“Kit does not disappoint his friends,” Agatha remarked in a quiet voice.
“But he ought to be ambitious. One must not be generous where another is forced to pay. Kit does not weigh things; I expect he’s plunged into a fresh entanglement, but he ought not to be rash. You see, I must stop at dreary Netherdale. Then people know Kit’s poverty, and when they pretend to sympathize I feel they sneer. Mrs. Carson’s remarks hurt worse because she was persuaded they were justified. There’s the trouble—it looks as if the people who doubted Kit were justified——”
Agatha was disturbed. Evelyn’s loyalty cost her something and might yet cost her much. So far she had paid, but Agatha wondered whether she could keep it up. Evelyn was selfish and rather shabbily ambitious. All the same, one must acknowledge her part was hard.
“You must not exaggerate, my dear,” she said. “Kit has talent, and he’ll soon make progress.” After a time the card party broke up. Alan Carson and Ledward went to the billiard-room and Agatha went for a book. When she came back she saw Jasper in the hall and she stopped.
“It looked as if Miss Haigh gave you her confidence,” he said.
“Evelyn was angry. Aunt was not kind.”
“So far as she sees, my sister-in-law is sincere. Do you imply that her unkindness was all that bothered Miss Haigh?”
“You implied that our talk was confidential,” Agatha rejoined. “In a way, I’m sorry for Evelyn. You don’t like her?”
“You’re blade-straight and keen as steel,” said Jasper with a dry smile. “Well, I own I don’t like Mrs. Haigh and one inherits much. I’d sooner trust a fool than a calculating woman.”
“It doesn’t look as if Evelyn calculated. She means to stick to Kit.”