Goil turned baleful eyes on me, and I shut up suddenly. He said, "Mr. Weston, let me repeat: no formal accusations have been made—yet. I am trying to learn certain facts. One fact I have learned already is that you are exceedingly friendly with Willy. Furthermore, you as senior engineer-foreman should be aware of what is going on around here. Mr. Weston, you have not been absolved of this yet. Duty-wise, or personally," he added.
Willy was resigned to his own professional downfall. He looked and must have felt utterly miserable. He had done wrong and he knew it. And he was not one to let his friends get any blame for what he had done. He said:
"That's right, Mr. Goil. I did take the generator and the energizer."
My morale suddenly hit bottom and flattened. My mind went into overdrive in an effort to think of some way to extricate Willy from his blundering admission. Poor Willy, who had the body of a wrestler, the temperament of a poet, and a boundless generosity wanted to confess all.
But what a sacrifice, I thought. My mind sought answers and words and found none.
Orrin stared at Willy, open-mouthed. He said unbelievingly, "What?"
"Yes, sir. I got the energizer and the generator."
Goil sat back with a self-satisfied look on his face.
I shot Willy a scolding glance and said, "Willy, you don't have to say another thing—"
Before I could get out any more words, Goil snapped out, "Weston, one more word from you unless I ask for it, and you will find yourself under station arrest for insubordination—do you understand?"