CHAPTER V
KIT PLAYS UP
At ten o’clock in the morning, Kit went quietly into the manager’s office. Perhaps it was strange, for until he talked to Mrs. Blake he had not faced a crisis, but he was calm. His rather boyish carelessness had vanished; his glance was steady and his step firm.
The chair Colvin gave him faced the window. Kit had expected something like that, and had thought to be embarrassed, but he was not. Meredith, the director who had talked to him about Jasper Carson, Colvin and Robbins, the head draftsman, occupied chairs at the table. Kit waited.
He had undertaken to see Mrs. Blake out, and he meant to do so, but the game was intricate. To clear Blake was all he wanted; he was not forced to entangle himself. To convict him was the company’s business.
For a moment or two he studied the others. Robbins was rather embarrassed, the manager’s look was grim, and Meredith, in the shadow, rested his face on his hand. Kit thought the old fellow’s arriving at ten o’clock significant. Although it looked as if Colvin wanted a victim, Kit imagined Meredith would be just.
“You are punctual, Carson. I don’t know if I altogether expected you,” Colvin remarked, meaningly.
Meredith looked up, as if he did not approve, and Kit’s eyes sparkled.
“My habit is to be punctual, sir.”
“I don’t know an occasion when Carson was not up to time,” said Robbins, and Kit thought him glad to urge something in his favor.
“Very well,” Colvin resumed, fixing his eyes on Kit. “I expect you know why I called you to the office?”