to go, and now we have
started a workshop——”
“You are not rash,” said Jasper dryly. “When you no longer wanted your
post, you resolved to vindicate your pal! Have you informed the
shipyard manager that Kit is innocent?”
“When I get to Glasgow I’ll write a letter,” Blake replied with some
embarrassment. “I thought I’d first see you and find out where Kit
was.”
Jasper knitted his brows. Blake obviously thought him Alan, but Alan
must not meet the fellow. For a time he would sooner the others did
not know Kit was vindicated. Jasper was sorry for Mrs. Blake; the
car’s hood was broken and she had not proper clothes. For all that, he
must let her go.
“You must write to Mr. Colvin; but you had better state you have
informed me,” he said to Blake. “I doubt if you can cross the moors,
but there is an inn not far aff.”
“We must get back to the main road; we telegraphed for a room at a
Carlisle hotel.”
“It will be some time before you get to Carlisle, and Mrs. Blake will
need food,” said Jasper.
Mabel ate some sandwiches and forced one or two on Blake, and then
Jasper let them go. When they started he went back to the
drawing-room.
“The fellow was an engineer and his wife was with him,” he said to
Mrs. Carson. “I gave them some wine and sandwiches.”
“Of course,” said Mrs. Carson. “Since he did not stop for the storm, I
expect his business was important.”
“In a way it was important,” Jasper agreed.