“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.”