“Very well,” said Clare. “My father was getting up when I left.”
Dick said nothing, and stood a yard or two away. The girl had met him without embarrassment, but it was Jake she had addressed. He felt that he was, so to speak, being left out.
“Then I’ll come and talk to him for a while,” said Jake. “I don’t know a nicer place on a hot morning than your patio.”
“But what about your work? Are you not needed at the dam?”
“My work can wait. I find from experience that it will keep for quite a long time without shriveling away, though often it gets very stale. Anyhow, after being engaged on the company’s business for the most part of last night, I’m entitled to a rest. My partner, of course, doesn’t look at things like that. He’s going back as fast as he can.”
Dick hid his annoyance at the hint. It was impossible to prevent the lad from going to Kenwardine’s when Clare was there to hear his objections, and he had no doubt that Jake enjoyed his embarrassment. Turning away, he tried to forget the matter by thinking about the coal. Since Kenwardine was at home, it was improbable that he had been at Adexe during the night. If Clare had a part in her father’s plots, she might, of course, have made the statement about his getting up with an object, but Dick would not admit this. She had helped the man once, but this was an exception, and she must have yielded to some very strong pressure. For all that, Dick hoped his comrade would not tell Kenwardine much about their trip in the launch.
As a matter of fact, Jake handled the subject with some judgment when Kenwardine, who had just finished his breakfast, gave him coffee in the patio. They sat beneath the purple creeper while the sunshine crept down the opposite wall. The air was fresh and the murmur of the surf came languidly across the flat roofs.
“Aren’t you in town unusually early?” Kenwardine asked.
“Well,” said Jake with a twinkle, “you see we got here late.”
“Then Brandon was with you. This makes it obvious that you spent a perfectly sober night.”