“It is possible. At all events, Jasper has agreed that so long as I am content the post I now have is mine. The important thing is, it enables me to support a wife. Well, I expect you know I not long since asked Evelyn to marry me?”
“She refused.”
“That is so,” said Ledward. “All the same, I thought she hesitated, and her refusal was not very firm. Well, I felt I must not urge her. Kit’s my friend; he’s a generous, attractive fellow. The trouble is, he’s young and impulsive. Somehow I think Canada will claim him, and he will not come back. Then Jasper is willing for him to stay. The ground is awkward, but after all, Kit to some extent did let the old fellow down.”
Mrs. Haigh saw his cleverness, but his argument was logical. In fact, she herself had argued like that.
“One must not be shabby, and Evelyn is stanch,” she said. “She did not altogether engage to marry Kit, but we agreed, if he made good progress in Canada, we would talk about it again. My stipulation was, he must for twelve months use his best efforts and not bother Evelyn. Well, the twelve months are not gone.”
“Do you imply that when the time is gone I might try again?”
“Ah!” said Mrs. Haigh, “my duty is rather hard. Kit trusts me, and he has some charming qualities, but I must think for my daughter. If you can persuade Evelyn, I will not refuse. But I cannot cheat Kit, and you must wait. When he started it was summer, and summer will not be long.”
She got up, but she signed Ledward to stay and he gathered she would sooner the others did not know they had engaged in confidential talk. On the whole, Ledward was satisfied. When he again urged Evelyn he thought he could reckon on her mother’s support. Moreover, he imagined Evelyn would weigh the argument by which he had moved Mrs. Haigh. He was now Jasper’s favorite, and Kit was done with.
CHAPTER XXVIII
KIT GOES AHEAD
Melting snow dripped from the bridge-works roof and the snow in the street was gray and honeycombed. The trees along the sidewalk had shaken off their load, and a sunbeam touched the branches and sooty walls. Kit by the drawing office window saw the beam get brighter, and he frowned.