For a week, Kit was happy at Netherhall.
Although he liked to joke and sometimes music carried him away, he had sober ambitions. Kit was modest, but his modesty was not exaggerated and he thought his efforts to some extent accounted for the Mariposa’s doing all her builders claimed. Then, although frankness was not Jasper Carson’s habit, he owned himself satisfied. Mrs. Carson was gracious, and Kit thought it important that Mrs. Haigh left him and Evelyn alone.
Ledward’s arrival, however, annoyed Kit. Ledward was Mrs. Carson’s relation and rather a handsome fellow, but he began to get fat and Kit thought him sleek. Although he had not much money, he was not forced to follow an occupation, and when town bored him he visited at Netherhall. At Oxford he was famous for his scholarship and debating skill; his talk was interesting and he was an accomplished philanderer. In fact, there was the trouble, since Kit imagined Harry tried to interest Evelyn. For all that, so long as the trout fishing was good, Kit did not bother. Evelyn was a sport, but to wade about angry pools and crawl under branches had not much charm for Harry.
Kit and Evelyn returned one afternoon from an excursion to a tarn some distance off, and although Kit’s basket was not full his mood was buoyant. They had caught some trout and picnicked on the moor. After the noisy shipyard, the spaciousness and calm were bracing, and Evelyn was kinder than Kit had known. When they reached the gate at Netherhall they saw a group about the tea-table under a copper beech on the lawn, and Kit pulled out his watch.
“Four o’clock. Did you know?”
Evelyn did know, but she saw Kit did not.
“When one is happily engaged, one does not . bother about the time,” she said and smiled. “Until the sun got bright, the trout rose nobly.”
“Ah,” said Kit, “I did not bother about the trout. So long as you were not bored, I was content to loaf and talk.”
“One can talk on the lawn,” Evelyn remarked.
“That is so. The drawback is, when one finds a quiet, shady spot somebody arrives. In fact, I begin to feel Harry, so to speak, is ubiquitous, but he has not much use for the climb to the tarn. Then to see the shadows sweep the hills and hear the wind in the heather was worth some effort. The day was glorious. Let’s go back in the morning?”