“The trouble is, I’m forced to be content. Ambitious young men, keen to undertake my job, are numerous, but I doubt their talent, and since I have not an engineer relation I must hold out as long as possible.”
“We thought Kit might have helped,” Alan Carson remarked.
“Kit had other plans,” said Jasper dryly and turned to Agatha. “You are an independent lot. When I could have got you an easier post you stuck to your hospital.”
“At the hospital I have some authority, and one likes to command,” said Agatha, smiling. “Independence is attractive.”
“Sometimes it’s expensive. I suppose you get news from your brother?”
“Kit has not written to me for some time. All I know is he was engaged at a Manitoba bridge.”
“We got two letters,” said Mrs. Haigh. “The first was optimistic; Kit was to stay at the bridge for the winter and superintend. The other was rather apologetic. He had given up his post and was going to the company’s workshops.”
“He stated he had resigned his post?”
“The engineer at the bridge wanted him to stay. Kit’s grounds for refusing were not very clear and his note was short.”
“Kit’s habit is to resign his posts. To know he was not forced to do so is some comfort,” Mrs. Carson remarked.