“By George!” said Kit, and clenched his fist. “But it’s impossible! We locked up the plans, and nobody but men we trust saw the boiler in the erecting shop.”
“You don’t yet see!” said Mrs. Blake in a trembling voice. “Colvin claims somebody at the drawing office copied the plans.”
“His notion’s ridiculous!” Kit declared, with a laugh, although the laugh was forced. “Colvin ought to know a respectable shipbuilding company doesn’t bribe another’s servants. Besides, he ought to know nobody at the office would take a bribe.”
“All the same, he’s convinced your competitors got the plans. Tom was in his private room for half an hour. Colvin was furious——”
Kit set his mouth. The thing was awkward, but he saw Mabel waited and he felt she expected him to be frank.
“One sympathizes with Colvin, but he’s a fool. Old Robbins is altogether trustworthy and was at the yard when the company was floated. If we leave him out, only Tom and I could get at the drawings.”
“Colvin argued like that, Kit. There’s the trouble!”
“Now I do see,” said Kit, in a hoarse voice, and looked at Mabel hard.
Her face got red, and then her color went. Kit thought she blushed for her husband, and he knew her afraid. She pulled straight the tablecloth and pushed back a plate. Her pose was stiff but her hands shook.
“Only you and Tom,” she said. “It’s rather horrible, Kit!”